Chris Stapleton stacked up tons of awards at the ACM Awards. But the "Tennessee Whiskey" singer threw us a curve ball by enlisting the help of Dua Lipa to sing his slow burn "Think I'm In Love With You."
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Their chemistry was surprisingly strong. No one would naturally think those stars would ever align. Stapleton is a strong, massive vocal presence, taking up tons of real estate even on more mellow records. Dua Lipa thrives in the sort of divine, ultra smooth dance records. Any power singing is precisely calculated to the groove of the song.
Still, they sounded perfect with each other. Lipa played more of an accenting role to Stapleton and his wife on stage. If the song wasn't already sultry and romantic, the "Levitating" superstar only turned up the heat further.
Talking to Bobby Bones backstage, the pair revealed that they only pulled these strings in a couple of days. Great stuff for such short notice.
The way the performance came together sounds a lot more mundane the way Stapleton puts it. "She contacted the ACMs, the ACMs contacted us and we're like, 'of course, let's hop on the phone and let's talk about it.' We knew immediately, after one conversation... that it would be a good thing."
This connection only finalized at the buzzer because Lipa is booked and busy promoting her own album. "She's very busy promoting her own new record right now. We really didn't finalize what we were going to do... until like two days ago."
Fans React to Surprise Chris Stapleton Collaboration
Stapleton seems to be the one country act a lot of fans in the pop sphere seem to cosign wholeheartedly. The army of staunch Dua Lipa supports the intermingling of genres. One fan on X makes her stance abundantly clear, "ok if dua lipa and chris stapleton released an official duet of "think i'm in love with you" i would stream the sh*t out of it."
Additionally, another fan echoed similar sentiments. "dua lipa and chris stapleton. two of my most favorite artists ever. like i'm literally levitating drinking tennessee whiskey and all that," they emphasized.
Surprisingly, there were a couple rare detractors of Stapleton and Lipa joining forces. One user lamented how the pop star should've found someone that matched her hit-making ambitions, with one name in particular. "Chris Stapleton never had a top 10 as a solo act," they sighed. "Dua should've collaborated with Morgan Wallen instead."
