How Dua Lipa Overcame Her Childhood Insecurities to Pursue Her Music Dream

Singer and song-writer, Dua Lipa, has recently been interviewed where she opened up about a lot of things in her life, starting from her family history to personal matters such as self-doubt. Lipa’s motive is to always connect with her fans on a more intimate level, and bring everyone together with her music. There is a power in sharing music that makes people feel seen and understood.

Dua dreamed about being a singer when she was 4-years-old, and made her dream come true when she was 15.

As we all are probably aware of, our background is an epitome of who we are. Dua, who was born in London and had to move back to Kosovo at age 11, experienced an interesting and exciting change in her life. Although she spoke Albanian at home, having assignments from school in a different language was a completely different matter. It was much harder and took more time to adjust, but she still managed to find her way and wouldn’t change it for the world.

At a young age, Dua felt very misplaced. But before she knew it, her insecurities had gone with the wind.

“No one fancied me! Every girl was more developed.” If there’s one thing for sure, it’s that we’ve all come across a point in our lives where we felt out of place and misunderstood.

Dua happened to experience underdevelopment — all her friends had boyfriends before her, and she was the shortest out of her friend group at 13, when she started wearing heels frequently. Her worries began when she was unsure if she was ever going to grow. But around 18, she had grown immensely, and at 25 she has likely grown another inch.

Dua wants people to focus more on her music, rather than her as a person.

“I have self doubt, I’m only human.” Right around the time of the start of her career, Dua developed insecurity when other people’s opinions had risen. While performing, she had a dance routine to which people on social media decided to base her entire stage presence as who she was on stage, rather than focusing on the music. “All I ever wanted was for it to be about the music. I want the music to be good enough so that people would talk about that more than anything else.”

Lipa is a firm believer that if you are passionate about something, then nobody can take away your fiery spirit.

Being a strong and independent woman as she is, Dua didn’t let those opinions and remarks define her as an artist. Although she did feel like she didn’t deserve this happiness, and that she wasn’t good enough to be a musician, Lipa realized that these things don’t matter. She learned how to shut people out and not let it bother her. Dua believes that if you do something you are truly passionate about from the heart, not a single person can take that away from you.

She believes that we can be of service to people by simply having a devoted conversation.

Dua has launched her Service95, a free weekly newsletter, which is based on style, culture, and society to help people make sense of the world around them. Ever since she was young, she has constantly moved around and made lists to share her experiences with friends and family back home. “My family and my friends keep me so grounded.”


Today, her aim is to make those lists to open connections and comfort with the community. Lipa wants to step out of her comfort zone, and believes that everyone can be of service to somebody by just talking wholeheartedly. Conversations with people can make them feel less alone, especially for people with dual-nationality.

Have you ever felt self-doubt while doing something you are passionate about? How did you overcome this feeling?