Dua Lipa, a 21 year old English singer, recently debuted the music video for her song, “New Rules” and everyone has been freaking out. I saw a clip of the video on Twitter the other day and was instantly drawn in. It showed a line of different girls in pastel colored robes all brushing each other’s hair. When I watched the full video, I loved it.
The Premise
The video features a large and diverse group of female friends, all beautiful in their own way. The friendship and girl power remains a constant theme throughout the video. Dua Lipa is singing about how she has new rules for herself when it comes to dealing with a boy. At one point she says, “My love, he makes me feel like nobody else, nobody else. But my love, he doesn’t love me, so I tell myself, I tell myself”. She then proceeds to list off her rules about not falling into the boy’s trap, including not answering when he calls her.
I find her to be particularly strong because even though she admittedly has feelings for this person, she knows he does not feel the same about her and that it would be in her best interest to walk away to avoid getting hurt. He seems to be using her and only calls when he is drunk, so she knows she cannot get what she really wants from him. It would probably be easy to walk away from someone if you didn’t really care anymore, but this admission shows that she likes him, but has the strength to let him go, which is incredible. Another thing to note is how even though she promotes this strength and power throughout most of the video, the beginning does show a weaker side to her. This shows that we all have trouble being strong sometimes, and that’s okay.
She’s In Control
I also love the fact that she’s saying she tells herself these rules, because that means she knows it’s what’s best for her, and it isn’t just someone else’s opinion. It can be annoying when other people tell you how to live your life, even if they think it’s what’s best, so I love that this is something she initiated within herself. Her friends stand by her and encourage her to stay strong about following the rules she has set.
The Imagery
The video features some beautiful imagery, and honestly, you just have to watch it to get the full effect. Here are some scenes featured: the girls brushing each other’s hair and applying each other’s lipstick, dancing in the halls, and walking on water! While maybe this doesn’t sound like anything crazy (except walking on water because duh!), believe me, it’s freakin’ gorgeous. You need this video in your life.
The Fashion
I love the fashion in the video, which features multiple wardrobe changes and the cutest outfits. If someone can make a list of where I can buy all these clothes that’d be great. My fav outfit is the one Dua wears starting at minute 1:51 in the video, which is the second time the chorus comes on.
To Wrap Things Up…
So everyone involved in this video is a damn genius. It’s fun, visually pleasing, and promotes empowering women to stay strong in difficult situations. I also cry a little every time I watch it because I am just so affected by the magic of it all. I hope one day I can be as bad-ass as Dua Lipa is in this video.