Dua Lipa is a chart-topping international sensation, but she once couldn’t even get a spot in her school’s choir.

Lipa, 28, spoke about her early struggles in a video shared via Trixie Mattel’s YouTube channel on Monday, March 18. As the duo attempted to recreate the cover of Lipa’s upcoming album, Radical Optimism, with paint, the pop star revisited her unsuccessful choir audition.

“The music teacher was like — it was an ᴀssembly — ‘Alright, who wants to sing and try out for the choir?’ I went, ‘Y’know what? I’d like to actually do that.’ So, I decided to stand up for the whole school, and he started playing on the piano,” said Lipa. “It was in this crazy high note and nothing came out — just air and the whole school started laughing.”

She continued, “And he was like, ‘You know what? Better luck next time.’ That was it. Later on, I was part of the choir, but I was in the lower range.”

Lipa added that she found her voice — literally — outside of formal education. “I went to singing lessons in a theater school every Saturday in London and it was the teacher there that helped me build up my confidence,” she explained.

Lipa announced earlier this month that her third studio album, Radical Optimism, will be released on Friday, May 3. The artwork captures the album’s тιтle, as it features Lipa swimming alone in the middle of the ocean as a shark looms nearby. The “Dance The Night” singer also shared the album’s tracklist, which includes her recent hit “Houdini,” along with the songs “End of an Era,” “French Exit” and “Anything for Love.”

While Lipa has been at the forefront of the disco revival of the past few years, she said in an August 2023 interview with T Magazine that Radical Optimism is sonically “different” than her prior releases. “It’s still pop, but it’s different sonically, and there’s more of a lyrical theme,” she said, adding that this new sound won’t “alienate” her fans.