Entertainment Music Pop Music Dua Lipa Says It Was a 'No-Brainer' When Mark Ronson Asked Her to Write a Song for the Big ‘Barbie’ Dance Scene The pop star spoke about writing the 'Barbie' soundtrack hit in a songwriter roundtable for 'The Hollywood Reporter' By Sadie Bell Sadie Bell Sadie Bell was a digital news writer on the music team at PEOPLE. She joined PEOPLE in 2023. Her work has previously appeared in Alternative Press, Billboard, NYLON, Rolling Stone, and Thrillist. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on November 16, 2023 05:14PM EST Mark Ronson and Dua Lipa. Photo: Eric Charbonneau/Getty Dua Lipa was beyond ready to “turn the rhythm up” and “come along for the ride” with Greta Gerwig’s film Barbie. The pop star, 28, participated in The Hollywood Reporter’s Songwriter Roundtable and spoke about the process behind creating “Dance the Night,” her Grammy-nominated hit off the blockbuster’s soundtrack. The “Houdini” singer explained that, although she was out on tour when she first heard from the soundtrack’s producer Mark Ronson, she was thrilled about making the collaboration work. “Basically, the way it came to be was Mark Ronson DM’d me on Instagram, which is weird because we’re friends, so we text,” Lipa told THR and the other artists on the roundtable, including Billie Eilish, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Batiste, Julia Michaels and Olivia Rodrigo. “He was like, ‘I’m working on this film with Greta Gerwig and it’s Barbie, and it’s possibly the funniest script I’ve read, and I really want you to write the song for the big dance scene in the film.’” “I was like, 'This is an absolute no-brainer. One thousand percent yes,’” the hitmaker continued. The Hollywood Reporter's Songwriters Roundtable. Austin Hargrave Dua Lipa Previews Her New Song to a Man on the Street Who Hardly Knew Who She Was: 'I've Heard of Dua Lipa' The Grammy winner explained that she was on tour when the record producer, 48, contacted her, but made time to travel to New York City to get in the studio and speak to the writer/director, 40, about her vision. “Greta was saying how inspired by disco she was,” Lipa explained. “I just thought about disco and the community it brings, and the way it brings people together. It was always a genre of music that was such a release when things weren’t going well in the world.” The “Levitating” singer continued, “And so ‘Dance the Night’ was created specifically for Barbie’s best day ever, which then results in her thinking about death. So it’s really about those dualities of life and being able to merge the two together.” The British musician added that it ended up being the perfect fit for her artistically. “And that’s what I love the most. I love dance-crying,” she said. Dua Lipa at the 'Barbie' premiere. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Dua Lipa Recalls Feeling 'So Upset' While Promoting 2018 Debut Album: 'Spread Myself Too Thin' Not only did “Dance the Night” play during a pivotal dance number in the Margot Robbie-starring blockbuster, the lead single off the soundtrack became a major hit on its own. The song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent a total of 24 weeks on the chart. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Since then, the song — which marks Lipa’s first-ever original contribution to a movie soundtrack — has received several accolades. Last week, the disco-pop hit garnered two Grammy nominations for song of the year and best song written for visual media — a category in which Lipa is competing against three other songs off the Barbie soundtrack (including Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?,” Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World” and the Ryan Gosling-sung “I’m Just Ken”), as well as Rihanna’s song “Life Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Ronson previously opened up in a post on Instagram about what it was like to work with Lipa on “Dance the Night.” The recording artist shared a carousel of footage of them collaborating in the studio and opened up in the caption about how the track came together. Billie Eilish 'Was Concerned' Her Career Might Be Over Before She Wrote Her 'Barbie' Hit “I started to get goosebumps,” he said of watching the “Don’t Start Now” singer work her songwriting magic and match the lyrics up with the choreography in the clip of the film they received. He said, “That’s why I f---ing love Dua so much: we had a whole song and she was down to spend a hundred extra hours tweaking a word and a line here of there to make not just the song but the WHOLE SCENE better.” After her big year celebrating the release of “Dance the Night,” the star also recently kicked off her next era with the release of “Houdini.”