Dua Lipa – “Radical Optimism” review

Final verdict: 5/10 ★★⋆˙⟡☆☆

Okay, so, recently, a good buddy of mine coerced me into listening to this album. Well, “coerced” is a bit of a strong word, he didn’t technically do that, however he did repeatedly pressure me to listen to it and review it, because he was curious about what I’d think of it. Eventually I caved, both to his pleas and to my own curiosity, and listened to “Radical Optimism” with him.

For a bit of context, here’s my history with miss Lipa; I liked “Future Nostalgia” back when it came out, I really did. The music was pretty run-of-the-mill department store pop, but I’ll be damned if that isn’t some of the best engineering I’ve ever heard on a pop record. And it was catchy as hell? What gives?

So going into “Radical Optimism”, I had fairly high expectations – what I really wanted here was technically skilled, catchy nu-disco, even if a little less good than “Future Nostalgia”. And well… this just isn’t that.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a well produced record. Maybe not as much as its predecessor, but still good. The main problem here, is it is boring as all hell. Seriously, Dua, what happened? I thought we were friends…

While listening to this album, I made sure to keep some notes about each song… the product was 4 pages of chicken scratch, half of which I can’t even make out. Of the scribblings I can read, here are all the worthwhile ones;

1) “The lyrics on ‘End of an Era’ are fucking stupid. I said hey, you said hey, everybody said hey. How about miss Dua says something worthwhile for once? Doesn’t need to be profound, just, y’know, serviceable…”
2) “Hey, I know this song [‘Houdini’]! It’s very catchy, indeed, though kind of boring at times. I like the instrumental bridge and synth solo at the end. And her vocals are nice… Gotta give her that.”
3) “I’m only on track three, yet this album is proving to be awfully predictable.”
4) [on track 5] “Whatcha Doing? I’m doing splendid, Dua, thank you. […] I like the bell synths and slap bass here. My favorite genre of synth and bass, respectively… The lyrics are very repetitive, but I guess that could be said of this album in its entirety. It’s not necessarily a bad thing though! You know, I believe pop music needs to be at least one of three things: a) sonically interesting, b) thought-provoking, or c) catchy. This album falls into the third category – it’s impossible to not get some of these lines stuck in your head, with how much they’re repeated!”
5) “Side note: Lipa appears to have a penchant for interesting album titles. ‘Future Nostalgia’, ‘Radical Optimism’… What any of it means, I have no clue, but consider my attention drawn!”
6) “‘It’s not a broken heart if I don’t break it’ True. ‘Goodbye won’t hurt if I don’t say it’ Also true.”
7) “‘Dance all night’ AND THE CROWD LEFT 🗣️🔥”
8) “Okay, so I just found what sets this album apart from ‘Future Nostalgia’, apart from the fact it simply isn’t very good – the mix on ‘Falling Forever’. WHAT THE FUCK 🗣️ WHY IS THE HORSE STOMPING IN THE CHORUS SO LOUD 🗣️. This is one of the best songs on the record, easily, but god damn does the horse ruin it. Take it back to the stable!”
9) [on track 9] “WHY ARE PEOPLE GIGGLING”
10) “The latter half of the album is obviously weaker than the first.”

I am aware my notes are indicative of some ambivalence, however, I fear the final verdict is that this album is “inoffensive-but-not-very-good-at-all”. You know how people make fun of “white people food” because it’s bland and tasteless? This is the musical equivalent of “white people food”. Well cooked “white people food”, but “white people food” regardless. And it doesn’t taste nearly as good as yesterday’s dinner. The people are starving. 5/10.