The singer performed ‘Training Season,’ ‘Houdini,’ ‘Happy for You’ and ‘Illusion,’ off of her new album ‘Radical Optimism,’ during the impromptu show
Dua Lipa had a busy weekend!
Less than 24 hours after pulling double duty as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live, the 28-year-old singer put on a surprise performance in New York City on Sunday, May 5, performing four songs from her brand-new album Radical Optimism.
After kicking off her set with the song “Training Season,” Lipa went on to treat the crowd with renditions of “Houdini,” “Happy for You” and “Illusion” during the pop-up concert in Times Square.
Lipa teased the show two hours ahead of time, writing on X (formerly known as Twitter), “8.30PM EST, ONE TIMES SQUARE PLAZA 43RD STREET AND 7TH AVE, I HAVE A SPECIAL PERFORMANCE FOR YOU, SEE YOU SOON ???? @AmericanExpress.”
The previous evening, Lipa kicked off her SNL appearance with a monologue that saw her introducing herself and noting that some call her “Dula Peep.”
She revealed her parents were in the audience and joked about seeing them out in the club, before adding that they “had always been so supportive” — including letting her move from Kosovo to London at age 15 to pursue her career, noting that she’d just dropped her third album.
The three-time Grammy Award-winner later performed two tracks from Radical Optimism: “Happy for You,” which was introduced by guest star Jerry Seinfeld, and “Illusion,” introduced, in another cameo, by Troye Sivan.
Saturday marked the “Dance the Night” hitmaker’s first return to SNL since she was the musical guest opposite host (and SNL alum!) Kristen Wiig in 2020.
Ahead of her more recent SNL appearance, Lipa appeared on SiriusXM’s The Morning Mash Up to discuss the gig — and whether she thought she’d break character.
“It’s gonna be fun. I’m ready. I’m prepped,” she told the radio program, explaining that she was equally nervous about “both” jobs on the live NBC sketch series.
“I was having this conversation with Bowen Yang, who is also on SNL, and I was telling him about the last time when I performed on SNL during the dress rehearsal,” Lipa recalled.
“I was really, really nervous. And also, I was doing a skit with them and then after the dress rehearsal, we sit in a room and it’s the whole cast,” she said. “Lorne [Michaels] comes in, and we’re talking about the skits — what’s good, what’s not, what we’re going to change, you know — and at that point, something just switched, and I felt like a real part of the team.”
