Ahead of her “Levitating” performance at the 63nd annual Grammy Awards, Dua Lipa sat down with Entertainment Weekly and recounted her reaction to watching Melissa Villaseñor’s (Saturday Night Live, Hubie Halloween) Saturday Night Live impression of her. When Villaseñor appeared as Dua Lipa during the second-installment of the impression-filled “The Dionne Warwick Talk Show” sketch, the singer said it was “one of the coolest things that’s probably happened” (Entertainment Weekly).
Shortly after Saturday Night Live’s February 27 episode, which featured Villaseñor’s impression, Dua Lipa shared a screenshot of the sketch, to which Villaseñor tweeted “Dua Approva” as response. However, Sunday’s Grammy winner for Best Pop Vocal Album, went more in-depth about her love of the impression in her recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“They just got the costume so right and she was amazing,” Lipa told Entertainment Weekly about Villaseñor “it was just brilliant. I was super happy. I was like, ‘Alright, gonna keep this one forever. I’ll never forget this moment.'”
“The Dionne Warwick Talk Show” sketch features an array of impressions from Saturday Night Live’s cast and guests, including Timothée Chalamet’s (Call Me By You Name, Lady Bird) impression of former One Direction member Harry Styles. Musician Dionne Warwick and her niece, Brittani Warwick, are noted fans of the seemingly recurring sketch, with Warwick recently wishing her SNL-doppelganger Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live, Brockmire) happy birthday on Twitter.
Villaseñor’s impressions on SNL have caught the attention of other singers, aside from Dua Lipa, with Dolly Parton weighing in on the comedian’s December impression of her on “Weekend Update”.
Prior to becoming fodder for a Villaseñor impression on the NBC sketch show, Lipa has appeared on Saturday Night Live twice as musical guest. The singer’s most recent stint as musical guest in December, saw Lipa appear in a sketch alongside host Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Wonder Woman 1984).
Saturday Night Live will return with host Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids, Big Mouth) and musical guest Jack Harlow on Saturday March 27, with the full lineup of spring show’s announced on Twitter on Tuesday. A third iteration of “The Dionne Warwick Talk Show” could come sooner than expected, as Rudolph herself has history of playing the singer on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. However, fans of the sketch comedy institution will have to tune in for themselves to see who Villaseñor impersonates next and to see whether Dan Levy’s (Schitt’s Creek) new tradition of succession post-its remains intact.