Dua Lipa recalls her school choir rejection, credits her 'scariest teacher' for building her confidence

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Dua Lipa went through a rough audition before becoming a Grammy-winning singer.

During a new YouTube video with drag queen Trixie Mattel, the 'Levitating' singer recalled auditioning for a school choir as a young child and getting rejected after an unforgettable tryout. The experience eventually taught her to focus on her signature lower vocal range.

Mattel, 34, and Lipa, 28, were discussing the topic while they participated in a challenge to paint a replica of the album cover for the 'Dance the Night' musician's forthcoming 'Radical Optimism'.

The British pop star recalled playing the cello in grade school after confessing that she was not a very good painter.

Dua Lipa recalls picking up the biggest instrument despite being small

"It was like, ‘Pick an instrument,’ so I just picked the biggest instrument," Lipa started.

"I used to be so small. I only really grew when I was 18, and I don’t know, for some reason I decided to pick the biggest instrument. It just got kind of embarrassing after a while," she said, according to People Magazine. "I’d walk to school, and it would hit me on the top of the head and then on the back of the feet."

Dua Lipa opens up on her choir audition

Lipa revealed she'd love to learn to play the "piano or guitar" and sometimes tries her hand at the former instrument before disclosing her not-so-memorable first choir audition.

"I was in primary school, and the music teacher was like, ‘Alright, who wants to sing and try out for the choir?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, you know what? I’d actually quite like to do that,’" she detailed.

"So I decided to stand up for the whole school, and he started playing on the piano, and it was in this crazy high note, and nothing came out — just air — in that moment, and the whole school started laughing," she narrated.

The singer was then fired from the choir. "He was like, ‘You know what? Better luck next time.’ And that was it," recalled Lipa, who found her path to singing in the future.

"Later on, I was part of the choir, but I was in the lower vocal range." To work her way to singing for fans all over the world, she "went to singing lessons in a theater school every Saturday in London."

Dua Lipa reveals the name of 'the scariest teacher', says he helped her build confidence

"It was the teacher there that kind of helped me build up my confidence. He was the scariest teacher. His name was Ray," said Lipa.

“When I was 9 years old he was like, ‘OK, I want you to get up and sing in front of the whole class.’ And I sang, and he was like, ‘Alright, I’m moving you up to the class with 14 and 15 year olds," said the 'New Rules' singer.

"I was so nervous, but I went to that class, and he helped me build up my confidence... He celebrated me for my deeper, lower voice."