Song: “New Rules” (click here for lyrics)

Artist: Dua Lipa

Overall Message: 

〉Dua Lipa exclaims that she is hooking up with a guy that makes her feel like nobody else but he also is making her go crazy. She has to set “rules” with herself so that she doesn’t get out of control and keep going back to an unhealthy hookup situation.

Analyzing the Lyrics: 

〉   Stereotypical Feminine Traits

  • Crazy: “Talkin’ in my sleep at night, makin’ myself crazy”
    • A very common stereotype is that women are crazy. Dua Lipa literally says that she is making herself crazy over a guy she is hooking up with. She knows she needs to move on because it is not healthy for her but she can’t resist him so it is driving her insane.
  • Attached: “But my love, he doesn’t love me”
    • When it comes to relationships, a stereotype that is often heard of is that the woman is more committed/in love than the man is. With Dua Lipa calling this man her “love” but then immediately saying that he doesn’t love her shows that she is probably way more attached to him than he is because he doesn’t even have the same mutual feelings.
  • Easy: “You know you’re gonna wake up in his bed in the morning” and “If you’re under him, you ain’t getting over him”
    • Dua Lipa really feeds into the stereotype that women are easy in these 2 lines. Saying that if you know you are going to wake up in his bed is showing that she can easily give in to him whenever he pleases. It shows that she has no control over her emotions and this hookup situation. Also, by saying that if you sleep with him that means you won’t be able to get over him solidifies the stereotype that women have emotional attachment issues.

 

〉Counterstereotypical Feminine Traits 

  • You may think that because this song talks about the “new rules” Dua Lipa is setting so that she doesn’t keep giving in to the guy she is hooking up with, she is defying stereotypes. However, when you closely look at the lyrics, she does quite the opposite which is pretty disappointing.

 

Stay tuned for the next post on…Rihanna!

Shared by: Emily Calewarts
Image Credit: https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/dua-lipa/243376