Belgian singer Angele has said working with Dua Lipa was a “very good experience” for her as she was able to see an artist be successful yet still “normal”.
The pop star, 26, is best known in the UK for her collaboration with Lipa on the 2020 dance-pop track Fever, which was accompanied by a music video that explores how women stick together while on a night out to avoid danger.
The singer, whose full name is Angele Van Laeken, is continuing to make a name for herself in the world of music after the recent release of her second album, titled Nonante-Cinq, in December.
Angele, who now resides in Paris, told the PA news agency: “We’re very good friends, whenever she comes to Paris we try to hang out.
“She became a very good friend of mine because we’re the same age, we’re both doing the same job in our positions.”
She explained that although Lipa has wider global recognition, she feels they can “understand each other very well” and said that meeting the fellow pop singer was a highlight for her in 2020.
“When they called us to make this duo I was very surprised because I loved her work and I love her album, Future Nostalgia”, she added.
“And it was a very good experience to work with somebody like her because she’s so mature, and she does know what she wants and what she doesn’t want.
“And she’s very strong and powerful and that was something I needed to see last year because I wasn’t doing shows and promos.
“I was doing my album. I was working on my own. I wasn’t seeing anybody because we were in quarantine.
“And then I met her in London, and we were able to do this video clip and we had a connection. And I felt like it was possible to be very famous and to work a lot and to still (be) normal.
“I was happy to see somebody like her doing the same job as me and still be so normal.”
The Belgian singer will reconnect with Lipa again later this year as she is due to support her when she plays at London’s O2 Arena in May.
Considering which artists she would like to collaborate with in the future, Angele noted the British singers Jorja Smith and Joy Crookes – as they remind her of one of her all-time favourite singers, Amy Winehouse.
She told PA: “I’m a big fan of Amy Winehouse, I used to listen to her music a lot when I was younger, and there are two artists that made me think of her music.
“Jorja Smith – I love her work. And also another artist that I found out recently – Joy Crookes – she makes me think a bit of Amy Winehouse with the arrangement and the beautiful voice and I really loved these two artists.”
Angele released her debut album Brol in 2018. It enjoyed great success in Belgium and France, topping the charts in both countries.
She hopes new album Nonante-Cinq, which she describes as “more personal”, will share the same success.
Reflecting on her sudden rise to fame and being seen as a role model to some young women, she admits she does feel some pressure.
She explained: “I felt like I had so many things to learn and I feel I’m a feminist, but I’m in progress.
“I’m always learning about feminism and about my way of seeing this fight.
“I’m very grateful to be seen as a model sometimes. But also I want to say that I’m a feminist in progress.”