Album Review: Dua Lipa, Radical Optimism

Each of the eleven tracks on Dua Lipa’s third studio full-length are zippy, well-crafted and rife with hooks destined to magnetise dance floors throughout the coming summer. That being said, Radical Optimism doesn’t really match up to the Britpop-inspired and “90s Rave Culture” tags it was pinned with in the build-up. If Great Britain was the bullseye, Dua Lipa has instead hit treble seventeen (that’s slightly down and to the right, for the uncultured), resulting in an album that’s more Mallorca than Manchester - and all the better for it.

The dramatic ‘Training Season’ is ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ for the modern age,  ‘Falling Forever’ bleeds Eurovision with a galloping backbeat, wailing chorus and Schlager synths, while the flamenco guitar speckled ‘French Exit’ and ‘Maria’ would fit snugly on the sun-soaked, saccharine bliss of Mediterranean taxi driver radio. These observations might seem like affronts, but rest assured, they’re not. The whole thing feels gloriously nostalgic.

“Psychedelic” was another descriptor thrown around prior to the record’s release, perhaps down to the involvement of trip-rock guru Kevin Parker a.k.a Tame Impala, who produced the bulk of the record, alongside Dua Lipa’s long-time collaborator Danny Harle. The songs are far from hallucinogenic, but the Aussie does sprinkle in plenty of his signature bass-centred grooves, with ‘End Of An Era’ and ‘Houdini’ signalling a heavier shift away from 2020’s disco-infused Future Nostalgia, without losing any of the fun, danceable qualities on which the empress has built her fame.

Lyrically, Radical Optimism may not be as revolutionary as the name suggests, but when weighed up as a Dua Lipa album, there’s plenty for pop enthusiasts to be optimistic about.