Dua Lipa has called out the “toxic currency” of social media as she recalled her 2017 viral dance video and the impact responses to it had on her mental well-being.

The singer performed her hit single ‘One Kiss’ on stage five years ago, the aftermath of which saw Lipa become a viral sensation, with online critics calling her performance “odd” and “lazy”. Now, she’s sharing that the snarky comments left an impact on her mental health.

The revelations came about in an interview with NPR published yesterday (April 28). In it, Lipa had been discussing the determination she had considering her return to London from Kosovo at age 15 to study and pursue a career in music.

Lipa was then asked by interviewer Rachel Martin if she had ever experienced periods of self-doubt, to which Lipa referred to her early career: “Social media just kind of took over,” she began. “People took that one little snippet and decided to base my whole stage presence and who I was as a performer on stage.

“I think at that point, there [were] moments of self-doubt, even though it was kind of unfair because a lot of the people that had sent in those messages or were saying things online actually hadn’t been to a show.

“Social media is kind of run on this toxic currency of ‘who can make people laugh at the expense of others.’”

Lipa admitted that kind of online environment impacted her negatively, saying “it got to me”. “There were people who made me feel like maybe I wasn’t good enough or I didn’t deserve to be there,” Lipa said. “I realised that what anyone says doesn’t actually matter.”

She added: “Now, if anybody says anything, it doesn’t even bother me… [if] you write from the heart, no one can take that away from you.

“I had to take myself off Twitter, but if that’s going to help me and my mental health and allow me to thrive in whatever way I choose to, that has been a saving grace.”

Currently on her ‘Future Nostalgia’ tour in support of her 2020 sophomore album of the same name, Lipa’s recent performance in Manchester saw the artist perform to a crowd of 21,000 people.

In a five-star review of the event, NME‘s Gary Ryan wrote: “There’s no more potently thrilling sound than that of a pop star whose time is now.

“The album ‘Future Nostalgia’ saw Dua Lipa applauded for distilling decades of disco music into her own transcendent cocktail: tonight there are party-fuelling sonic hat-tips throughout.”