Dua Lipa was born (22 August 1995) and raised in West Hampstead, London. She’s the eldest child of Kosovo Albanian parents. Lipa's first name "Dua" was her grandmother's suggestion and means "love" in Albanian. She is occasionally referred to affectionately by fans as "Dula Peep", which originated as a mispronunciation by American talk show host Wendy Williams in 2018. Dua Lipa moved with her family to Pristina after Kosovo declared independence in 2008. There she attended Mileniumi i Tretë School, learned more about the Albanian language, and considered a music career.                                                   At age 15, Dua Lipa moved alone back to London and shared a flat with a family friend.

At Parliament Hill School she passed her A-Levels, then re-entered Sylvia Young Theatre School part-time. She uploaded her own songs to SoundCloud and YouTube. She began posting videos of herself covering songs such as "If I Ain't Got You" (2004) by Alicia Keys and "Beautiful" (2002) by Christina Aguilera on YouTube.Dua Lipa modeled with Topshop and signed with a modeling agency, helping her land a role as a "singer" in an ITV advertisement for The X Factor in 2013.                                              

After she signed a contract with Tap Management, directed by Ben Mawson and Ed Millett, while working as a waitress in a cocktail bar. Dua Lipa was introduced to Mawson by her lawyer, who discouraged her from signing another publishing deal that was offered to her. They then offered her a monthly salary to leave her job and focus on recording music. During one of the sessions Lipa co-wrote the song "Hotter than Hell", which led to her signing a record deal with Warner Bros. Records in 2014. Her first tour in the UK and Europe began in January 2016, and concluded in early December 2016. Her first album Dua Lipa was released on 2 June 2017, Its sixth single, "New Rules", released in the following month, became Lipa's first number one in the UK, and the first by a female solo artist to reach the top in the UK since Adele's "Hello" in 2015. Her best-selling single to date, the song also charted in the top ten of other countries, including number two in Australia, number six in the US, and number seven in Canada. As of 2024, the music video has streamed over three billion views on YouTube.          

In August 2019, Lipa partnered with brand Yves Saint Laurent to endorse their fragrance Libre. Following the release of its lead single "Don't Start Now", Dua Lipa's second album, Future Nostalgia, and its accompanying tour were announced in December 2019.                             On 11 August 2020, she was named global ambassador of the French mineral water brand Évian. On 26 May 2023, Dua Lipa released "Dance the Night" as the lead single of the Barbie film soundtrack. She made her acting debut in the movie, portraying Mermaid Barbie.

In November 2023, Dua Lipa acquired full ownership of all her songs, music, and publishing rights, in a new deal she completed with her former music publishers, Tap Music. The deal included all of her master recordings from her entire music catalogue, which by February 2024, had reached 40 billion streams. In August 2018, Dua Lipa organized a festival to raise money for the foundation called the Sunny Hill Festival. On 27 November 2022, Dua Lipa was granted Albanian citizenship by president Bajram Begaj, one day before the country's 110th independence celebrations.                                            

On February 2024, Dua Lipa was promoted to global ambassador for YSL Beauty. Dua Lipa announced her third studio album, titled Radical Optimism, and its release date, via an Instagram livestream on 13 March 2024. The album is her first studio effort in four years, following Future Nostalgia.