Dua Lipa on Relationship with Anwar Hadid: 'We'll Only Show You as Much as We Want You to See'

Dua Lipa is opening up about going public with model boyfriend Anwar Hadid.

"We have all these incredible memories and experiences, and if there's something that we want to share together, then OK that's fun," the "Don't Start Now" singer tells the February issue of British Vogue about posting couple moments on Instagram.

"But at the same time, we're quite private — we'll only show you as much as we want you to see," she adds.

"It's a little bit of give and take, trying to find the right balance of being so excited and being in love, and wanting to share that with the people around me, but at the same time not wanting to put too much out there. I want to be able to just be happy in this relationship without having other people's opinions."

Lipa and Hadid have spent the majority of 2020 self-isolating together and regularly posted images of themselves kissing, cuddling, dyeing her hair, and playing with adorable new puppy Dexter.

On June 14 they also celebrated their first anniversary as an official couple and rounded this off by relaxing together over the holiday season, where her plans for Christmas Day extended no further than cuddling on the sofa with Dexter watching movies.

"My home life is really normal," Lipa tells Vogue about her low-key approach to life. "The people I surround myself with have known me for the longest time. My job doesn't define my circle, and that makes a world of difference."

Despite the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was also a major year for Lipa's career. On March 27 the British pop star dropped her second album, Future Nostalgia, after it leaked online.

In November this garnered her six Grammy nominations including album of the year and best pop vocal album, tying her with Taylor Swift and Roddy Ricch — and just three behind Beyoncé, who leads the list with a total of nine nominations.

"I had to fight inner demons," she tells Vogue about recording Future Nostalgia. "I wanted to write songs that were more sad, more about heartbreak, because I thought that writing happy songs would turn into cheesy songs."

"I had to fight that because I was like, 'I am happy. I deserve to be happy,'" she continues. "I should be able to write about that without the fear of feeling like I'm compromising my authenticity because I'm not crying about something or someone."

This doesn't mean that Lipa isn't aware of the many issues confronting the wider world as we head into 2021. While she was born in London her family fled Kosovo shortly after war broke out in 1998, giving her a deep insight into the plight of refugees around the world.

"People don't leave their home country unless they have to a lot of the time," she tells Vogue.

She's also keenly aware that despite having already proved herself as an accomplished artist, she needs to work harder than ever to stay at the top of the fiercely competitive female pop world.

"In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to prove ourselves so much to the point that maybe we run ourselves into the ground of being like, 'I must be heard,'" says Lipa. "But that is the world we're in right now."

See the full Dua Lipa feature in the February issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands Friday, Jan. 8.