Dua Lipa announces release of brand new single Houdini, kicking off third-album era

Dua Lipa has announced the release date of her brand new single, Houdini, officially kicking off the start of her third album cycle. 

The announcement - which came after weeks of teasing that would have made Taylor Swift proud - saw Dua finally unveil that she will be returning to the pop music arena full-time next week, when Houdini officially drops next Thursday (November 9).

It will be the first taste of Dua's third studio LP and the follow-up to her successful second record, Future Nostalgia, in an era which saw undoubtedly reach the upper echelons of pop supremacy with kinetic singles like Don't Start Now, Physical and Levitating (and let's light a candle for Hallucinate while we're at it). 

Not much (if anything) is known about Houdini, but we have been able to glimpse the tiniest snippets in a series of videos Dua posted (and then quickly deleted) from her Instagram. From what we can hear, Houdini is backed by a snapping, funky baseline and little audio clips of a key unlocking something. 

'Catch me or I go,' Dua sneers in one clip, while in another she declares; 'tell me all the ways you need me.' 

Houdini is heavily rumoured to have been produced by Kevin Parker of Tame Impala (who also produced Lady Gaga's underrated Perfect Illusion - he knows his way around a bop!), which would certainly explain the heady glimpses of 70s funk and psychedelia we've heard so far. 

Fans have also been speculating that Dua's new record might be influenced by anyone other than Kate Bush herself. In several teasers, Dua can be seen holding a small key in-between her teeth and on her tongue, in what many are taking as a homage to Kate's art-rock third album The Dreaming, her self-confessed 'she's gone mad' record. 

The Dreaming's cover famously casts Kate as Houdini's assistant, passing the escapologist a key on her tongue via a kiss. Handily, the album also contains a track called Houdini.

As for what we can expect from Dua's third album (which currently remains untitled),  Mark Ronson confirmed that the new Dua Lipa material he had heard was a "triumphant stomp" on everything that had come before, while last year Dua insisted that she'd be going for a "hard sonic pivot" away from the disco aesthetic that defined Future Nostalgia. 

Earlier this summer, Dua earned her fourth (and second solo) UK Number 1 single Dance The Night, taken from the soundtrack of Barbie, which definitely felt like a door closing on her old sound, ready for the start of something new.

Houdini drops Thursday November 9 via Warner