DUA

Over the past 12 months, a post-modern revolution has been afoot. Driven by YouTube, Instagram and, most of all, video social media apps TikTok and Dubsmash, there has been an unstoppable wave of young people putting their own spin on mixtape/playlist culture as we know it. Using video, these creators are pushing old songs back in the charts and giving fresh meaning to new ones. The example we’re specifically talking about today is a highly addictive dance routine created by 19-year-old Filipino-Australian TikToker Hannah Balanay, to the tune of Dua Lipa’s latest anthem of independence Don’t Start Now . The #DuaLipaChallenge, as it’s sometimes known, is one of the biggest viral dances on the platform. The song itself features in at least four million TikTok videos – and it’s less than six months old.

“What dance?!” exclaims Lipa, when she learns of the phenomenon. Having created her own TikTok account just days before, complete with a choreographed dance in a New York stairwell, she’s been so on the move that she’s been oblivious to the internet-fuelled frenzy around her song. “OH MY GOD, I NEED TO SEE THIS!” The 24-year-old pop star is sitting on a Sydney hotel couch, after stepping off set with Australia, and out of the exquisite sculptural millennial pink Valentino spring/summer ’20 couture gown you see on