Dua Lipa Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Dua Lipa Wiki

"New Rules" is a song by English singer Dua Lipa from her eponymous debut studio album (2017). The track was written and produced by Ian Kirkpatrick, with an additional writing from Caroline Ailin and Emily Warren. It was released to contemporary hit radio in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2017 as the album's seventh single. It impacted the same format in the United States on 22 August.

"New Rules" is a tropical house, EDM and electropop song with a drum and horn instrumentation. In the lyrics, the singer states a list of rules to get over a former boyfriend. It has received positive reviews from music critics, with many of them labelling it as a break-up and female empowerment anthem. It reached number one in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders), Ireland, Israel and Romania, while peaking within the top ten in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and several other countries. "New Rules" became the singer's third entry and first top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number six.

An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Henry Scholfield and premiered through Lipa's YouTube account on 7 July 2017. It shows the artist staying in a hotel room with her friends, who prevent her from getting back together with her former boyfriend. The visual gained the attention of many music critics, who commended its themes of female empowerment. It was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Choreography at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.[1] The track's commercial success has been attributed to the popularity of the music video. Lipa has performed "New Rules" during awards ceremonies such as the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards and the 2018 Brit Awards, and also included it on the set list of her tour, The Self-Titled Tour (2017–18).

Background[]

"New Rules" was written by Caroline Ailin, Emily Warren and its producer Ian Kirkpatrick during a writing camp for British band Little Mix.[1][2] Kirkpatrick also engineered and programmed the track, while Chris Gehringer mastered it and Josh Gudwin mixed it.[4] According to Warren, she was told in the early years of her career to never write a song where the male partner will not "get it", but later stopped following that because she thinks the "best writing" happens when she stops worrying about what to do and just expresses herself. She added that she applied this approach with "New Rules", whose lyrics were inspired by Ailin's struggles with the temptation of getting back together with a former boyfriend[3] The song was passed down by a few artists, including one who thought it did not have a notable hook.[4] In January 2017, Lipa announced through her Facebook account that she was postponing the release of her eponymous debut studio album to 2 June of that year in order to record more songs.[5]After this, she traveled to Los Angeles, California, where Kirkpatrick played her "New Rules" and she recorded it.[6] When asked about the fact that she did not write the song after saying in past interviews that she preferred to write her own music, Lipa stated that her perspective had changed and that:

"I still take a lot of pride in being able to write my own songs. My story's coming from me. But 'New Rules' is a song that I felt like I had been in the room and written. I'm so close with Emily [Warren] and Caroline [Ailin] and Ian [Kirkpatrick], who had worked on it, that I feel like it was a song they had written with me in mind. I'm proud of it as if I had been in that room. I just feel so closely to it. I guess I don't have that perspective anymore. But like I said, I still love writing everything. And I'm still going to do it. But it's a song that I feel like I can relate to on a personal level, that I also feel that when I do perform it, it becomes mine and I embody it in a different way".[7]

Composition and release[]

"New Rules" has been described as a tropical house, EDM,[8] and electropop song[9] with elements of bashment, featuring a drum and horn instrumentation. According to the digital sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Faber Music, the song is composed in the key of A minor, and has a tempo of 116 beats per minute. Lipa's vocals span from the low note of A3 to the high note of E5. In the lyrics, the singer sets a list of rules that prevent her from getting back together with an ex-boyfriend. The rules are: "One: Don't pick up the phone, you know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone / Two: Don't let him in, you'll have to kick him out again / Three: Don't be his friend, you know you're going to wake up in his bed in the morning." Lipa confessed in an interview with NPR that "[t]hey're not necessarily rules I've been able to stick by. But [they're] rules that I feel like it's important to be able to tell yourself, to tell your friends... There's a reason people break up, and it's probably the same reason why you shouldn't get back together." Warren explained through an annotation on website Genius that the track was a self-reminder for people recovering from a break-up to not succumb to a momentary temptation since it is not "a good idea in the long term"

Talking about the song, the artist explained that "'New Rules' is quite different to a lot of tracks on the album. I wanted it to feel very new [...] It's the breakup song that I wish I had when I was breaking up with someone" and that "It's about keeping your distance from someone who's bad for you. I'm setting some rules down so [that I] won't go back to that person." "New Rules" was sent to contemporary hit radio in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2017 as the album's sixth single. It impacted the same format in the United States on 22 August 2017. Three days later, a remixed version by Australian DJ Alison Wonderland was released on iTunes.[10]

Lyrics[]

One, one, one...

Talkin' in my sleep at night
Makin' myself crazy
(Out of my mind, out of my mind)
Wrote it down and read it out
Hopin' it would save me
(Too many times, too many times)
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

One, don't pick up the phone
You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone
Two, don't let him in
You'll have to kick him out again
Three, don't be his friend
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

I got new rules, I count 'em
I got new rules, I count 'em
I gotta tell them to myself
I got new rules, I count 'em
I gotta tell them to myself

I keep pushin' forwards, but he keeps pullin' me backwards
(Nowhere to turn) no way
(Nowhere to turn) no
Now I'm standing back from it, I finally see the pattern
(I never learn, I never learn)
But my love, he doesn't love me, so I tell myself
I tell myself
I do, I do, I do

One, don't pick up the phone
You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone
Two, don't let him in
You'll have to kick him out again
Three, don't be his friend
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

I got new rules, I count 'em
I got new rules, I count 'em
I gotta tell them to myself
I got new rules, I count 'em
I gotta tell them to myself

Practice makes perfect
I'm still tryna' learn it by heart
(I got new rules, I count 'em)
Eat, sleep, and breathe it
Rehearse and repeat it, 'cause I
(I got new, I got new, I...)

One, don't pick up the phone
You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone
Two, don't let him in
You'll have to kick him out again
Three, don't be his friend
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

I got new rules, I count 'em
I got new rules, I count 'em
(Oh, whoa-oh)
I gotta tell them to myself
I got new rules, I count 'em
(Baby, you know I count 'em)
I gotta tell them to myself

Don't let him in, don't let him in
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't be his friend, don't be his friend
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't let him in, don't let him in
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't be his friend, don't be his friend
Don't, don't, don't, don't
You gettin' over him

Milestones[]

  • The Music Video has over 2.9 billion views on Youtube.com. 2023
  • The Music Video has over 3 Billion views on Youtube.com. 2024

Spotify[]

  • The Spotify Streaming have 2Billion Streaming on Spotify

Triva[]

  • This Song New Rules in The 3 Sets of Rules is Mean A Forshadowing Dua Lipa Oringinal Collaboration Sean Paul his Milestone.

References[]

Advertisement