Perhaps the radical moment was having optimism for another Dua Lipa record. Future Nostalgia was an exceptional work and is now compartmentalised by the stuttered times of lockdown and the longer gestation period it was given as we sat at home reeling from news coverage and throwing tin cans at the wall to pass the time. Radical Optimism, at least in its immediate moments of release, is not the sound of a creatively fulfilled experience. Dua Lipa has the pressures of Glastonbury looming and the worst-case scenario was a sound which failed to develop the Nu-Pop joys of her previous record. Here we have the worst-case scenario, then. Opener End of an Era could not be more on the nose. Credit to Dua Lipa for trying to bring about the end of her time as an artist known for One Kiss – though moving on from the sounds of seven years ago requires an overhaul Radical Optimism does not provide.
Shifting her instrumental tone to Europop charms is not enough. Dua Lipa still rattles off the hopes of romance blossoming as she did on her self-titled debut, as it appeared on Future Nostalgia. At least her second release had a boom of creativity to it, an electrified state of mind with a sharp and bitter tone running through it. Radical Optimism loses those and instead feels like a cobbled-together selection of loose ends and the allusion to interesting topics. The Walls follows on from two solid singles and implicates those who spill their secrets in nondescript rooms. Dua Lipa has no interest in the specifics of their lives but the implication of a world where walls could speak. Without the jabs and individual examples, it lingers more as a broad and everyday threat, it has no punch or power to it and much of Radical Optimism lacks those moments of biting intensity which made Future Nostalgia such a hit.
An exceptional vocal run continues – at the very least Dua Lipa’s confident approach to these similar-sounding tracks remains. French Exit takes on a too literal meaning of departing without approval, the equivalent of an Irish goodbye but for Radical Optimism it is just another vaguely confident pop at the devolution of a relationship. The likes of Illusion feel like safe arena bets where the lights and dance routines will overtake any of the lyrical displays or context. Most of Radical Optimism feels this way and it is a great shame considering how well-blurred the line was on Future Nostalgia. Static pop comes in all forms but for Dua Lipa the success of the singles overshadows the lack of variety and range Radical Optimism can provide beyond simpler strokes of repetitive themes.
Where it may be a vocally warm experience the lyrical dissatisfaction is not addressed. Dua Lipa has coasted through this one and brings limited pop riffs to the main stage. They are of little difference to what she has achieved before, and this is a fatal mistake which will leave Radical Optimism as a vaguely underwhelming piece. But thanks to previous works and a few solid singles there is no chance of Dua Lipa being booted from her place near the top of the pop music pile, though this latest record does not help her case. An overreliance on what made Future Nostalgia tick over so well is the real trouble here and instead of searching for those swipes at culture and modern living as the likes of Good in Bed and Boys Will Be Boys there is an introspective simplicity running through Radical Optimism which will give listeners little to look forward to.
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