Lipa promoted the album with appearances at several award shows, television programs and festivals, as well as embarking on a series of concert tours from 2016 to 2018.

Lipa developed a love for music at an early age, influenced by her father who performed in the Kosovan rock band Oda.

[6][9] Lipa determined that the smaller music industry of Kosovo did not match the type of career she wanted as she desired a "global scale" one.

[14][15] Lipa began posting covers of songs such as "If I Ain't Got You" (2004) by Alicia Keys and "Beautiful" (2002) by Christina Aguilera on YouTube.

[4] Although her videos did not reach great popularity,[12] she used them as a form of portfolio and took them to London clubs such as KOKO where she thought she would meet people from the music industry who she could show them to.

[16] After meeting Mawson in 2013, Lipa was invited to writing sessions by him and Ed Millett, the co-owners of TAP; this happened while they were deciding whether to sign her.

[21] The singer also attempted to create only radio songs in early sessions, which limited her and stressed her out, resulting in her creativity lacking and an amount of pressure being put on her.

[27] Songwriter Lucy Taylor gave Lipa "Be the One" before she had released any music;[28] the singer was reluctant to record it due to the fact that she had not written it.

[34] Aside from Cole and Furtado, Lipa took inspiration from artists including Sting, the Police, David Bowie, Radiohead, Stereophonics, Pink, Destiny's Child, Missy Elliott, Christina Aguilera, Method Man, Redman, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and Chance the Rapper.

[4][59] She explained that the sound embodied hip hop-influenced verses with heavy flow and raw, truthful lyrics, alongside a big, simple pop chorus.

[36] Dua Lipa avoids overproduction and uses electronic instrumentation alongside thick synthesizers, detailed percussion and complex melodies.

[66][62][70][71] The song gets its title from the first book of the bible and quotes Genesis 1 in the opening line: "in the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth".

[36][72] She apologizes to her partner for the complications that come with fame and longs for the honeymoon period of the relationship, realizing that people are in a constant state of change.

[74][75][76][77] Described by Lipa as "one of the happiest" songs on the album, the lyrics see the singers discussing how one can get lost in the middle of all the emotions at the beginning of a relationship.

[66][90][91] "IDGAF", an acronym for "I don't give a fuck", is a pop song set to an electric guitar riff and militaristic drums.

[93][94] Inspired by Lipa's unsuccessful modeling career, "Blow Your Mind (Mwah)" is about rejecting people who want others to change and having the upper hand in a relationship.

[144] In July 2016, the cover art for Dua Lipa was revealed, however, it received negative reviews from fans with many petitioning for it to be changed.

[145] The following month, Lipa announced the album's title and revealed the revised standard edition cover art and thanked her fans for being "patient and supportive" during the time.

The remixes mixed up moods, tempos, arrangement and different musical styles, including dance, drum and bass, hip hop, orchestral and pop.

The campaign was announced at a secret gig in Amsterdam where Lipa as well as celebrities such as Dutch model Doutzen Kroes and French actress Alix Bénézech created their own remixes by driving the car.

[188][189] Lipa later revealed that releasing the B-sides taught her to think of an album's life span differently and take full advantage of it.

[66] In The Line of Best Fit, Claire Biddles said "this is a mostly compelling and wholly fun trip through modern pop with a charismatic protagonist, that hangs together way better than it should".

[63] Writing for NME, Jamie Milton wrote that Lipa's voice "could make the thickest synths seem tame in comparison and carries a 20-a-day raspiness capable of making heartfelt ballads sound edgy", adding that "it's equally impressive to hear how confidently the debut holds itself together, flitting between styles but always shining a spotlight on a legitimate pop sensation".

[236] In a mixed review, The Guardian's Hannah J. Davies stated that "despite a few generic offerings", the album is "a solid pop debut that is high on summery nonchalance".

[247] In its 38th week, the album reached a peak of number three on the chart selling 9,518 units; it was boosted by the singer's appearance at the 2018 Brit Awards.

[259] In June 2019, it was awarded a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling one million album-equivalent units in the US.

It has spent over 100 weeks on the chart and was awarded a gold certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for selling 35,000 album-equivalent units in the country.

[263][264] In New Zealand, the album reached the 7th position and had 30,000 album-equivalent unit sales, resulting in it being awarded a double platinum certification from the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ).

[265][266] Additionally, the album has reached the top 10 of charts in the Flanders region of Belgium,[267] Croatia,[268] the Czech Republic,[269] Denmark,[270] the Netherlands,[271] Greece,[272] Ireland,[273] Norway,[274] Poland,[275] Scotland[276] and Sweden.

[278][279] In October 2018, Dua Lipa became the most-streamed album by a female artist on Spotify,[280][281] and has been streamed over eleven billion times.