Dua Lipa discusses influence of Patti Smith’s ‘Just Kids’: “An incredible book”
Dua Lipa has named Just Kids, written by Patti Smith, as the book that has influenced her songwriting and career the mos.
The singer discussed her biggest literary influence during a live recording of her Service95 Book Club video podcast at the New York Public Library on September 15th. Lipa was in conversation with author David Szalay. His novel, titled Flesh, is her book club’s October selection.
When asked by Spotify’s Chief Public Affairs Officer, Dustee Jenkins, about a book that most influenced her songwriting, Lipa considered for a moment. She then credited Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids. The book, published in 2010, discusses Smith’s relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe, who tragically passed away in 1989.
Speaking on Just Kids, Lipa commented (via People), “Just Kids is such an incredible book and such a time capsule of creativity when it was really emerging, especially during that time in the 1960s and 1970s.” The book was also her September 2023 book club pick, which saw Smith invited onto the podcast.
The singer and dancer cast her mind back further, and was also sure to credit the books that influenced her as a child. She noted popular children’s book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, along with authors Malorie Blackman and Jacqueline Wilson. “We don’t have enough younger readers and we need to have more of them,” Lipa said. “And so if I can play a small role in doing that, that makes me really happy.”
Her praise for Patti Smith is not one-sided. Smith has previously branded the ‘Don’t Start Now’ singer one of the best feminist role models of our time. “If you were going to choose her as some type of role model, she would not steer you wrong,” Smith said of the fellow musician.
The ‘Because The Night’ singer expanded, “You know, she’s fun-loving, she cares about people – that’s in parallel to having a real thirst for knowledge. She’s fighting to seek protection from AI, which is something that affects all of us. She’s not afraid to speak out for displaced people.”
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