Radical Optimism - Dua Lipa: Review

Dua Lipa

is a pop star who broke through in the late 2010's on the back of hits like New Rules. She quickly elevated herself to the A-list with 2020's Future Nostalgia which managed to be a hit with both fans and critics alike. I liked that record quite a bit and I was looking forward to a follow-up, never expecting that wait to extend to 4 entire years. But now Dua is back with a third record that features production from Tame Impala's Kevin Parker and Danny L Harle of PC Music fame. Despite those colorful choices though, Radical Optimism's downfall is how dry and flat its sonic palette often feels. 

The album doesn't start off that way though, in fact it gets off to a strong start. Starting your new era off with a song called End Of An Era is just music critic bait but hey, I'll bite. While the production on the song is about as flat as the rest of the record I can't help but love the chorus. It has such a sweet flourish to it and when the bright hits on the final hook it's just wonderful. That's followed by lead single Houdini which clicked with me right away. Even if I'm not as crazy about the track as I was at first I still can't find a whole lot to complain about. 

The next single is Training Season, which is by FAR my favorite song on the record. It has a chorus that's been drilled directly into my brain for months now. The song is exactly how I think a Dua Lipa track should feel with snappy pop melodies and tight, hooky refrains. The instrumental manages to be more pulsating and dramatic than most of her songs and I'm just all in on the track. 

True highlights among the deep cuts are few and far between and don't really emerge until the end of the album. Anything For Love is a gentle piano ballad that slips into this bouncy groove out of nowhere. It's one of the most interesting instrumentals on the record as a result and my only complaint is that its so short it feels like there's no room to breathe. That's followed immediately by Maria another pretty interesting change of pace. It features some catchier songwriting than much of the middle of the record and while I once again think the instrumental badly needs a bit more bite, I'll take what I can get. 

That's kind of the thing with this record, it isn't bad but it can often get so boring that it feels bad. Part of me was secretly hoping These Walls would be a Kendrick Lamar cover, but instead it's the most toothless song she's ever made. The revelation that the walls would just tell you to "break up" with him doesn't live up to the drama of the moment at all. 

French Exit is a decent track that leaves me conflicted. In one sense, I could see a version of this track where Dua goes full-on WAY too corny with her French puns. But in another light, the song is definitely missing something and part of me wonders if SOME personality, even if its cringey, might be better than none at all. I can speculate on that because I've heard the album's third single Illusion. The song is catchy in all the wrong ways and so repetitive and innocuous while having no flavor. It's the worst single Dua has dropped in a long time and reminds me more of Ava Max than the girl who made Break My Heart. 

Occasionally the record has contradicting issues from the dry and flavorless instrumentals that define it. Whatcha Doing actually has one of the better and more detailed instrumental palettes here but the songwriting just does not click with me at all. I want to like the song but nearly everything Due says just goes in one ear and out the other. That's in stark contrast to Falling Forever which is memorable because it's so obviously trying to reverse-engineer a Lady Gaga song and the results are disastrous. I love Dua's voice but she has an entirely different skill set than Gaga making this attempt an exceedingly strange choice with messy results. 

The one deep cut where they try and dial up the instrumental is the closer Happy For You but it's a massive overcorrection. The song is actually a pretty compelling meditation on a breakup with lyrics I like. But the instrumentation is WAY too much, especially after the first eruption onto the chorus. The instrumental absolutely smothers what should be one of Dua's more intimate and heartfelt performances. 

Dua Lipa is already developing a reputation for dropping songs and albums that grow on everyone over time. I'll be the first one to admit I could see myself warming up on a post-album single like Maria or French Exit I don't think I'll change my course on the album as a whole. Part of what has made Future Nostalgia such a lasting pop moment this decade is Dua's easily recognizable personality told through both her punchy instrumentals and distinct lyrical portraits. All of that is missing from even the best work on Radical Optimism and she comes out looking more like just another pop star than I ever anticipated. 5.5/10

For more pop check out my review of Ariana Grande's eternal sunshine