Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard has opened up about how his cameo at Dua Lipa’s show late last year came to be and why he’s now a huge fan of the UK popstar.
Lipa made a habit of inviting artists to join her on stage throughout the ‘Radical Optimism’ tour, and Gibbard was asked to come out in Seattle to perform Death Cab’s iconic song, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark”.
Appearing on the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Uncut podcast, the 49-year-old songwriter said the whole thing started when he got an unexpected message from producer Andrew Watt. “He was like, ‘Dua Lipa wants your number. She’s having people up on stage in different cities,'” Gibbard told editor-in-chief Neil Griffiths. “And I’m just sitting at home watching sports or something. I was like, what?”
Shortly after, a message arrived from a number Gibbard didn’t recognise. “‘Hey Ben, it’s Dua Lipa. I hope you don’t mind that I’m texting you,'” he recalled. “I’m like, yeah, I really don’t. Maybe just this once, I’ll allow it.”
Gibbard admitted he wasn’t sure how many people in the arena actually knew who he was, particularly young Dua Lipa fans.
“I really appreciated the intro — she kind of sold it pretty hard,” he said. “I think maybe they were expecting Ed Sheeran or something.”
But it was what happened backstage that left the biggest impression. Gibbard asked Lipa if she’d be willing to briefly meet the young daughters of two friends he’d brought along — including Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer’s daughter — who were big fans. “As I’m firing this text off, I’m like, I totally get it that this person’s really busy. They’re putting on an arena show. This might not work,” he said. “And she was like, no problem.”
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He continued. “She came in the room, hung out with these kids for like 10 or 15 minutes, asked them their names, took photographs, asked them what their interests were, got down on one knee with them so she was the same height as them.
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“[Harmer] was just like, ‘We’ve never in our careers seen anybody do this before,'” Gibbard said. “I came out of that experience just a huge fan of her — not only musically, but also just as a person,” he said. “If this person is not cosplaying being a good person, they’re doing the best acting job I’ve ever seen in my fucking life.”
Gibbard’s appearance on the podcast coincides with the release of Death Cab for Cutie’s 11th album, I Built You a Tower, before the band returns to Australia this November for shows in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
Watch above or listen to the full episode on Apple Music and Spotify (subscribe and follow!).
