"Hallucinate" is a song by English singer Dua Lipa from her second studio album Future Nostalgia (2020). The song was written by Lipa alongside Frances and SG Lewis. The latter of the three also handled the production with Stuart Price. The song was released through Warner Records for digital download and streaming on 10 July 2020 as the album's fourth single. It is a disco-house song with dance-pop, electro swing, psychedelic and synth-pop elements. Set to EDM rhythms and retro beats, the lyrics describe how crazy love can make one feel.
"Hallucinate" was well received by music critics. Many complimented the song's dance sound and the production as well as the 1990s and 2000s styles used in the production. The song appeared on numerous best songs of 2020 year-end lists, including ones published by The Guardian, The Line of Best Fit and Rolling Stone. Commercially, the song peaked at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart, while charting within the top 50 of charts in Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Scotland and Slovenia. It is certified gold in Brazil, New Zealand and the UK, as well as platinum in Poland.
The animated music video for "Hallucinate" was directed by Lisha Tan and was inspired by Studio 54, the golden age of animation and the 1970s disco heyday. In the video, Lipa's character goes on a hallucinatory journey after smelling a flower, that goes from good trip to bad trip and vice versa constantly. Critics complimented the trippiness of the video and it won animation, general video at the 2021 Webby Awards. The song was further promoted with the release of remixes by Paul Woolford, Tensnake and Mr. Fingers. Lipa performed the song on several occasions, including BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party and the 2021 Brit Awards.
Writing and production
"Hallucinate" was originally written by Frances and SG Lewis, the same day in which Lewis created the instrumental for his song "Feed The Fire" (2020). They did not finish the song, but created parts of it and had rough structures of what the song could be. The duo ended up playing it for Joe Kentish, the A&R for Dua Lipa's label. Kentish ended up sending the song to Lipa who, after hearing it, contacted Lewis about her admiration of it. Lipa and Lewis originally connected through Frances and they had known each other for a while as they ran in the same London circles, but they never wrote together; he did a remix of her 2017 song "New Rules". The three of them then got into the studio to finish the song, which did not take very long. Lewis recalled that Lipa took the song to "another level" and that it was quite easy to finish. He also served as the song's producer. After the song was finished, Stuart Price began doing some additional production across Future Nostalgia, eventually coming upon "Hallucinate", in which he added some production items. The song was recorded at Pulse Music in Silverlake with the vocals being recorded at London's TaP Studio. Price mixed the song at Tracques while Chris Gehringer mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Music and lyrics
"Hallucinate" runs for a total of 3 minutes and 28 seconds, and is composed in time and the key of B major, with a tempo of 122 beats per minute. The verses follow a B5–G–A chord progression, whilst the chorus adds an additional E chord to the sequence. The song has a structure of verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, middle eight, chorus. Described by Lipa as her "festival song," "Hallucinate" is a disco-house track. The song features soulful flashes and a funky melody, and incorporates elements of 1990s and 2000s music, as well as dance-pop, electro swing, psychedelic, and synth-pop genres.
The production consists of a looped bass, pianissimo synthesizers, hi-hats, a synth bassline, mercilessly scythed violins, cowbells, EDM rhythms, a post-disco house groove, and retro drum beats, categorized as disco-house. Lipa showcases her higher vocal register, with her vocals ranging from F3 to D5. She also contributes a 1990s diva hook with husky vocals. The lyrics evoke different sensory experiences, and describe how crazy love can make one feel. It sees Lipa engaged in an all-consuming, addictive love and celebrating carnality and physicality as the gateway to higher ground.
Release and promotion
"Hallucinate" was released through Warner Records on 27 March 2020 as the seventh track on Lipa's second studio album, Future Nostalgia. The following month, Lipa confirmed that the album would receive another single following the release of "Break My Heart". On 3 July 2020, Lipa announced that "Hallucinate" had been chosen as the next single and revealed its cover art. The song was released for digital download and streaming on 10 July 2020 as the album's fourth single. The song was promoted with a lense on Snapchat. Lipa held a contest for a fan to create an Instagram filter, which was ultimately chosen and promoted on the app. "Hallucinate" themed stickers were also promoted on the app. The song received a lyric video on 9 April 2020.
Lipa performed "Hallucinate" for the first time at her livestream concert, Studio 2054 on 27 November 2020. The singer wore a skin-tight jumpsuit with a crystal-embellished design and performed in a sci-fi themed set with a moon in the background. She has performed the song on other occasions, including a stripped-back version of the song at BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, and at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party. On 11 May, Lipa performed it as a medley with other Future Nostalgia tracks at the 2021 Brit Awards. The song was included on the setlist of Lipa's 2022 Future Nostalgia Tour. It's also included on the setlist of Lipa's 2024 Radical Optimism Tour.
Critical reception "Hallucinate" was met with positive reviews from music critics. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic called "Hallucinate" a "rapturous out-of-body rave", while Entertainment Weeklys Maura Johnston labelled it "stardust-dipped". In Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos viewed the song as a "gorgeous euphoria" while also recommending some club remixes. In The Guardian, Laura Snapes wrote that the chorus "seems to enter an interstellar dimension". Of the same newspaper, Luke Holland called the chorus, "bigger than a God's tea cosy" as well as writing it "feels constructed by boffins in a hermetically sealed lab to be the most effective chrome-plated slammer it can possibly be". For PopMatters, Nick Malone stated it "flourishes" in the chorus as well as praising its hook, but criticized its baseline, writing it betrays what an obvious hit is. Richard S. He of Junkee noted its aim for early 2000s pop-disco, similar to Minogue and Moloko.
In The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick said that even though "Hallucinate" is a "minor track", it keeps up "the melody and movement with a spirit of sensual fun that would make Kylie Minogue weak with envy". For The Line of Best Fit, Chris Taylor viewed the song as a "blissful early '00s club floor-filler, the kind that gets limbs and sweat flying everywhere with abandon". In a positive review from Idolator, Mike Nied called it a "glory" and a "balls-to-the-wall delight bound to send your heart rate skyrocketing". He concluded by calling the chorus "stutter-riddled" and "a sing-along moment". Courteney Larocca of Insider wrote that it transports one to a "'80s jazzercise class or an underground rave", while Callie Ahlgrim of the same website praised how it hooks the listener in and labelled it "pop perfection". musicOMHs Nick Smith praised "Hallucinate" for having listeners on "the '90s dancefloor".
Uproxxs Caitlin White categorized the song's aesthetic as "neon-tinted" while Alex Abad-Santos of Vox called it a "starship laser-beam spectacle". Crack Magazine writer Michael Cragg thought it is equally as incredible as "Don't Start Now" and categorized its sound as a Daft Punk remix of a single from Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005) era. Writing for Wonderland, Bailey Slater noted that the song has that "blissful beach pop clubbiness of the best 2000's pop". In a mixed review from Under the Radar, Conrad Duncan stated "Hallucinate" does a "faithful impression of 2000s disco-house", but criticized it, writing "it might as well have been written as radio fodder for 2004". In Slant Magazine, Sal Cinquemani called it the most "bald-faced gesture" on Future Nostalgia, and wrote it would be a highlight on a "lesser album" but stating it feels "generic" being "sandwiched" between "Pretty Please" and "Love Again".
"Hallucinate" placed on numerous best songs of 2020 year-end lists. The Line of Best Fit and the Indian edition of Rolling Stone hailed it as 2020's second best song. The song placed at number three on a year-end list published by DIY and number eight on Crack Magazines year-end list. The Quietus ranked the song at number 24. In The Guardian, the song was ranked as the 15th best song of 2020, and the song placed on lists published by the publication's writers Marcus Barnes and Alim Kheraj. It additionally placed on an unranked Glamour year-end list.
Commercial performance Upon the release of Future Nostalgia, "Hallucinate" found success throughout Europe as an album track, charting at number 92 in Greece, 28 in Hungary, 99 in Italy, 35 in Lithuania, 89 in Portugal, 67 in Slovakia, and 73 in Spain. It additionally entered the UK Official Audio Streaming Chart at number 48, the UK Singles Downloads Chart at number 82 and the NZ Hot Singles Chart at number 7. In the United Kingdom, "Hallucinate" was the most streamed album track from the album upon its release. Following its single release, "Hallucinate" debuted at number 65 on the UK Singles Chart issue dated 24 July 2020. In its ninth week, the song reached a peak of number 31 and lasted for a total of twelve weeks on the chart. In October 2024, the song was awarded a platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for 600,000 track-equivalent unit sales in the United Kingdom.
On Billboards Global Excluding U.S chart, "Hallucinate" debuted at number 159 in the chart's first week, 19 September 2020, and lasted for three weeks. The song also spent three weeks on the Euro Digital Song Sales, peaking at number 16. In July 2020, it re-entered the NZ Hot Singles chart to reach a new peak of number 5 and later, Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) awarded the song a platinum certification for track-equivalent unit sales of 30,000 units in the country. The song reached number 40 and seven respectively on the Irish Singles Chart and Scottish Singles Chart. In Croatia and Slovenia, the song reached respective peaks of 11 and 31. On the Dutch Single Top 100, the song debuted at number 55 on the chart issue dated 1 August 2020. The song spent ten weeks on the chart, reaching its peak of number 55 in its third week. It also reached number 20 on the Dutch Top 40 chart. "Hallucinate" received gold and platinum certifications from Pro-Música Brasil and the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV), respectively, for track-equivalent sales of 20,000 units in Brazil and Poland.
Music video Development and release