Dua Lipa is set to release her comeback single, ‘Houdini’, later this month. The Grammy-winning pop star has been dropping cryptic clues across her social media and fans finally cracked the code. On Halloween (31.10.23), which just so happens to be the date of the famous magician Houdini’s death, she shared a preview of the new track, in which she sings: “Tell me all the ways you’ll need me.”
At the end of the clip, the numbers 4 8 9 9 14 15 21 flash up on the screen, and if you swap them for their letters it translates into Houdini. The track will be the lead single from Dua’s upcoming follow-up to 2020’s dance record ‘Future Nostalgia’.
This year, Dua landed a huge hit with ‘Dance The Night’ from the live-action ‘Barbie’ film. It was recently claimed that the ‘Levitating’ singer is to ditch her disco pop era in favour of music informed by “1970s-era psychedelia”.
A New York Times Style magazine profile on the 28-year-old singer claimed the ‘Physical’ hitmaker has reinvented her sound and is getting help from psychedelic act Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. Asked if the rumour is true, she coyly replied: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The profile noted: “She doesn’t want to “alienate” them [her fans], although she’s developing a new sound that may be informed less by the house and disco beats beneath songs like ‘Physical’ and ‘Hallucinate’ than by 1970s-era psychedelia.” Producer Mark Ronson – who oversaw the ‘Barbie’ soundtrack – heard parts of the record and teased it’s going to be a whole new era for Dua.
He told Vulture: “I’ve heard some of it and it’s incredible. Referencing the music video for ‘Dance The Night’, he suggested that one key moment could be a big hint of what’s to come.
He added: “I think that’s why there’s the disco ball that smashes in the video, right? This feels like her triumphant stomp on that era of her music into whatever she does next.”