Brothers Osborne Developed a Love of Dua Lipa During Quarantine

As Brothers Osborne were spending their quarantine working on their upcoming third studio album, Skeletons, the country duo was also listening to a ton of music, including pop star Dua Lipa.

“Honestly, recently the artist that I guess I have always known of but never paid that much attention to is Dua Lipa,” TJ Osborne tells Taste of Country Nights during a recent interview. “I was like, ‘Man, this goes deep,' song after song. I’m like, ‘Man, this is really good.’ So I feel like she’s going to be the next artist to blow up."

Dua Lipa released her self-titled debut album in 2017, and the British singer has gone on to score a string of hits including "Be the One," "Hotter Than Hell," "New Rules" and more. Getting the chance to even hear her music wasn’t a given for Osborne, as life on the road usually keeps him from experimenting too much in terms of his personal musical preferences.

“I think I have listened to more music now than I ever have,” says TJ, whose career as one half of Brothers Osborne with his brother John has resulted in six Grammy nominations, four CMA Awards, five ACM trophies and more than a half-dozen radio singles. “I usually wouldn’t have a ton of time to start diving into new stuff.”

A friend of TJ’s made sure he did dive into something a little different from the norm, though. “Every day, he makes us a playlist,” Osborne says of his DJ friend. “There’s always new artists on there.”

But while Brothers Osborne love the music of Dua Lipa, they won’t be sending out the ask for a collaboration with the budding superstar quite yet.

“I guess we could hit her up for a collaboration, but I don’t know,” TJ explains. “Right now we are just focusing on one thing. As much as she is awesome, I don’t know if pop music …" he trails off before finishing, "It’s always perplexing to me why some people in country are so hungry to get into pop music. That’s something we don’t really care for.”

“I think we are just going to be fans,” adds John Osborne. “We are not going anywhere.”