Dua Lipa looked away from the camera and covered her face with a manicured hand. “I really didn’t want to do this,” she half-whispered. She failed to muffle a major sniffle.

It was shortly after 10 a.m. Monday of the last full week in March, and the usually composed 24-year-old English pop star was not on her way to New York to rehearse for her scheduled appearance on “Saturday Night Live” that coming weekend. She was not at a photo shoot, in a radio studio or any of the other places an artist preparing to release her much-anticipated second album might be.

She was in coronavirus self-quarantine in London, addressing her fans live on Instagram for only the second time. “I’ve been a little bit conflicted about putting music out and you know, whether it’s the right thing to do during this time because lots of people are suffering,” she had explained as she teared up. The album was due in 11 days.

Lipa quickly composed herself and spoke about how she had avoided focusing on the pressures that come with making a buzzed-about second album — like the specter of the sophomore slump, a fate that could extinguish a budding career — by assembling a dancey, upbeat LP that made her feel good. She hoped that the album, “Future Nostalgia,” would bring her fans a bit of joy at a very uncertain time. Oh, and it would now be out in four days.