On Instagram in March, for example, Lipa simply wanted to send birthday wishes to her father, whom she calls “Babi.” It became an unfortunate lesson in being unfailingly open when the gaze of the public eye is fixed so fiercely upon you. “Babi,” an endearing Albanian term for dad, also translates to “pig” in Malay. Malaysians latched onto that definition and left “aggressive” comments on her post. “It was actually quite mean on their behalf, because obviously I’m not talking in Malay,” she explains. “I speak another language as well, and the language that I speak with my parents is my heritage. I would like that to be respected.”

Lipa was also put through the wringer with what she calls an “awful breakup” with ex-boyfriend of five months, musician Paul Klein of LANY— kindling for her next hit single, sure, but gossip rags were on standby, a box of matches at the ready. “The media made it seem as if I was the one that was breaking up [with him], which is completely untrue!” she exclaims. “It had a lot of repercussions, because I was the one getting lots of hate and he was the one being sent all the love. One day, people are really standing up for empowering women and the next, it’s about dragging them down.”