Dua Lipa Is Ready to Put You Under Her Spell

Every few years, there is a girl that arises who turns the pop world on its head. In 1998, Britney Spears wowed us with a simple private school outfit and a backflip. In 2007, Rihanna gave us a glimpse of the Good Girl Gone Bad she was becoming. Now it's Dua Lipa's turn, whose self-titled debut album (out June 2) has all the makings to spin 2017 into gold.

The London-bred singer made waves last August with her first single, the sparkling "New Love." Since then, Dua Lipa has captured mainstream attention beyond her native country with songs like "Be The One," "Hotter Than Hell," "Last Dance" and this summer's "Blow Your Mind (Mwah)." She's doing it all with a twinkle in her eye, and it's not from the sequined jacket she was rocking when we met, but from a rumbling confidence. As she muses in "Blow Your Mind," you can't tame her.

"It’s something I feel like I really stuck to and it’s part of my personality to never really back down," Dua tells me in her velvet-draped voice after we escape the freezing temperatures in New York's Hudson Square into the backseat of her driver's car. "If anyone tried to tame me, then they’re not the right person to keep around. And being crazy is fun sometimes."

The singer has a natural sexuality that exudes from every inch of her persona. While it's never been forced, it's something she says happened over time.