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Dua Lipa’s 2016 Throwback Post Shows Just How Far She’s Come in the Last Decade

We’re swooning over the artist’s archival frames, and so are her fans.

Bailey Colon

Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa / Neil Mockford/Getty Images

In 2016, Dua Lipa enthusiasts welcomed singles like “Be The One” and “Blow Your Mind”, before the artist's inaugural album, which shares her namesake, debuted the following year.

If that sounds like you, you may want to check out the 30-year-old singer-songwriter’s latest Instagram post—shared today, Jan. 16—because she is giving her 88.8 million followers major flashbacks to the early days of her illustrious career.

In the 20-slide collage, which included a handful of famous friends such as Troye Sivan, Post Malone and Charli XCX, Lipa showcased a handful of “2016 memories”, she penned. From on-stage stints to an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, her frames gave fans nostalgia as they fonded over the archival snaps.

“You just had to be there,” a fan explained.

“Queen of 2016 and 2026 ❤️” another commented added.

“FAN since day 1 🥹🩷,” one user gushed.

Plus, Lipa’s major career leaps in the past decade are more than evident. She has notched a trio of Grammy Awards, recently concluded the Radical Optimism world tour in early December—the “biggest tour of [her] career,” according to Billboard—and even met one of her biggest musical influences along the way.

In a 2016 interview with Nylon, Lipa told the publication, “Nelly Furtado and P!nk’s first album, M!ssundaztood, changed my life,” before later adding, “I don’t know how I’d react if I met Nelly Furtado or P!nk. We’ll see how that escalates.”

Nine years later, in 2025, she covered Furtado's “I’m Like A Bird” in Toronto in the midst of her latest tour. The two had formerly met at one of Furtado’s “good friend’s birthday” parties, the Maneater singer told Euphoria in 2024. She also previously declared that she would be open to getting in the studio with the British singer.

“Dua Lipa seems very talented to me,” Furtado told Elle Mexico in 2023, per Sunny 94.3 FM. “I feel like our voices would go very well together. Sometimes I send her tracks,” she explained. “The truth is, I am open to everything; collaborating is the best way to learn and teach.”

Will we finally see a new song from the duo in 2026? We’ll have to hang tight—but that doesn’t mean we won’t be keeping our fingers crossed in hopes that a collab comes to fruition. Plus, if Lipa’s last decade is any indication, she’ll have plenty more in store, and we’ll be tuning in along the way.

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Bailey Colon
BAILEY COLON

Bailey Colón is a writer on the Breaking and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit, Colón worked at the National Basketball Association where she served as a founding member of the ‘Starting 5’ newsletter and led editorial operations for the NBA App and dotcom. Colón is particularly passionate about the impact of athletics on popular culture, fashion and media. The New England native has a bachelor’s degree from Marist College in journalism and political science.

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