You'll learn why she's obsessed with planning so much, listen to her favorite song in her latest album, and as always, you will learn a ton of useful vocabulary that you can use in your real-life English conversations.

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Every lesson comes with an exclusive deck of flashcards featuring all the vocabulary we've covered, so expressions like to be obsessed with or live up to are already waiting for you.

As soon as you finish watching the lesson using your phone, click on the link in the description under this video, and you will be redirected to our RealLife English app and start your vocabulary practice right away.

I will show you how it works later in the lesson, and now let's watch the clip with the subtitles first.

Then you will learn all of the most important vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

And at the end of this lesson, you will take a short quiz by watching the clip one more time without subtitles and answering a few questions.

So now it's time to watch the clip.

This is Dua Lipa's live performance at the Tiny Desk Concert, a music session where artists perform acoustic versions of their songs in a small, cozy atmosphere.

Dua Lipa says, we've got a lot to live up to.

Here she's referring to the fact that they already did a great Tiny Desk at Home show in 2020 during the pandemic, and now she feels some pressure to make this live performance equally good so that it lives up to the expectations of the audience who loved the first one.

So, to live up to means to meet expectations or standards that others have, doing it as well as people expect you to.

Then she follows by saying, hopefully we can top that one up.

In this context, she's expressing her hope to make this new performance even better than the last one.

She's being creative and playful with this phrase because usually to top up would mean adding more to something to make it full again, like adding more drink to a glass.

Can you chop up my riso please, Janice?

The songs that I want to perform for you guys today are from my new record, Radical Optimism, and this next song is one of my favorites, and it's called These Walls.

Now let's talk about the title of her new album, Radical Optimism.

How do you understand that?

Radical optimism is the concept of a positive mindset.

It's about staying hopeful and positive, especially in tough situations.

In a moment, you will get to practice your English pronunciation with our mini-lesson on connected speech.

But before that, let me ask you this.

Has it happened to you that you got a chance to practice your English speaking by having a real conversation, and that expression that you know you've learned before just doesn't come to you at the moment when you need it?

I know how frustrating that feels to be in a conversation and find yourself pausing frequently because you're forgetting all the useful words you've learned.

That sucks.

I've been there before.

This feeling when you know what you want to say, and you just want to be able to express your thoughts as easily as you can do it in your native tongue.

Let me tell you, this is exactly why we built the RealLife English app, and that's exactly what it can help you with.

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By practicing just 10-15 minutes daily with them on our app, you will be able to transfer these new words from your short-term into your long-term memory.

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And now, let's get to the Connected Speech mini-lesson.

Wow, thank you so much.

Thank you for having us down here today.

I've always wanted to come down and be by the desk.

The word WANT has the N-T letters combination, and what often happens is it drops the T sound.

WANTED becomes WANTED.

You can also hear the D from WANTED morph into T from TO.

And TO is reduced to a schwa sound, T.

So, WANTED TO becomes WANTED TO.

Wanted to come down.

Listen and repeat.

I've always wanted to come down and be.

I've always wanted to come down and be.

Um, we did a at-home tiny desk in 2020.

You already know that we drop T in the N-T letters combination.

It also happens in the word TWENTY.

So, listen to how she pronounces the date TWENTY-TWENTY.

In twenty-twenty.

In twenty-twenty. Radical Optimism and this next song is one of my favorites.

OFF is reduced to a schwa sound, so instead of ONE OF MY FAVORITES we hear ONE OF MY FAVORITES.

Listen and repeat.

Is one of my favorites.

Is one of my favorites.

One of her favorite songs from the latest album is These Walls.

It's a breakup song where Dua Lipa thinks about a relationship that has become tense and difficult.

Let's listen to that song and learn some new vocabulary with it.

When you switch careers, it means changing your job or profession.

By saying they might switch careers, she's suggesting they're so good at hiding their true feelings, just like professional poker players, that maybe they should consider it as a new job.

Poker face in this song refers to exactly this, hiding real emotions.

It comes from poker, a card game, where poker face means keeping a neutral facial expression so others can't tell what you're thinking.

In the phrase No one beats our poker faces, the verb BEAT means to do better than someone else.

A beat suggests outperforming or being the best at something, not just in physical competition.

For example, you can say No one beats my mom's cooking.

Wasted is a slang word for being very drunk or under the influence of drugs, so you're not thinking or acting clearly.

When she thinks that they blame it on being wasted, she means they're using the fact that they were drunk as an excuse for their argument.

So, when you blame something on someone or something else, you're saying they're responsible for a problem or mistake, not you.

When your love becomes weaker, you're losing this connection and slowly drifting apart.

Then your relationship is fading.

To fade is to gradually disappear or weaken.

You're fucked is a strong slang expression implying that someone is in serious trouble or in a hopeless situation.

Here it suggests that their couple has reached a difficult point with no easy solution.

Now let's watch this short clip from the interview where Dua Lipa says that she's obsessed with planning.

Oh, I'm obsessed with my schedule.

Oh, good.

Okay.

Um, because I plan everything, like I'd put in, have a shower and go, yeah, get ready.

And you know, everything is like down to the minute.

You write down, take a shower?

I mean, I write down like, what succession?

For real?

So even your fun is scheduled?

Well, I just need to, I need to like plan things.

So in order for me to be able to like do work and take care of me, I like to plan things and that way I feel like I can, I can do it all.

Is it at all loose?

Like if you said, could you go like, you know what, I'm going to go to smart and final and buy corn dogs.

Go rogue.

Yeah.

Just go rogue for a couple of hours.

I could.

It really, it just depends how the, how the day goes, but I like to, I like to stick to it.

Do you feel like you're obsessive compulsive?

Like, is that the reason why you write all that stuff down?

I just, I like being in control.

Have you always been like that?

Even as a kid?

Yeah.

I had, I had to do lists like from when I was tiny, like my parents would find them around the house of do my homework, get ready, go to school.

Were you a good student?

It's a debatable, but look, it was, I liked to like write things down, like my ideas and my plans and my dreams and, you know, how they would materialize in school.

I'm obsessed with my schedule.

Oh, good.

Okay.

Um, because I plan everything, like.

Okay.

Turns out Dulipa is obsessed with her schedule.

It's something she takes seriously and might even take it to the extremes.

So if you're obsessed with something, it means you think about it constantly and it's a big deal for you.

I have a shower and go, come on, is it really showers?

Get ready.

And you know, everything is like down to the minute.

You write down, take a shower?

I mean, I write down like what succession.

Pay attention to the pronunciation of the word succession.

The double C will be pronounced as KS and double S gives a SH sound.

The stress falls on the second syllable.

Succession.

Succession.

Dua uses it here to talk about having a set order for her daily tasks like take a shower, get ready and so on.

Succession is the order in which things happen one after another.

This word often appears in royal contexts like the line of succession for the throne where it shows the order of who will rule next.

Before that night I first saw you, I had a premonition, a succession of disconnected images.

Is it at all loose?

Like if you said, could you go like, you know what, I'm going to go to Smart and Final and buy corn dogs.

Go rogue.

Yeah, just go rogue for a couple of hours.

I could.

It really, it just depends how the day goes, but I like to, I like to stick to it.

It's worth noting the correct pronunciation of the word loose.

Be sure to hold the long U sound and end with a soft S sound, avoiding the Z sound, which would make it sound like lose, a completely different word.

Loose means not strict, relaxed or flexible.

Here Jimmy asks if Dua ever has flexibility in her strict schedule.

Common collocations include loose plans, not strict plans, and keep it loose, which means being calm and relaxed.

That's it, guys.

Keep it loose.

Keep it loose.

Don't be shy with those hips.

Smart and Final is a chain of stores in the US known for offering products often packaged in larger sizes than typical grocery stores.

The name comes from its founders, Jim Smart and HD Final.

Jimmy mentions this store as an example of doing something spontaneous or out of routine.

Corn dogs are fried hot dogs on a stick, coated in a corn batter and fried.

They are a popular food at fairs and carnivals in the US.

Go rogue.

Yeah, just go rogue for a couple of hours.

I could.

It really, it just depends how the day goes, but I like to stick to it.

How do you pronounce this word?

We have the rounded O vowel sound and the final voiced G, rogue, rogue.

To go rogue means to break away from the usual rules or routine, to do something spontaneous.

Jimmy asks Dua if she could be a little rebellious and do something unexpected.

I think you should go rogue.

Go rogue in what way?

Dua responds by saying that she tries to follow her schedule closely and stick to it.

When you stick to a plan, it means you follow it carefully and stay committed.

Do you feel like you're obsessive-compulsive?

Is that the reason why you write all that stuff down?

Obsessive-compulsive refers to a personality trait where people feel a strong need to control things.

OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder is a psychological condition.

Although in casual use, obsessive-compulsive can simply mean being highly organized or detail-oriented.

Have you always been like that, even as a kid?

Yeah, I had to-do lists from when I was tiny.

My parents would find them around the house, do my homework, get ready.

Something tiny is very small in size.

Dua uses this word to refer to herself as a child.

This isn't a common way to talk about one's childhood.

You'd usually say, since I was a child or since I was little.

Here she wanted to emphasize that she's been obsessed with planning and to-do lists from a very young age.

At school.

Were you a good student?

Debatable.

But look, it was...

I like to write things down, like my ideas and my plans and my dreams and, you know, how they would materialize in school.

Debatable means something is uncertain and people might have different opinions about it.

Dua is joking that whether she was a good student or not is up for debate.

This adds a playful touch, suggesting that she might not have been a perfect student even though she liked making to-do lists.

Question.

What kind of bear is best?

It's a ridiculous question.

False.

Black bear.

That's debatable.