Dua Lipa’s psychedelic Hallucinate video has cartoon clowns

She has been promoting the long-awaited video for her single Hallucinate throughout lockdown. 

And Dua Lipa finally released the psychedelic recording on Friday to the delight of her fans. 

The singer, 24, announced the release of the video on her Instagram feed encouraging her fans to ‘have a good trip’ while watching it. 

She uploaded a snippet of the video, featuring herself as a cartoon character interacting with other cartoon versions of rabbits, unicorns, clowns and flowers that constantly change. 

And Dua captioned the upload: ‘Hallucinate is hereee!! created with love during lockdown. Thank you to the gang that helped me bring this idea to life.’

She added, ‘hope you like it and have a goooood trip’, followed by a mushroom emoji. 

The video, which was directed by The Mill’s Lisha Tan, sees the pop star get transformed into a cartoon character.

According to a press release, the video was inspired by the ‘Studio 54 aesthetic and cartoons from multiple iconic eras’. 

It added: ‘The video is an animation extravaganza. Directed by The Mill’s Lisha Tan, who is well known for her illustration and animation style.

‘The film is packed with eclectic and fun characters, including a fully animated cartoon Dua Lipa.’

In the video, the animated version of Dua performs for a wide-eyed crowd of cartoons, rides giant pink unicorns and dances through several colourful settings.

Hallucinate features on the pop star’s second studio album, Future Nostalgia.

The singer had already received some backlash because the video is a cartoon rather than real life. 

Dua took to Twitter to respond to one follower who moaned that the long-awaited video for her single Hallucinate would be animated, reminding them she’s struggled to find the resources to film a grand production during lockdown.

Dua had been holed up in a ‘random air bnb’ in London with boyfriend Anwar Hadid in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but confirmed on Wednesday they’d finally returned to America. 

Dua excited shared a teaser from her new video with fans, which featured her animated alter-ego, penning the caption: ‘THIS FRIDAY #HALLUCINATE.’

Sadly this news did not seem to excite everyone in her vast fanbase, as one tweeted: ‘Ok dua I didn’t wait so Long for hallucinate to get an animated MV.’

But Dua was quick to remind her followers that she’d been holed up at home, meaning it wouldn’t have been easy to put together and army of dancers and producers to film a grand music video. 

She tweeted: ‘Did you guys forget that we’ve been in the middle of a pandemic for the past 3 months???’ followed by a pair of crying laughing emojis. 

She recently spoke on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast and said she had been worried about releasing her dance album during lockdown.

She said: ‘I guess that was kind of the thing I was maybe the most conflicted about

‘It’s such an upbeat, high-tempo album that you would just want to dance to. I wasn’t sure if it was really the time to put it out — to celebrate, I guess, during a time of so much suffering.’

Dua recently revealed she’d finally returned to America with boyfriend Anwar, following an idyllic getaway on the island of St Lucia.

The young couple were welcomed back by Anwar’s mother Yolanda with a heartfelt post uploaded to Instagram on Monday. 

Despite being eager to return, the couple had to quarantine in the Caribbean beforehand to isolate as Dua is not a registered US citizen.

They had originally been holed up in ‘a random Airbnb’ in London, after the award-winning belter returned home from her Australian tour to find her flat flooded.  

Speaking on Good Morning Britain recently, Dua, who has just released her second album, said things are going well as she enjoys some rare downtime with Anwar. 

‘I’m still in the airbnb, it’s all good,’ she told the ITV show. ‘My boyfriend and I are used to it, we travel a lot so we can make anywhere home. 

‘I got back from Australia and when the self-isolation thing started to happen, I quickly had to find a spot.’ 

Speaking about lockdown with Anwar, she said: ‘I’m with my boyfriend Anwar. We’ve been playing Xbox, reading and trying to learn new recipes. 

‘Yesterday we made lamb maeloubah – Anwar’s dad sent us the recipe. It was fun to cook together, which is lucky because it was a three-hour activity; it’s the most ambitious thing I have ever set out to make.

‘It’s quite rewarding when it turns out like the picture. Today I’m making a leek stew my mum would cook, which really takes me back to my childhood.

‘Anwar has been dyeing my hair all kinds of colours – pink, orange, red – it has been a different colour every week.’