Already Past the Part Where She Cares

New Rules spent the summer of 2017 living in my head before I’d consciously decided how I felt about it. That’s the tell with a certain kind of pop song—it installs itself while you’re not paying attention, and by the time you form an opinion it’s already been running on a loop for two weeks. Dua Lipa had been building toward that moment since she was fourteen, releasing tracks like Hotter than Hell and Blow Your Mind to the kind of steady heat that doesn’t spike on social media but means the song is playing in every café, gym, and pharmacy on the continent.

The self-titled debut did everything it needed to do. Homesick for the late-night drives, Blow Your Mind for when you’re feeling good about yourself, New Rules for everyone who’s had to write the rules down because they keep breaking them. She went from promising newcomer to a name in the span of one summer.

I Don’t Give A Fuck is the natural next step from someone who no longer needs to campaign for your attention. There’s a looseness to it—the casual posture of someone who’s already won the argument and isn’t bothering to repeat it. If the second album lands anywhere near the first, we’re watching the beginning of something that’s going to be around for a long time.