Album Review: Radical Optimism | Dua Lipa
Spotify Wrapped #1 album for H&M and Zara employees.
The front-runner for the “Lost in the Shuffle” award in 2024 is Dua Lipa. She quietly dropped her third record, Radical Optimism, in early May, the same weekend, all the Drake x Kendrick beef went into overdrive. Despite Dua's efforts to promote the release, the music community was focused elsewhere.
Dua’s last record, Future Nostalgia, was released during the peak of Covid on March 27th, 2020. The album was originally scheduled for release later in the spring, but Lipa was forced to move it earlier due to it leaking. (She broke the news on Instagram Live but burst into tears as she told fans. Poor Dua). Despite the album’s bumpy arrival, Future Nostalgia was a career-defining pop record that will forever be on top of the world’s quarantine playlists.
Dua Lipa enlists trippy-psychedelic rock icon Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) and Danny L Harle (a frequent collaborator with Charli XCX and Caroline Polachek) to produce her third album. In theory, this is a fantastic idea—taking the trendy psychedelic sound and creating a pop-friendly, radio-ready version of those tracks sounds like a goldmine. It’s a great strategy of how to push boundaries in pop music while still protecting the bottom line.
However, "Radical Optimism" is a bit confusing. Dua defines the concept as "rolling with the punches that life hands you, navigating through chaos with grace and optimism," and not letting things get you down to an extreme level. In the lead-up to the album, Dua described a psychedelic vibe she wanted to emulate, alongside paying tribute to UK rave culture. This theme is reflected better in interviews than in the record.
The introductory track, "End of an Era," attempts to equate radical optimism with being a hopeless romantic. While the track is undeniably catchy with a fantastic bridge and outro, it struggles to leave a lasting impression. The descriptions of this record before it came out are quite different from the end result. Instead of the intended psychedelic rock influence, the album has more of a European summer beach vacation vibe.
Lyrically, Dua Lipa is quite different from other pop stars—she’s one of the few who doesn’t buy into the idea of spilling all the details of her personal life into her music. Many of her lyrics are generic, which isn’t a bad thing. In a music landscape where diaristic writing is almost a prerequisite, it’s refreshing to have a bit of mystery behind who Dua Lipa is. She doesn’t go over the top trying to interact with her fans or work hard to be relatable on social media. She is also known for her frequent vacations, and good for her! Her whole vibe is that she’s cool and having the time of her life.
High points do exist on this record, most notably the lead single "Houdini." The track follows a cut-and-paste blueprint of a pop hit but features killer '80s production and a groove that's slightly different from what we typically hear from Dua Lipa. It represents the album’s overall psychedelic sound, attributed to Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. Unsurprisingly, Parker has production and writing credits on 9 out of the album’s 11 tracks.
"Radical Optimism" includes some of the strongest pop choruses in the genre right now. "Illusion," "Maria," and "Whatcha Doing" all contain bass-heavy, head-banging choruses that stand out, even though they are paired with forgettable verses and production.
Despite the album's concise, catchy vibe, some moments feel rushed and desperately need more room to breathe. However, this issue is addressed in the extended version of the album dropped a few weeks ago, which adds 20 minutes of music to the original 11 songs. Frankly, the extended version is better than the official release. "Training Season (Extended)" solves the awkward formatting problems, adds a verse, and gives the chorus more air, making the song worthy of a Dua Lipa top 10 hit.
The worst part about this album is that it isn’t Future Nostalgia. Listeners were set up with high expectations and ultimately left disappointed, even though the record still features wonderfully crafted pop songs.
Check out our favorite tracks, listen to the album, and see our scores below:
Can’t Miss: Houdini, Training Season
You Can Skip: Anything for Love
BY THE NUMBERS
Bennett’s Score: 6.18
Carson’s Score: 6.64
Overall Album Score: 12.82
Notes from Bennett:
reviewing albums like this always make me feel like such a snob. because for real I can dance to all these songs on first listen but get so bored on future listens. nothing here is sticking super well for me.
The record also just kind of disappoints because Dua Lipa is such a unique voice in pop and there is little to nothing novel here. I’m hearing glimpses of Ariana, Sabrina, Selena Gomez, Bruno Mars, even Lil Nas X but not Dua Lipa.
just listen to the extended version. it’s a cool listen
Notes from Carson:
Yeah this it totally fine but it kinda came and went. I saved a couple of tracks but overall it’s a little bit of letdown when you compare it to the masterpiece that was Future Nostalgia.
Houdini is among some of her best work though, I wish she double downed on that sound.
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