Dua Lipa’s ‘Radical Optimism’ review: Controlled but catchy dance pop

NEW YORK (AP) — Within the refrain of “Whatcha Doing,” the fifth observe on Dua Lipa’s newest album, she sings: “But when management is my faith / And I’m headed for collision / Misplaced my 20/20 imaginative and prescient,” referencing the surprising pull of a brand new companion.

That sentiment proves true on “Radical Optimism,” a managed assortment of dance tracks, ripe with earworms. Management is Lipa’s faith — typically for higher, generally for worse.

Lipa, 28, gained the Grammy for finest new artist in 2019, after a four-year stretch that noticed her launch a debut album to essential and business success after which emerge as a radio mainstay with the supremely catchy single “New Guidelines.” However it was 2020’s “Future Nostalgia” that solidified Lipa’s place in pop music: She was not solely a vocal power, however a confirmed hitmaker.

“Levitating,” that album’s lead single, spent 77 weeks on Billboard’s Sizzling 100 — the longest time spent on the chart for a tune by a lady — and was named Billboard’s No. 1 tune of 2021, regardless of by no means reaching the highest spot within the weekly charts (it peaked at No. 2). It match simply inside Lipa’s roster of putting up with radio and dancehall hits, a listing that started with “New Guidelines” and expanded to incorporate “IDGAF,” “One Kiss,” “Bodily,” “Don’t Begin Now” and most not too long ago, “Dance the Evening,” the existential crisis-inducing dance observe featured in “Barbie.”

That’s all a tough act to observe. “Radical Optimism” has, in some methods, already pulled its weight — largely as a result of the tracks launched forward of the album — “Houdini,” “Phantasm” and “Coaching Season” — have the basic Lipa hooks that first drove her rise, making for simple pop listening: “Catch me or I am going Houdini” — good — “you assume I’m gonna fall for an phantasm” — no — “coaching season’s over” — bought it.

Informed in Lipa’s assured tone, these lyrical quips paint an brisk however imprecise picture of affection misplaced, discovered and forgiven. Lipa doesn’t usually embrace overly particular references to her personal life in her love songs, as a substitute distilling experiences into tight phrases that seize simply sufficient to make them relatable with out requiring a lot evaluation. In that sense, there’s a managed familiarity to “Radical Optimism” — one which Lipa is clearly able to harnessing to coax listeners into her commanding beats, and right into a dance.

Within the album’s finest moments, that sense of familiarity not solely works to Lipa’s benefit but in addition proves that she is fluent within the language of recent pop music. In others, it muddies the thematic imaginative and prescient of “Radical Optimism” that Lipa and the album are pushing — which is perhaps stronger informed with a contemporary pop dialect.

Lipa labored with Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker on components of the album, telling AP that she had sought his collaboration since making her first report. Parker’s affect is heard within the album’s strongest tracks: “Houdini” and “Phantasm.” (Lipa selected the proper lead singles, it appears, a lot in order that their energy weakens the punch of the remainder of the album.)

There are different vivid spots: Lipa’s hovering vocals on “Falling Without end” are positive to mobilize each dancers and singers. “Joyful For You,” about trying again on a relationship and being pleased with how each events have moved on, is maybe probably the most personally revealing of Lipa’s real-life optimism.

“Something For Love” sees Lipa try to free herself of the management that always sharpens her tracks. The tune begins with Lipa in dialog within the studio earlier than evolving right into a piano-backed ballad after which an upbeat and layered manufacturing. The items are all robust, however the observe ends earlier than that collaged imaginative and prescient can absolutely coalesce, leaving it feeling unrealized.

But when “Finish Of An Period,” the album’s opening observe, is to “Radical Optimism” what “Future Nostalgia” was to its namesake album, Lipa is aware of that is just the start of a shift: “One chapter is perhaps finished, God is aware of I had some enjoyable / New one has simply begun,” she sings.