Song Review: Dua Lipa 'Don't Start Now'

There is no end to the power of a deep bass groove. A great bass groove could make a Donald Trump COVID-19 briefing sound good. Dua Lipa’s new single, Don’t Start Now, has an incredible bass line. It’s derivative, it’s the kind of bass line that defined the best of the disco and funk era of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, but that doesn’t change the fact that the bass line is an absolute killer.

It’s a bass line that owes a deep debt to Nile Rogers, the defining bass player of the disco era. The bass line commingles with a rest of the song that has echoes of Diana Ross’s early 80’s disco remake and Madonna’s rise to the top of the pops in the mid-80’s with songs such as Into the Groove. These are wonderful influences to bring together but what sets Dua Lipa and Don’t Start Now is an angsty insecurity that permeates the essence of the otherwise girl power anthem.

Surface level, Don’t Start Now is a break up anthem in which the protagonist tells a jealous lover to get lost by telling him not to suddenly start caring now that she’s moved on. For me however, I feel like there is something in Dua Lipa’s delivery and in the backing track that betrays the confidence of the anthemic aspect of Don’t Start Now. There is this lingering sadness in the breakdown and the use of piano and strings that, for me, lends a depth the song might otherwise lack.

What do I mean? Let’s dig into the lyrics and I will explain.

“Did a full 180, crazy, thinking ‘bout the way I was.

Did the heartbreak change me? Maybe, but look at where I ended up.”

According to the lyrics she’s been fully changed by this break up. She appears happy where she ended up, but there is a vulnerability permeating Dua Lipa’s delivery of these lines that sneaks through in the achingly vulnerable way she sings the line “Did the heartbreak change me, maybe.” The follow-up line “but look at where I ended up” comes off vaguely ironic, she’s alone and while that might be preferable to her ex, it still carries a particular sadness.

“I’m all good, already, so moved on it’s scary, I’m not where you left me at all”

This lyric sounds confident and the bumping bass track backs that up but “So moved on it’s scary” plays like sarcasm. She may be happy to be rid of the ex but moving on is not as easy as the bumping bass indicates. My feelings here feel confirmed when, instead of launching the song into another high energy riff, the song breaks down, slows, strings and piano keys sweep in to replace the bass line as Dua sings:

“So… if you don’t want to see me dancing with somebody…

“If you wanna believe that anything could stop me…

“Don’t show up, don’t come out, don’t start caring ‘bout me now”

Walk away, you know how. Don’t start caring ‘bout me now”

A lot to unpack here. She doesn’t want him to be jealous as his jealousy evokes the notion that he cared about her when they were together, a feeling she disputes. Moreover, look at the way her threats about what he will see if he does come out trail off at the end. She’s not threatening, she’s simply emotionally exhausted. She’s exhausted by the idea of putting on the front that she’s okay with the way things ended.

Her confidence kicks back in with the bass line but is betrayed by her bitterness in the line “Walk away, you know how.” That bitterness is what really carries the chorus of Don’t Start Now, not the confident anthemic surface. She’s putting on a brave face but she’s angry and hurt, lonely and betrayed.

That gives weight to the middle portion of Don’t Start Now which some have written off as a mere homage. Me, I think the tribute that Dua Lipa pays to Gloria Gaynor and I will survive in the mid-section of Don’t Start Now, is sincere and desperately needed. Gaynor carries the strength and defiance that Dua’s character is attempting to muster throughout Don’t Start Now.

“Aren’t you the guy who, tried to, hurt me with the word goodbye”

That lyric is lifted directly from I Will Survive but sung completely differently. Dua evokes the essence of I Will Survive seemingly as a coping mechanism to get her through this middle portion of her attempt at appearing confident and reinvigorated rather than bitter and exhausted. It’s a lovely pastiche on a classic that is perfectly melded into this modern hit.

“Though it took some time to, ‘survive’ you, I met her on the other side.”

This one is loaded with more of that bitterness I mentioned earlier. The ‘Survive’ line is still in the vein of the Gloria Gaynor homage but the end of the line is an absolute taunt, Dua is letting her ex know that not only is she moving on, she’s keeping ALL her options open. ‘I met HER on the other side’ is a tantalizingly taunt. The music video underlines the point by having Dua Lipa dancing and groping with not one but two women while trapped under an intrusive male gaze we assume we can attribute to her ex.

Watching the music video is undoubtedly affecting my interpretation of the song. In the final moments, as the song is headed home, Dua delivers the chorus in fashion that is feigning confidence but is clearly dispassionate. She means what she says about being rid of him but the confident assertions about having already moved on are phony. Part of me thinks that she’s telling him to stay away because if he did start caring now in ways he didn’t before, she might go back.

In that interpretation, Don’t Start Now is really about protecting herself and not really about moving on. She’s lost faith and trust in this man but there is a lingering desire there. She’s in a war for survival between her feelings for this man and the hurt and pain he caused her. It’s created a bitterness that she well expresses but her resolve isn’t as strong as she lets on. She is warning him “Don’t Start Now” because she’s afraid it might work.