From Dua Lipa to Rosalía: The Meme-fication of the Modern Pop Star
The most important thing about any artist is not what she makes, but what she stands for.
That’s all you need to know about the pop-star (or, as the English say, a pop star). There is no better example of this, of course, than the Queen of the modern Spanish music scene, Dua Lipa.
What made her one of the most striking artists of the past few years is that she is very much of the moment, even in the most traditional of Spanish pop music. This made her the most recognized Spanish pop star of this time, and, as one could expect from a singer with as much talent as Dua Lipa, she was able to bring to the attention of many different music lovers: people who loved the latest pop, dance and electronic music. She, with the help of an excellent video-blog, made her fans feel connected to the people around them. She was the one always in touch with their lives.
Her biggest hits are so catchy and so infectious, that they are even spreading to other European countries, and she has been the first to promote this with the most successful music video of the past year (which, at the time, was the most successful Spanish pop video of the last 5 years, according to the Spanish music channel MTV Music in 2016).
Dua Lipa had the pleasure to record her first album, Átame, in 2013. However, the song, “Quiero,” didn’t become a huge success in the music scene of Spain. It was just a song, performed by her and others on an album that didn’t enter the top 10. It was then, however, released to the whole world by a television channel (the most famous one in the world, in fact, or so many people say), and it became part of the most famous playlist for many, many, many years, which is why it was chosen as the best YouTube video of the past year (and the best Spanish music video of the past 20 years).
“Quiero” was also chosen as the most viral song on Facebook of the past year and of the entire history of the website
