Houdini (Dua Lipa song)
"Houdini" is a song by English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa. It was released on 9 November 2023 through Warner Records, as the lead single from Lipa's upcoming third studio album, Radical Optimism (2024). Houdini was produced by Danny L Harle and Kevin Parker. Lipa co-wrote the song with Harle, Parker, Caroline Ailin and Tobias Jesso Jr.
"Houdini"
"Houdini" was met with generally positive reviews by music critics, who praised the sonic evolution from her previous album Future Nostalgia (2020). Commercially, the single peaked at number one in several countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, and Greece. It reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and the top 10 in various countries, including Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and France. In the United States, the song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Dance/Electronic Songs chart for fifteen weeks. "Houdini" also peaked at number three on the Billboard Global 200.
Background and release[edit]
In 2023, Lipa announced that her upcoming third studio album would be released sometime in 2024. She shared that she had embraced 1970s-era psychedelia by working with Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, a change from the disco sound of Future Nostalgia (2020).[7][8] "Houdini" began as a demo produced by Parker sometime in or before November 2022. After hearing a snippet of the track, Lipa began writing the lyrics with Caroline Ailin before finalizing it with Parker in January 2023.[9] Ailin, Lipa, Parker, Danny L Harle, and Tobias Jesso Jr. all share writing credits on the song.[10]
In May 2023, Lipa released "Dance the Night" as the lead single from the soundtrack for Greta Gerwig's Barbie, in which she also made her acting debut. The song peaked at number one in the UK and reached the top 10 in the US, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, and various other countries. After having deleted all of her Instagram posts in October 2023, Lipa posted a picture of herself with red hair captioned "miss me?".[11] On October 27, she shared a close-up picture of a key between her teeth, accompanied by the phrase "catch me or I go".[12] In anticipation of the song, Lipa replaced the cover art of her previous albums with kaleidoscopic versions on streaming services.[13]
Lipa posted a teaser of the song on her social media on October 31, 2023, hinting at the song title in the post.[14] A rearranged combination of numbers would spell out the title "Houdini",[15] named after escape artist Harry Houdini.[16][17] Fans of Lipa also drew parallels to English singer Kate Bush's 1982 song of the same name, who also references Houdini by presenting a key in her mouth on the cover of her album The Dreaming (1982).[18] The following day, she announced that the song would be released on November 9, 2023 and made it available for pre-order and pre-save via her website and various streaming services.[19]
Live performances[edit]
Dua Lipa released a live recording of the song titled London Sessions for digital download and streaming on 12 January 2024. A music video of the live performance was released on YouTube the same day.[20]
She first performed the song on live television at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on 4 February 2024, along with "Dance the Night" and her then-upcoming single, "Training Season".[21]
Music video[edit]
The music video for "Houdini" was directed by Manu Cossu and released alongside the song. It is set in a dance studio, where a redheaded Lipa performs a choreography with a group of redheaded male dancers.[31][32] According to Vogue, the video appears to be a reference to the video for "Hung Up" (2005) by Madonna.[3]