Dua Lipa’s new album is on the horizon — “Houdini” was the first taste — which means she’s the subject of a new Rolling Stone cover story.

It’s well known that Lipa worked with Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker on the new LP, which has no publicly revealed title yet. “I was so nervous because I’m just such a fan of Kevin’s,” Lipa says of meeting Parker in July 2022. Danny L Harle, Tobias Jesso, and longtime Lipa collaborator Caroline Ailin, all of whom were credited on “Houdini,” are also named in the story. Lipa refers to this core group of collaborators, who worked on eight of the album’s 11 tracks, as her “band.”

The feature adds that the record is “a psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to UK rave culture” and that ’90s-era British greats like Primal Scream, Massive Attack, Oasis, and Blur were major touchstones for the sound. She’s going out of her way to pivot from the disco vibes of 2020’s Future Nostalgia and was annoyed that some critics labeled “Houdini” as disco anyway. “This record feels a bit more raw,” Lipa says in the feature. “I want to capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun and just letting things happen, whether it’s good or bad. You can’t change it. You just have to roll with the punches of whatever’s happening in your life.”

Journalist Brittany Spanos offered this summary of the album:

The final product is uniquely and utterly Dua Lipa: confident dance pop full of witty Instagram-caption-ready one-liners. A lot of the songs are playful scenes from clubs or nights out with friends; the lyrics toggle from warnings that she’ll make a fast escape to optimism about what a first kiss could become. There are no sweeping ballads, though there is one good ballad fake-out that blooms into a more buoyant Carole King- and Fleetwood Mac-inspired moment. Mostly, this album is straightforward pop bliss, not unlike her approach to Future Nostalgia.

Instagram users noticed Lipa traveling the world a lot in 2023 after her Future Nostalgia tour wrapped up in December 2022, and in the RS profile, Lipa pushes back against the idea that she’s always on vacation. “Of course, I was going to fucking holiday and chill [during] the year that I was just going in the studio and had some time off,” she says. “As long as I’m doing my job, hitting my deadlines, and getting my shit done, then I will find a way to relax, too. It’s really work hard and play hard. Why not?”

The full story is here.