Dua Lipa Matches Cocktails to Her Very Favorite Songs in Tasting Notes

Yeah! [container rattles]

[beeps]

♪ Da da-da ♪

♪ Da-Da ♪

[beeps]

I'm gonna get so drunk mixing all these alcohols.

[beeps]

This drink is a Margarita.

Help me, SOS.

[beeps]

Hey, Vogue, it's Dua Lipa,

and today I'm gonna be making some cocktails

inspired by some of my favorite songs.

[upbeat music begins]

All right, let's get started with the first one.

This drink is a dirty vodka martini,

which is inspired by Sade's Smooth Operator.

I prefer having my dirty martinis with no vermouth,

so I'm just gonna do the vodka and the olive juice.

And I picked Smooth Operator,

because I feel like when a martini's good, it just hits,

it's smooth, it's delicious.

And listening to Sade at the same time

feels like the perfect moment.

Some olive juice here, pop that in.

My parents love Sade,

and so I really listen to Sade because of them.

And I'm just such a fan.

Like the Love Deluxe record is one of my favorite records

of all time, and she's a British icon.

[container shakes]

So I'm gonna double strain this,

so I don't get any ice chips.

I think that's just preference.

Olives to garnish.

[gentle music continues]

Perfect.

This next drink is a special take on a White Russian,

which is inspired by my song, Houdini.

The good thing about this is,

everything happens in the glass, less washing up, more fun,

too much ice.

Vanilla vodka.

Houdini came out in November, 2023.

It was the first single from my third album,

Radical Optimism.

I love that song.

It makes me wanna dance at any time of day.

I'm gonna put a bit of Kahlua,

then I'm gonna add just a little dash of Sambuca

just to give it a little funky little taste, which I love.

Sambuca shots, not my thing.

They remind me of a terrible time in the club,

but like this mixed in together, it's quite nice.

My special ingredient is my Nespresso capsule,

and now we wait.

I can do a little.

♪ Da ♪

♪ Da-Da ♪

♪ Da-Da ♪

My hair's just like too perfect right now

for me to be doing any hair flips,

so I'm just gonna not do any sudden movements.

My God, everything's shaking.

I thought ahead of the curve a little bit

when thinking about this, so I actually chilled one.

It's much nicer when you wait for it to cool down

for the cocktail.

So here's my chilled espresso shot.

I'll give it another mix.

Okay, and now for my favorite bit, the cold foam.

I'm gonna pop all of the creamer into the shaker,

one ice cube, because you don't wanna water it down.

[container rattles]

Give it a shake.

Oh, shit.

I'm like so nervous it's gonna open up.

I think we're good here.

Oh my God, this is my favorite part.

Hey-oh!

Well I just had lots of cream,

[Dua laughs]

so I don't think I actually got the Nespresso bit.

I know it's quite thick, the cream.

It's supposed to make like beautiful marbling.

That's delicious.

Look at me hammered at the end of this, song two.

So far I'm killing it.

I paired the white Russian with my song Houdini

because I felt like it's all the energy you need in a day.

When you play Houdini, I feel like it makes you wanna dance.

When you drink a little bit of white Russian,

all you wanna do is dance.

It felt like the perfect merging of worlds.

Does anyone wanna try this?

You do?

Come on then.

Oh my God.

Isn't it good?

Yeah.

[Dua claps]

This next drink is a highball,

inspired by my dear friend Elton John's Song,

Benny and The Jets.

I love this drink for many reasons.

One because it's quick and easy and it's delicious,

and the reason why I decided to pair it

with Benny and the Jets

is because I had this drink at the Dodger Stadium

when I was watching Elton do his show there

the night before I performed with him,

and he started off the show with Benny and the Jets,

and nothing gave me more chills than that moment.

The piano stabs in the beginning of that song

are like etched in my brain forever.

So I'm just gonna put some whiskey,

I like to mix it a little bit with the ice,

so the ice melts a little into the whiskey.

Elton is somebody who I've loved since I was very little,

so it's also very, very surreal to call him my friend,

and see him, and hang out with him,

and at the same time work with him

and admire him so, so deeply.

I actually performed for Elton's Foundation,

which supports research and prevention of AIDS,

and this was during lockdown, and we performed together,

and we actually sang Benny the Jets,

because he was like, You pick a song of mine

and we'll sing it together,

and I'll pick a song of yours and we'll do that together.

So we did Love Again from my second album,

Future Nostalgia, and then we did Benny and The Jets.

It was just one of the most incredible moments of my life,

and we had such a great time performing together.

And then I got a phone call from David and Elton,

it was like, it was a FaceTime,

and I was by the pool in a bikini,

and they were like, Can we just call you for a second?

I was like, Yeah, sure.

And they were like, Oh, we have this song.

We think it would be perfect if we do this together.

I was like, 100% yes.

And I heard Cold Heart in its, I guess baby form,

and I was like, 100% yes.

This is like such a massive dream come true.

I'm also just gonna add a little bit of Lemon rind in there

for extra gorgeousness, and that's all it needs.

Every time it just hits.

Elton just has the most incredible style,

and always has had such a unique and very authentic

and true to himself.

You know, the big glasses, and the feathers,

and flared trousers,

and everything was bright and bold and colorful.

And every time that I performed with him,

I just wanted to be at my very, very best.

I always dress up for Elton.

Okay, so this next cocktail is a Paloma,

which is inspired by Sweet Dreams, by Eurythmics.

Very recently I went to a friend's birthday party

and I was drinking lots of martinis,

and there came a point in the night where I was like,

Okay, I need to like change it up a little bit

and do something a bit fruity.

I went for the Paloma,

and I feel like, like a Paloma, Sweet Dreams, the song,

gives you a second wind during the night.

I feel like the second you hear Sweet Dreams,

you're ready to party all over again.

See, I either forget the ice or do it the wrong way around.

So what I'm actually gonna do first with my glass

is put some lime juice on the side of it.

Okay, so a bit of lime for my salt rim.

I only like to do half of that,

so you don't get a salty taste every time you take a sip.

♪ Sweet dreams are made of this ♪

♪ Who am I to disagree ♪

♪ Traveled the world and the seven seas ♪

♪ Everybody's looking for something ♪

Okay, tiny bit of agave.

I don't love this to be too, too, too sweet,

because I feel like the grapefruit soda does the trick.

I think this is just like,

it's a perfect drink for any time.

You can be on a beach, you can be having dinner,

you can be out dancing.

I think it's just perfect.

Oh my God, I'm gonna get so drunk

just mixing all these alcohols.

That's really good.

For me, the best work-life balance,

I guess just because, I don't know,

every day I feel like I do what I love so much.

So it never feels like work, I know that sounds cliche.

Wherever I am, whatever I'm doing,

I make sure that I make the most of it.

If I have a tiny bit of time off, I'm like, okay,

I finish work at 9:00 PM,

I'm gonna go and have a drink somewhere,

or go and have a nice dinner,

whatever it is that makes me feel

a little bit closer to a city,

like that's just so important to me.

This next drink is a Basil Smash

inspired by Britney Spears' Toxic.

Every summer, my family and I, we do a festival in Kosovo,

and there's a guy who makes amazing cocktails,

and he was adamant one year he was like,

I have to make you this drink.

I have to make you this drink.

And he made me a Basil Smash,

and that became the soundtrack, basically, to my night.

Gin, lemon juice, a bit simple syrup, you're very excited,

silly and giggly and fun,

and I need to hear Toxic at the end of every single night

when I'm feeling like that.

It's one of my favorite songs.

I think it's one of the greatest pop songs ever made.

It makes me feel nostalgic,

but also at the same time, if it came out yesterday,

it would be an absolute smash.

It's a Basil Smash, there we go.

I just love it.

I love it, I love it, I love it so much.

I only put a little bit of simple syrup, lots of basil,

of course I remember the music video,

but the bit that stays in my mind that I remember so well

is Britney in a stewardess outfit.

And I don't think anyone has ever been able

to make a stewardess outfit look so good.

I love Britney so much.

I love everything about her, all her songs.

She's such an icon.

Oh, shit!

Okay, well, we live to tell the tale.

[container shakes]

If this drink had a warning label, it would say,

Beware too much fun.

Oh, I'm gonna double strain it,

because we don't wanna get little basil pieces in our teeth.

Britney would hate that.

I forget the ice for the millionth time.

We'll garnish it with a little bit of basil,

but honestly, this is perfect.

Who wants to try it?

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.

Aye.

This is my dad, my drinking partner.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

Mm.

And she won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording

for that song, so cheers to that.

But I can't cheers, 'cause my dad took my drink.

Okay, so this drink is Frozen

inspired by Madonna's margarita, help me, SOS.

[Dua laughs]

Bye.

This drink is a margarita inspired by Madonna's Frozen.

First step is, hello,

I'm going to just juice this lime a little bit

and put it all over the rim.

Well, not all over it, just maybe half of it,

'cause I think cuter like that.

And a little salt.

I've paired Frozen by Madonna with a margarita

because a margarita is an absolute classic,

and Frozen by Madonna is an absolute classic.

I just absolutely love the Ray of Light album.

It's definitely one of the top five albums for me.

I think there's something just absolutely timeless

about the song and timeless about a margarita.

So in my drink, I'm gonna put some tequila,

oh, let me just grab some Triple Sec.

Some Cointreau.

I am and have always been such a massive fan of Madonna,

and so when it came to making

the Club Future Nostalgia record,

I immediately wanted to reach out

and see if Madonna wanted to work with me on that record.

It was very special because I had two of my favorite artists

join me on that, which is Missy Elliot and Madonna.

It was just a very beautiful,

but also a very unique experience,

because it was in the middle of COVID and lockdown,

and so we couldn't be together in the studio,

so we were all just talking on the phone nonstop,

trying to make it happen.

For me to even hear my songs

reimagined by two absolute icons was a massive dream.

And working with Madonna was amazing.

Even just receiving voice notes from Madonna,

I was like, this is the most surreal thing of my life.

It was a beautiful experience.

[container rattles]

Yeah!

[container thuds]

[container squeaks]

Oh, horrible.

You know what?

I'm not gonna double strain this one.

I'm gonna do this.

I don't think there's many, many ice chips in that one.

And put a lime to make it gorgeous.

The thing that I admire the most about Madonna

is her constant reinvention.

I find that so inspiring, and so amazing,

and the way that she's been able to just evolve and grow.

And I mean, she's just inspired

a whole generation of artists,

I can't just say just young women.

I feel like artists all over the world.

I admire her the most for that.

This is delicious.

Madonna's music brings people together.

Just like music is a universal language,

I think a good night out when you bump into random people

and you're a little bit tipsy and drunk,

and you have a good conversation, and a good drink,

and like, that's where the magic really happens.

I think that's where you really create

unique and special moments,

and if anything, you go home with a good story.

[upbeat music begins]

Okay, that's it, those are my six favorite cocktails

with my six favorite songs.

I had so much fun doing this.

I'm a little bit tipsy.

I think we should make a playlist.

You should try this at home.

See ya, mwah.

And they were like, Do you want water?

And I was like, No, I'll be fine.

Oh, for fuck's sake, shut up.

Yeah, my lover, Houdini.