English musician Dua Lipa has once again opened up about the topic of gender inequality in the music industry, noting female artists “haven’t been taken seriously.”
Back in early 2018, the 60th Grammy Awards attracted quite large amount of criticism after a disproportionate amount of male artists were given honours during the ceremony.
While hashtags such as #GrammysSoMale sprung up almost immediately, The Record Academy’s president, Neil Portnow, decided to put out this fire with what turned out to be a verbal accelerant.
Speaking to Variety after the awards, Portnow stated that female artists “need to step up”, which instantly attracted vast criticism, especially from a number of high profile female label executives who called his comments “woefully out of touch”.
However, when English musician Dua Lipa picked up her Grammy for Best New Artist, she undoubtedly had the laughed last with her acceptance speech.
“I guess where I want to begin is by saying how honoured I am to be nominated alongside so many really incredible female artists this year,” she stated. “I guess this year we’ve really stepped up.”
Check out Dua Lipa’s ‘IDGAF’:
Now, in an interview with British Vogue (via NME), the 23-year-old singer has once again addressed the topic of inequality, noting that women are not being given equal opportunities when compared to their male counterparts.
“People are starting to slowly wake up to the fact that it’s not that women haven’t been working hard or that we haven’t been pushing ourselves forward,” she began.
“It’s just that we haven’t been taken seriously, or been given opportunities,” she added. “I hope for years to come we’ll just bring sprinkles and sprinkles more of that, to the point where we feel equal to men, and where we have equal opportunities.”
“I think it’s about the public not being so hard on women for wanting to be ourselves.”
In related news, rumours swirled last year when it was suggested that Dua Lipa could be in line to record the theme song to the next James Bond movie.
However, it seems as though this is news to her, as the singer responded to the idea back in February while discussing a song she recorded for Alita: Battle Angel.
“Oh my goodness, I would absolutely love to do Bond,” she explained. “Although this is my first sort of taste of it and it feels really great to get to work on such an incredible movie, it’s such an honour. So, we’ll see.”
“I would absolutely love to do it,” she added. “I haven’t been asked to do it, but I would love to.”
Check out Dua Lipa’s ‘New Rules’:
