The Australian leg of Dua Lipa’s ‘Radical Optimism’ tour is officially in full swing, and she’s not holding back when it comes to surprises.
During her second night in Sydney, fans went wild as Lipa brought out Kevin Parker to join her for a dreamy cover of Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know the Better”.
“I made most of Radical Optimism with this person and he’s one of my favorite artists,” Lipa told the crowd. “He’s inspired me a lot. I manifested and dreamt about working with him one day and then I managed to make one of my favorite albums with him. So many of those memories making this record are just so special. And so tonight I feel very lucky that I get to sing one of my favourite songs ever with one of my favorite artists. Give it up for Kevin Parker.”
Talk about a moment. The crowd lapped it up—and rightly so. The performance added to what’s already been a love letter of a tour to Aussie music. So far, Lipa’s been giving props to some of our biggest names, covering tracks by Troye Sivan, INXS, Kylie Minogue, Vance Joy, Natalie Imbruglia and AC/DC. Sivan and Joy even popped up onstage to join her for “Rush” and “Riptide”, respectively.
Lipa and Parker first started working together in mid-2022. While it might seem like they’ve always had a perfect creative connection, it wasn’t instant. “He was quite shy in the beginning,” she told Rolling Stone last year.
But it didn’t take long for them to click.
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“Her editing is brutal,” Parker admitted, talking about the long road to nailing “Houdini”. “I’d kind of recoil in horror and go, ‘Oh, no, it’s a great verse!’ But then an hour later, we’d have something that I can’t imagine not being in the song.”
The two also shared the stage at Glastonbury 2024, performing both “Houdini” and “The Less I Know the Better”.
While there hasn’t been a new Tame Impala album since 2020’s The Slow Rush, Parker’s been busy collaborating with the likes of Gorillaz and Thundercat—and, of course—Dua Lipa.
