Dua Lipa performed a surprise duet with Chris Stapleton at the 59th Academy of Country Music Awards, which were held inside the Ford Center at The Star in Friso, TX on Thursday.
The 28-year-old pop star revealed it was her idea to work with the 46-year-old country crooner, and they sang his 2023 song Think I’m in Love with You onstage the 12K-seat stadium.
‘Perhaps we needed time to listen to our hearts,’ Dua belted.
Lipa showcased her slim 5ft8in figure wearing a navy-blue fishnet-style frock featuring a halter neckline and matching pumps selected by stylist Jahleel Weaver.
The three-time Grammy winner wore her burgundy-hued locks in a middle-parted updo and had a fully-contoured complexion for the awards ceremony.
After the song, Dua gave Chris a big hug as the audience went wild.
Lipa and Stapleton might seem like an unlikely pair, but they excitedly chatted together backstage.
‘Well, we really got together, like, two days ago to rehearse for this, but we’ve been talking about this for a little while,’ the British-Albanian belter told ACM Awards correspondent Bobby Bones.
‘It was my idea! I’m such a fan of Chris, and I kind of just reached out and was like, “Hey, you want to do something together?” And this came about.’
Dua added: ‘I feel so lucky to have been in Chris and [his wife] Morgane’s orbit for a few days to just, like, dive into the the musicality of everything has just been wonderful.’
At that, the 10-time Grammy winner – who comes from a family of coal miners – dubbed Lipa ‘the queen of feel good music.’
Chris triumphantly took home three ACM trophies – male artist of the year, artist-songwriter of the year, and album of the year for this fifth record Higher.
During commercial breaks, the Illusion hitmaker got to mingle with folks like Brittany Aldean, the wife of five-time Grammy nominee Jason Aldean.
Earlier on the beige carpet, Dua rubbed elbows with two-time Grammy nominee Jelly Roll and Grammy winner Lainey Wilson, who won music event of the year for their duet Save Me.
Lipa – who gets 78.1M monthly listeners on Spotify -looked elegant in a sheer black beaded seashell tank top with a matching silk maxi-skirt and peep-toe heels.
On Monday, the Argylle actress – who boasts 149.8M social media followers – went Instagram official with her boyfriend Callum Turner without showing his face or tagging him.
Dua and the 34-year-old Englishman – who hung out in London last Friday – have been going strong ever since their first sighting at the January 10th afterparty for the LA premiere of his Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air.
Lipa – who previously dated music video director Romain Gavras and Oswald frontman Anwar Hadid – is scheduled to kick off her 12-date European Radical Optimism Tour on June 5 at Germany’s Waldbühne in Berlin.
