Homesick

Album: Dua Lipa (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Dua Lipa singing about being away from her lover. She wrote the tune with Coldplay's Chris Martin, who joins in halfway through. Dua Lipa told NME the collaboration was a last-minute addition that at one point didn't look like happening. "I get this email saying, 'Why don't you meet Chris at this studio in Malibu and play him your stuff?' And I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" the songstress recalled.

    So a nervous Dua Lipa took the trip to meet the Coldplay star. "He's listening attentively and wants to know the meaning behind the songs," she said. "Then he's like, 'OK, why don't we try something for your album?' He sets up the mics and we're just humming ideas, making up melodies and recording it all. It was already quite late, so he gave me what we'd recorded and said, 'Have a listen back. If you think there's something good there, we'll come back to it.' I just thought, 'He's sending me on my way now, we're never gonna see each other again.'"

    But Lipa listened back, picked out one of the melodies they'd written and arranged a second session. "At first, it was just meant to be me [singing], but then I begged him to sing too. I was like, 'You have to be on this song!' And he agreed. It's the most beautiful song on the album. I think it really brings everyone in for a little cry."
  • Asked by the BBC how she ended up working with Chris Martin, Dua Lipa replied:

    "I was in a meeting and someone asked, 'Who would you love to work with?' and I said, 'I'd love to write a song with Chris Martin.' One of the ladies in the room said, 'Oh, I've been working with him for a while - I'll happily send him some of your music.' So I picked a few songs but I didn't really know what to expect. It was a leap of faith.

    Then I got an email saying, 'Chris would love to meet you. Why don't you come to his studio in Malibu?' I was really nervous and really excited at the same time. I didn't know how to act."
  • Written by Dua Lipa and Chris Martin in Los Angeles, the rain in the lyrics is a reminder of the British songstress' home in London.

    "I always miss home and I always miss the rain," she told Billboard. "It's only when it rains in L.A. when I go, 'Oh, this is what London feels like and this is the part where I love it the most because I feel like there's a tiny bit of home that I get to carry with me every time that it rains."

    Dua Lipa added: "The whole song is really about the sacrifice that you make spending so much time away from all your loved ones and your friends and your family to live your dream and do what you love."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.

Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues

Justin Hayward of The Moody BluesSongwriter Interviews

Justin wrote the classic "Nights In White Satin," but his fondest musical memories are from a different decade.

Actors With Hit Songs

Actors With Hit SongsMusic Quiz

Many actors have attempted music, but only a few have managed a hit. Do you know which of these thespians charted?

Album Cover Inspirations

Album Cover InspirationsSong Writing

Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.

Amy Grant

Amy GrantSongwriter Interviews

The top Contemporary Christian artist of all time on song inspirations and what she learned from Johnny Carson.