Service95

''Service95'' is a weekly lifestyle newsletter and website founded in 2021 by English and Albanian singer Dua Lipa. Announced in November 2021, the newsletter's first issue was released on 3 February 2022. Described as a "global style, culture, and society concierge service created to help the reader make sense of the world", each newsletter features a personal letter from Lipa alongside several articles from guest contributors. It features topics including recommendations, travel advice and politics and ranges from lighthearted stories to hard-hitting reporting. The goal of the newsletter according to its founder, is to broaden the scope of journalism by featuring pieces that cannot be found elsewhere.

Lipa was inspired to create the newsletter from the lists of recommendations she had created for her friends since she was a child. The newsletter is based in London. An accompanying podcast hosted by Lipa entitled ''Dua Lipa: At Your Service'' was launched on 11 February 2022. The podcasts feature in-depth conversations between Lipa and high-profile guests. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners learn more about themselves through her guests' stories.

The Service95 Book Club launched in June 2022. Each month, they discuss a book personally chosen by Lipa, representing writing from across the globe, assisted by new editorial content – such as video interviews with Lipa, exclusive essays, further reading lists and playlists.

History

On 23 November 2021, Dua Lipa announced that she would launch a free weekly newsletter entitled ''Service95'' in February 2022. It was described as a "global style, culture, and society concierge service created to help the reader make sense of the world" and "a way to find order in the chaos"; Lipa described it as "a general store with all the content you've always wanted to read". Lipa was inspired to create the newsletter by her longtime hobby of sharing personally curated lists with her closest friends that mentioned lesser-known "people, pieces of pop culture, travel destinations, hidden gems and global issues". The singer had been "obsessively" making the lists since she was a child, and they have become her friends' "go-to" for recommendations. Once Lipa started touring, her passion for the lists grew as she was getting to explore the world. The singer said her parents would make fun of her for making the lists. Lipa stated that she created the lists as a "fear of forgetting to share" as well as a way to connect with loved ones and the fact that she loves documenting her experiences. She went on to say "the more we share with each other, the closer we become, the wider our circles grow" and that she finds "huge joy in telling people what he haslearned about in any given city and love finding connection in our shared experiences". ''Service95'' takes that idea and brings it to anyone who is as curious as she is about life. The newsletter name comes from Lipa's birth year, 1995, and the fact that she has always seen herself as "of service" to her friends and family through these lists, and now to her fans. Lipa registered the trademark from ''Service95'' in June 2021.

''Service95'' is a global editorial platform curating content from lifestyle, fashion, culture, travel, and activism, insights into Lipa's life as well as lists on everything from the latest creatives, music, food and book recommendations. Lipa also intended to broaden the types and scopes of stories one might read. She mentioned that the newsletter is all about accessibility, meaning that the idea behind it is sharing information and helping one another. Some issues focus on a single story, giving it space to breathe while others will pair lighthearted features with hard-hitting reporting. Lipa teased that the newsletter would include "everything from underground galleries in Brazil, to little-known diners in Louisiana and the best manicurists in Lagos" as well as "her favourite tucked-away hotel in Paris, to the best spot for dumplings in the 11th arrondissement, to the playlist she made to listen to on the flight home". Every issue includes a personal letter from Lipa that mentions where she is in the world and her tips on what she has been doing, her favourite spots and latest obsessions in culture. The first issue launched on 3 February 2022.

In the first issue, Lipa gave an update on her Future Nostalgia Tour and the ''Dua Lipa: At Your Service'' podcast while mentioning her five favourite restaurants in London. There were articles on amapiano, a house music subgenre emerging in South Africa, a feature on Sinéad Burke about her work designing things to be more accessible for more diverse individuals, one on a Hong Kong-based, all-female roller derby crew and one on a Paris-based homeware store.

''Dua Lipa: At Your Service''

Alongside the announcement of ''Service95'', Lipa revealed that a companion podcast entitled ''Dua Lipa: At Your Service'' would also accompany the newsletter. The podcast is intended for Lipa to have deep conversations with a line up of high-profile guests. She explained: "though a lot of my guests have done their fair share of talking, I want to go deeper with them. Not only am I probing them about the things I'm most curious about, I'm also treating them like the experts they are". Lipa mentioned that the conversations cover global concerns and casual chats while she hopes that listeners will learn something about themselves from the inspiring stories guests will tell.

The goal of the conversations is "understanding their journey in a way that when people listen to it, it feels like it is of service, like the whole conversation, whether it is how a certain author got to where they are, how it all happened, relationship advice, growing up in the industry, understanding what that's like, what it takes to really get to where you want to be". Lipa stated that it's interesting being on the other side of the interview, which is a skill she has been developing and really enjoying, specifically saying she loves the research element of it and learning about people. The podcast launched on 11 February 2022 and has run for three seasons. The first season of the podcast was distributed by iHeartRadio.Citations regarding ''Dua Lipa: At Your Service'':
*
* Its first season consisted of 12 episodes and featured guests including CL, Edward Enninful, Elton John, Megan Thee Stallion, Nadia Murad, Olivier Rousteing, Lisa Taddeo, Hanya Yanagihara and Bowen Yang. The third season of the podcast was sponsored by BBC.

Episodes

Special

Season 1 (2022)

Season 2 (2022)

Season 3 (2023)

''Service95 Book Club''

In June 2022, Dua Lipa launched the Service95 Book Club with an in-person interview with Douglas Stuart on his book Shuggie Bain at Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye. Each month Dua personally selects a new book to explore. Lipa does exclusive author interviews, and the authors share their playlists, reading lists and essays, among other editorial content around the world to get inside the author’s world.

Authors to date include Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, Just Kids by Patti Smith, Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, The Guest by Emma Cline, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Trust by Hernan Diaz, Crying In H Mart by Michelle Zauner, Swimming In The Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski, Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman, Bad Habit by Alana S Portero, Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.

Critical reception

In ''The Telegraph'', Rebecca Reid stated "Lipa might really be on to something" as the contributors "have certainly grasped what made all lifestyle blogs great". She continued stating it contains "a feeling that you're discovering things you'd never be cool enough to find on your own, and the kind of recommendation you can pass on to a friend you want to impress while acting like you discovered it yourself". She concluded by stating "it's all the joys of the mid 00's blogosphere, tempered with an inclusive 2022 twist". For ''Elle'', Lucy Cocoran said ''Service95'' is like "an exclusive invitation into Dua's world, as seen through her eyes" while also complimenting her passion for "making it a platform for marginalised voices, bringing important issues to light in a digestible way".

''The Guardian'' reviewer Hannah Verdier complimented Lipa's interviewing skills in ''Dua Lipa: At Your Service'' while stating that if the world needs another celebrity interview podcast, she's glad it's Lipa. The reviewer explained by naming the podcast a "thoughtful batch of interviews" that is "a far cry from the interruption-filled rambling of some celebrity pods". Eoghan O'Sullivan of the ''Irish Examiner'' praised the guests that appear on the podcast; the reviewer named the Olivier Rousteing episode the "best of the bunch", specifically complimenting Lipa's empathy towards Rousteing and the content he talks about. For the ''Irish Independent'', Tony Clayton-Lea named ''Dua Lipa: At Your Service'' the "Podcast of the Week" in April 2022. He called it a "bold" intention for Lipa and said these intentions of solidified by the "obvious" and unexpected choice of guests.

References

External links

Dua Lipa introducing ''Service95''
on Twitter

{{Dua Lipa

2021 establishments in England
Dua Lipa
Newsletters