Radical Optimism • Third Album

May 3, 20241 yr

I think she's peaked, we had a drought of big popstars releasing and she temporarily filled that space. And it's not that I'm anti dua as I have really liked most of her stuff but it all has felt I come from a rich family I've been manufactured to get this far. Even comparing this to Rated R is crazy

May 3, 20241 yr

I think the issue is she rose to a level of expectation which she didn't warrant. I think lockdown really helped the success of Future Nostalgia. I've given this another listen with headphones and her voice is just not it, there isn't any personality. She very much feels like an artist who has absolutely zero to do with the music. The music isn't bad in my ears it's just not there. Doesn't help that I saw her live and was absolutely atrocious so already have that bad taste. But I've got Houdini and thats a goldmine.

I'm not sure what you mean by "she rose to a level of expectation which she didn't warrant. I think lockdown really helped the success of Future Nostalgia."?

But to say she has "zero to do with the music" is bollocks. She went to music school. She left her management company because they didn't want her to work with Tame Impala on this album. Dua doesn't produce music, but she's very involved with songwriting and what she wants the music to sound like. She worked with the same 2 producers and 2 writers for this whole album. All of them have gone into detail about Dua's artistic input and work ethic and how they worked together like a band.

May 3, 20241 yr

Onlyother possible single is Whatcha Do

May 3, 20241 yr

I think she's peaked, we had a drought of big popstars releasing and she temporarily filled that space. And it's not that I'm anti dua as I have really liked most of her stuff but it all has felt I come from a rich family I've been manufactured to get this far. Even comparing this to Rated R is crazy

You're just rambling nonsense. Dua came from a rich family? Literally what. She's an immigrant from Kosovo. She made her family rich.

She first performed on the John Peel stage in 2017 at Glastonbury and now she's headlining 7 years later. It didn't happen overnight, she worked for it and DESERVES IT.

May 3, 20241 yr

I'm enjoying the summery beachy sound on this but it definitely does feel a bit at odds with the 'dark late night club' kinda sound from the singles! I feel this probably would've been better received if Dua hadn't mentioned Britpop or any of those influences, yes there's more guitar on here but marketing it straight out of the gate as a chilled summer album would've been a better fit imo. Every song on Future Nostalgia felt single-worthy (well, maybe not Good In Bed or Boys Will Be Boys, but still), whereas here they've definitely picked the singles well. The only other I can really see is Maria, hoping we get some unreleased gems later on like we did with That Kind Of Woman / If It Ain't Me.

Funnily enough I've been listening a lot to another album that came out today, Conducción Temeraria by Alizzz, and the production on there is a lot more of what I'd been expecting based on the singles in terms of the dark late night sound from Houdini / Training Season. I hope Dua sticks with Danny L Harle after this and pushes a bit further into the kinds of weird fusion pop he's been making with Caroline Polachek, like others in this thread have said Dua is clearly very culturally literate and I'd love for her to really go deep into the influences she's mentioned.

May 3, 20241 yr

Rated R was (to me at least) a career best masterpiece and one of the best pop albums of all time (or certainly of the 00s / 10s decade).

I can totally see some collaborations happening though with those being tagged onto the album with a re-release of the album to give her another long charting era.

Sorry wasn’t referring to the quality of RR, more so its chart performance after GGGB.

May 3, 20241 yr

I like End of an Era quite a lot, it feels very Summery and breezy and the production is more interesting than it initially appears. Similarly I'm liking Maria for the same reasons and that's probably the one that I could most imagine translating into a hit, it could easily incorporate a feature on a single release.

Yes :wub: End of an Era keeps revealing itself more and more. The production and the extended spoken bridge are fabulous. A couple of songs have an understated build and some cool productions quirks which I notice with more listens

Nothing on here screams smash hit to me, no in your face big pop hooks but I'm enjoying the album as a whole. It's really vibey and sounds great in the sun and I'm happy she's put out music that's authentic to her.

May 3, 20241 yr

Omg!! Thid album reminds me of ... SOLAR PPWER BY LORDE!!!! Everything deom the success levels to the summery sound!!

May 3, 20241 yr

'Falling Forever' is the easy early highlight for me. So good.

May 3, 20241 yr

A couple more critic reviews

Variety

"It’s a direct pop record dressed up and perfected in the way that the best pop music does, gussying up the structures and conventions of the genre while ignoring everything outside of it."

The Forty-Five - 4/5

"A bound to be a summer staple, Dua Lipa is here for a good time and a long time.

Rolling Stone UK - 3/5

"Moments of greatness can be found on the pop giant's latest album, but it's hard to shake the sense that she is capable of so much better."