"Be The One" by Dua Lipa // Song Review

- October 27, 2025

"Be The One" is Dua Lipa's debut single and one of the defining songs of her early career, marking the moment everything truly began for her. "For me, 'Be The One' is about self belief, perseverance, and fighting for what you want," she told NYLON in a 2015 interview. "In this instance, it's about a relationship but really, this is an attitude I try to bring into everything in my life."

Released in October 2015, "Be The One" became the launching pad for everything that followed. She was only nineteen at the time, but she already carried herself with so much confidence in her sound, especially with her signature soulful voice that really sets her apart as an artist.

What makes the song even more interesting is that it was one of the only tracks on her 2017 self-titled debut album that she didn't write herself. When she was first approached with it by her collaborators, she wasn't sure she wanted to record it, but she immediately connected with its message. "As much as I loved the song, at first I wasn't sure I wanted to record it because I hadn't written it," she said in an interview with NME. "It was a pride thing, but it was also like, 'I can't take a song I haven't written because then no one will believe I write any of my own stuff.' But I just had to get over it. And now that song has helped me to get the stuff that I did write out there."

"Be The One" was written by Lucy Taylor and produced by Digital Farm Animals, who had recorded the song with Dua before she had officially released any music of her own yet.

"I had been working with a songwriter named Lucy Taylor quite a bit, and she came to me with what was almost a poem that I thought was amazing," Nick Gale of Digital Farm Animals said in an interview with Billboard. That poem is eventually what turned into Dua's debut single. "We started making a beat in a session and only spent a day and a half on it. During the chorus we realized it was really good," he continued. It was later sent to Dua's team at Sony Records, who thought she would be the perfect fit for the track.

"I'm not even sure how, but they thought it'd be amazing for Dua,” Nick added. "She came in and we made it right for her, like changing the key. It was a lucky one, because it's very rare you get to be the first person on a project that gives someone their first major hit."

She has performed this song countless times around the world over the past decade, but perhaps the most meaningful performance came during her iconic headlining slot at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival. She introduced it as "A really, really special one for me," before reflecting on what it has meant to her journey thus far. "It's really kind of seen me grow up and it changed my life, and it's a song I think I'll sing for the rest of my life." It was such a beautiful moment, as she stood in front of hundreds of thousands of people singing the words with her to this song. It showed just how far she's come, and how much further she still has left to go.

Lyrically, the song is written as a plea to try to make her relationship work amidst miscommunications. Fighting to get through the rough patch, she ultimately believes they can make it through, asking for another chance to prove that she could be the one. "Oh baby, come on, let me get to know you, just another chance so that I can show that I won't let you down and run, no, I won't let you down and run," she sings in the chorus. "'Cause I could be the one."

That sentiment mirrored where she was in her career too, as a young artist trying to prove she could carve out her own lane in music, that she too could be the one to break through.