On June 21, Dua Lipa turned the second night of her Radical Optimism tour stop at Wembley Stadium into a shared spotlight, inviting Charli XCX out for a live rendition of “360,” and the result was pure adrenaline.
This wasn’t just a guest spot — it felt like a pop power summit. Charli, fresh off the heat of her Brat album release, waltzed into Dua’s stadium show with the swagger of a disruptor and the polish of a hitmaker. Dua, always in command but never too polished to be real, gave her the floor like a co-conspirator. “360” — normally Charli’s bratty, high-gloss anthem about self-obsession and hyper-femininity — was suddenly a two-woman statement of ownership, one that tore through the air like a rallying cry.
This moment wasn’t out of nowhere. Dua already dipped a toe into Charli’s glitchy, hyperpop waters with her spoken-word cameo on the “Talk Talk” remix alongside Troye Sivan, proving she’s game to bend her brand of pop into stranger, sexier territory. That remix may have been effortless, but this Wembley moment was earned — a sign of mutual respect, but also strategic alignment. These two artists are reshaping the mainstream sfrom opposite angles: Charli pushing it into chaotic, chrome-coated extremes, Dua keeping the structure while letting the edges blur.
The rest of Dua’s set was a sleek, athletic celebration of her new era. She brought back “Hotter Than Hell” for the first time since 2019, introducing it with a nod to its origin-story status: “This is the song that got me signed, and it’s the song that started everything.” It hit hard — not just because the crowd screamed every word, but because Dua looked like she was fully in her element: past, present, and future colliding in perfect sync.
The Radical Optimism setlist was a tightrope between bangers and ballads, nostalgia and reinvention. “Training Season” and “End of an Era” opened with punch, while “IDGAF” and “New Rules” still snapped like they did in their radio prime. “Houdini” and “Falling Forever” felt like standout moments from the new album, while the surprise of “360” — complete with Charli in full Brat-girl glory — was the kind of risk pop doesn’t take often enough.
What’s clear is that Dua’s pop game has evolved beyond global singles and clean aesthetics. She’s not just keeping up with the culture — she’s rewriting what it means to be a polished pop star in a post-genre, post-humblebrag world. Inviting Charli XCX onstage wasn’t a flex. It was a handshake. A wink. A nod to the girls who are doing it for themselves — and for each other.