The pop star was granted citizenship due to her role in promoting the country through her music, with President Begaj saying she made the Balkan nation “proud with her global career and engagement in important social causes”.
Although she was born in London, in 1995, Lipa’s parents – her mother Anesa, and her father, Dukagjin – are of Kosovo Albanian descent. Albanian is Lipa’s first language.
The ‘New Rules’ singer and her parents eventually returned to Albania when she was 11-years-old, after she’d finished primary school, before she eventually moved back to the UK at the age of 16 to pursue her career as a singer.
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For the country, President Begaj explained that Lipa was granted citizenship ahead of Albania’s 110th anniversary of independence from the Ottoman Empire.
On a personal note for Lipa, meanwhile, the announcement comes just ahead of the conclusion of her Future Nostalgia Tour, which finishes tonight (28 November) in the Albanian capital, Tirana.
It seems Albania isn’t the only country proud to flaunt and commemorate the pop star’s roots. In 2018, Lipa was also given the keys to the city of the capital of Kosovo, Pristina.
Elsewhere, the singer’s fans have been gearing up for her anticipated third album, which she’s previously described as having a more “mature” sound, and is expected to be released sometime next year (which isn’t far now).
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The singer posted photos of her being in the studio with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger over the weekend, although it’s not clear whether this was meant to signal a potential music collab.
We wait with bated breath.
