In the Internet Age, nothing in the past really ever stays in the past, and that’s a lesson British pop star Dua Lipa is learning the hard way this week. The talented singer covered Mila J’s 2014 song “Smoke, Drink, Break Up,” and the track resurfaced online recently, and unfortunately Lipa sings Mila’s words verbatim, including the lines “So I roll me swisha, pour me some liquor before we start to bicker and calling each other out our names like plenty bitches and n—-s.”
The lyrics are obviously problematic, and now the singer has released a statement on Twitter apologizing for her use of the N-Word on the song, saying she “wasn’t thinking at the time.”
https://twitter.com/DUALIPA/status/949072548209352704
https://twitter.com/DUALIPA/status/949072674998939648
“In relation to my 2014 cover I never meant to offend or upset anyone,” the 22-year-old singer said in a tweet. “I didn’t say the full word but I can admit I shouldn’t have gone there at all and that a different word could’ve been recorded altogether to avoid offense and confusion. I wasn’t thinking it through at the time.” She added “I always stand up for social justice and I am very sorry to anyone that I have offended” in another tweet.
The word is muffled in the cover, clearly showing that somebody involved with the recording knew it would be an issue, and the track doesn’t appear to exist online in any other form with the word unedited. Still, Lipa saw reason to apologize anyway, to further rectify the situation.
