The Best Cover Songs From Dua Lipa’s ‘Radical Optimism’ Tour

Fact: Artists born between the years 1994 and 2004 are obsessed with Ednaswap’s “Torn,” which became a megahit for Natalie Imbruglia in 1997. You can see the alt-pop banger covered by everyone from One Direction to Phoebe Bridgers to Olivia Rodrigo, who brought Imbruglia onstage to belt it out in 2022. So it made sense for Lipa to take on the late-Nineties classic, and she had a blast doing so, throwing her feather boa up in the air and celebrating Imbruglia in her native Australia. The line “Illusion never changed/Into something real” is also fitting, considering that Dua went on to perform her own song “Illusion” later that evening. This is how she feels.

“In Australia, there’s an abundance of incredible artists that I’ve been so inspired by my whole life,” Lipa told the crowd during her first of three nights in Sydney. “Every time I think back to these songs, they’re so ingrained in British culture. I feel like it just brings us closer together, even though we’re on opposite sides of the world. This is a song that I always go back to … I hope you know it.” The Qudos Bank Arena erupted as she began belting this beloved Eighties power ballad, taking lines like “’Cause we all have wings/But some of us don’t know why,” to extraordinary heights (seriously, check out that part at 2:40, you won’t regret it). It was only the sixth night of the tour, and Lipa was just getting started.

Would you dance, if I asked you to dance? During the first of two evenings in Madrid, Lipa serenaded a packed Movistar Arena to Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero” — sung entirely in Spanish. At the five-minute mark in the video above, the crowd cheers as she brings the chorus to a soaring climax: “¡Porque salvarte a ti mil veces!” Iglesias released the massive hit on Sept. 3, 2001, and it became an uplifting anthem for many after 9/11. Nearly 25 years later, it’s now beloved amongst millennials, including the very pop star onstage, beaming at her sea of fans singing along.

“In the Scorpions we have this kind of saying: Love, peace, and rock & roll,” guitarist Rudolf Schenker told us in 2015. “The love stands for ‘Still Loving You.’ The rock & roll stands for ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane.’ And the peace? That’s for ‘Wind of Change.’” Amen, brother. No one understands this motto better than Dua Lipa, who covered the 1990 power ballad during her second night in Hamburg, right after she demolished “99 Luftballoons” on Night One (seriously, this woman has taste). In the future, we’d love to see her cover other hits from the German hard-rockers — she would totally kill “No One Like You.”

Clearly, as the last few items on this list show, Lipa is a pro at covering power ballads — it’s a shame she didn’t cover Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” in San Francisco in October. But she did bless us in Boston with this rendition of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” co-written by Diane Warren for the 1998 movie Armageddon. You have to respect her choices: She could have covered “Janie’s Got a Gun’” or “Livin’ on the Edge” or even “Dream On,” but instead she selects this late-Nineties tear-jerker, about a guy who likes to hear his girlfriend breathing in her sleep. We’re here for it, Dua.

In a move that showed both her versatility and her command of music history, Lipa went from covering Aerosmith on Night One in Boston to Donna Summer on Night Two. “She’s a disco diva,” she said of the late legend. “Do we have any bad girls in the crowd tonight?” She had an absolute blast with this one, dancing around in her sparkly all-black attire, boa resting on her shoulder. Lipa covered a lot of disco on this tour, from Chic to Earth, Wind & Fire. But her “Bad Girl” moment was the peak, reminding us that she just might have another Future Nostalgia up her sleeve.

Lipa’s four nights at Madison Square Garden featured renditions of Blondie’s “One Way or Another,” Chic’s “Le Freak” (with Nile Rodgers himself), and Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over” (with Kravitz). But the first evening — where she covered Alicia Keys’ “No One” — was the highlight of her time in the Big Apple. It’s a full-circle moment for Lipa, who sang the massive 2007 hit when she was just 12 years old; that video lit up the screen at MSG, before the present-day Lipa took over. And aside from its significance, she just absolutely kills it here, with her lower register matching Keys perfectly. Consider this our official plea to have her tackle “Fallin’” during her next Garden run.

Lipa kicked off two nights in Miami with a cover of Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine’s “Conga.” For Night Two at Kaseya Center, she paid tribute to another Floridian: Ariana Grande. “I feel like everyone kind of knows and remembers exactly where they were when this song came out,” she told the audience. “So if you know it, please sing along.” She then launched into a propulsive, magnetizing “One Last Time,” which even Grande herself reposted. You can tell which covers Lipa’s fans are more familiar with. When it came to Grande’s 2015 hit, they knew every word.

What better way to kick off four nights in California than by covering one of the most quintessential California bands of all time? “I think about so many artists and creators that come here to this city to find themselves, to find their sound, to find who they are,” Lipa told the Kia Forum in Inglewood. “To, like, go to Hollywood and figure out what makes them unique and what makes them special and what gives them that little bit of magic. And this next song is by a band who have done exactly that in Los Angeles.” She chose Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” from Rumours, going full Lindsey Buckingham while her band supported her on backing vocals. Honorary mention goes to her cover of the Mamas and Papas’ “California Dreamin’” on the following night. Lipa did a wonderful job on that one, but it’s no Mac — chain keep us together.

Lipa has brought countless legends onstage with her throughout the tour — especially in California, where she enlisted Gwen Stefani for No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” and Billie Joe Armstrong for Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” Ranking her onstage collaborations would require a separate list altogether, but we’d like to shout out her performance with the one and only Lionel Richie. She brought him out during her third night in Inglewood, for a rapturous “All Night Long.” It turned the Kia Forum into a dancefloor, with the crowd ecstatically singing along. The performance sums up Lipa’s entire cover series of the tour — a joyful look back at music history, through the lens of one of today’s most exciting pop stars. Dare we call it radically optimistic?