Dua Lipa is an artist known by many for her hit songs that’s allowed her to reach seventh in the world on Spotify in just two albums. Her biggest hits being “Don’t Start Now,” “Break My Heart,” “Dance the Night (from Barbie the Album),” and “Levitating.” Before “Radical Optimism,” she released her debut, self-titled album “Dua Lipa” in 2017 and her sophomore album “Future Nostalgia” in 2020, with her debut being dance-pop and “Future Nostalgia” leaning into the disco more.
On Nov. 9, Lipa released the first single of the album: “Houdini,” which topped the Billboard dance/electronic chart in the U.S. and hit the top 10 in many other countries. It was followed by “Training Season” on Feb 4, which was first teased at the Grammy’s. This release did not get as much acclaim as the other songs, but still hit the top 50s on the charts. Her third single, “Illusion” was released on April 11 as the final single before the album was released on on May 3.
Radical Optimism is a “psychedelic-pop-infused [album] tribute to UK rave culture” according to Lipa in a Rolling Stones interview. Which, ends up being a dance-pop album with elements from psychedelic era, which I don’t agree with as I would compare it more to dream-pop but I digress. The lyrics are mostly love-related which at first I thought was going to be repetitive but it ended up being OK as there was enough variety to make it seem different each time.
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