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Dua Lipa: Radical Optimism review – a banger-filled missive from dating land
Talk of a new musical direction proves unfounded as the Grammy-winning singer’s third album shares more retro-inspired dance pop and lessons from her love life
There has been some loose talk of Lipa being inspired, this time around, by Primal Scream’s 1991 LP Screamadelica and Massive Attack; of the Britpop 90s and Gorillaz; of the north London Albanian singer turning to low-slung British source material rather than Studio 54. Confusingly – or, perhaps, obviously – not one of the tracks released so far has sounded anything like the aural equivalent of the white horse from Studio 54 running down a London street, wild-eyed and mysteriously bloodied, which is to say, the music of the 80s/90s cusp, laced with rave psychedelia and tweaked hard a la Harle’s 2021 album Harlecore. Yes, Parker’s synths are regularly audible throughout, giving Radical Optimism a nice analogue-sounding sheen, and the odd guitar and some deft retro production details keep the listener’s ears pricking up, but not so much it distracts from the record’s job: to maintain Lipa’s strike rate as a purveyor of romantic reckonings you can move to.
Or read this on The Guardian
