Dua Lipa's Newsletter Is for Women Who Read (But Not Too Much)

If I were to ask you what you thought Service95, Dua Lipa’s new newsletter, was about, what would you say? Music would be a good guess, but you’d be wrong (sort of). I wouldn’t fault you for guessing feminism, but that too would be incorrect (sort of). And if you said the Hong Kong roller derby scene, well then I’d know you had already read it and this wouldn’t be a very fun game, now would it? The answer actually is that it is about all of these things, but it is also about lists, sculpture, and Paris.

Lipa announced Service95 last year, promising a platform where “powerful articles from the world’s most compelling voices will live alongside savvy social commentary, laugh-out-loud feature-writing, & left-of-center recommendations for anything from late-night snacks to the best in-flight music for long-haul trips.” So far in the newsletters first two emails, none of that has really come to pass.

Here’s what you can find in today’s Service95 missive, presented in the list form that is woven throughout each email:

1. Dua Lipa’s latest book recommendations, which include Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise.
2. A recommendation of the underwater sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, and a list of the five best places to see his work just in case you find yourself in Cyprus or Lanzarote.
3. Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing’s five favorite things to do in Paris, which include “Go horse riding in Fontainebleau.”
4. An article titled “How A Systemic Lack Of Legislation Is Failing To Protect Russian Women And Girls From Domestic Violence.”
5. A list of five Indian jewelry brands “everyone should have on their radar.”
6. A call to arms for women to eliminate the idea of individual “empowerment” and instead share power with one another. Comrade Dua, hello.

It is hard to figure out who the Service95 woman is. I imagine she’s liberal and young and has money, but not Goop money. This woman has maybe even made fun of Goop before, but has definitely tried some kind of adaptogen powder. The Skimm is too corny for her, but she does listen to The Daily every morning. She loves to be like, “I was reading an article the other day...”

Service95’s editorial output is great for her. No piece is longer than 800 words, and each has at least one thing you could bring up at a dinner party to seem like you know a thing or two about culture. For the rest of us (broke haters), it’s hard to see what you could get from Service95 that you couldn’t get in a better form from T Magazine or from the editorial arm of SSENSE or from Graydon Carter’s Air Mail or from following Sarah Jessica Parker on Instagram or from any of the various once-glossy fashion and style magazines that are well on their way to becoming newsletters written by random 26-year-olds themselves.

I won’t be unsubscribing though, mostly because I like the little bit at the beginning where Lipa herself tells us what’s going on in her life. Six-hour rehearsal days for the Future Nostalgia tour! Dinners alone at Cosme! What will she get up to next week?