Dua Lipa’s Disco Fever

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dua Lipa remembers the disco era in her hit “Don’t Start Now.” What may sound like just another dance floor track, upon deeper listening unfolds as a celebration of the genre. References to Gloria Gaynor, Chic, Giorgio Moroder and The Bee Gees are all waiting here for the curious listener to uncover. But so are the Italian and Daft Punk inspired bass lines. Yet the song is more than just one big disco ball cliché. It is brilliantly written too. We asked our listeners to help us highlight the best moments of the song as this is a song that continues to sound anew upon each playback. In 2020, the influence of Disco is still very much alive and Dua Lip’s “Don’t Start Now,” written with Caroline Ailin, Emily Warren and Ian Kirkpatrick, is a shining example of a great contemporary disco track. Songs Discussed Dua Lipa - Don’t Start Now Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive Chic - Good Times Giorgio Mordoer - Baby Blue The Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing The Michael Zager Band - Let’s All Chant MFSP - TSOP Todd Terje - Strandbar Piano Fred Falke and Alan Brav - Intro Daft Punk - Voyager Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita Madison Avenue - Don’t Call Me Baby Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Switched On Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding and I'm musicologist Nate Sloan.
0:17.5	It's a new year, a new decade, and while lots seems to be falling apart, I'm a firm believer
0:22.2	that expressing joy is part of how we build the world that we want to see and so today.
0:26.9	It's time to walk away from the last decade. It's time to put on our dancing shoes, step
0:32.4	out on the dance floor, and take a request.
0:35.5	Okay.
0:36.5	Hey Charlie and Nate, this is Will and Oakland. I wanted to call your attention to the
0:40.4	very fun new Dua Lipa song Don't Start Now, which I've had on repeat since I first heard
0:45.0	it last month. It's got pew pew noises, cowbell, even some u-us. But that said, I think
0:51.8	she's really picking up on several waves of disco revival, especially European ones.
0:56.5	Anyway, there's a lot more I'm sure you all can pick up on. So I'd love to hear the
0:59.7	Switched On Pop take on this tune. Thanks.
1:03.2	First of all, I really respect Will for using the correct technical terminology of pew-pew
1:08.4	and O-O.
1:09.4	It was an O-O-O.
1:11.4	Oh, sorry, yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. You need to be very specific with this
1:17.1	kind of clinical language. We're going to get into this because he went through a whole
1:21.1	of master class in this song in just a few seconds.
1:24.9	Dua Lipa, she is one of the biggest stars right now. She had to hit new rules that ruled
1:30.6	the charts.
1:41.4	This song is actually a collaboration with the same songwriters and producers of new rules.
1:50.7	This is with Caroline Ailen, Emily Warren, who we spoke with on the show, and producer
	...

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