Radical Optimism

This album has been added to 3 public lists:

• 

  2025 Listens

  Barry

  It's good! But also I'm not feeling the urge to listen to it over and over.

• 

  2024 Top 20

  Adam Wood

  A couple months ago, Dua Lipa made a return visit to the NPR Tiny Desk concert series, turning in a thoroughly delightful performance that was nevertheless not a match for her previous appearance. The fact that her 2020 set is perhaps the best in the show’s 17-year history speaks to the difficulty in following up near perfection.

  Now—in contrast to Fabolous (feat. Snoop Dogg) back in 2003—I don’t claim to be ‘up on things’, but my limited understanding is that Radical Optimism is generally regarded to have been a miss. In a pop environment dominated this summer by Sabrina Carpenter’s effortless, sunny ‘Espresso’, and the dizzying ascent of Chapell Roan, perhaps there wasn’t room enough for another set of disco-infused relationship dissections from London’s reigning queen of the dance floor.

  If that’s the case, I’m here to tell you—not for the first time—that the general opinion is deeply misguided. In the years since Dua’s previous LP, Future Nostalgia, topped my list in 2020, I’ve wondered whether it was even possible to match on its own terms. There are only a handful of tracks here that can truly hang in that record’s illustrious company, but that in itself should be counted as a minor miracle. ‘Illusion’ and ‘Houdini’ are a forthright one-two punch of self-empowerment; ‘These Walls’ is a softer relative, sweet in its admitted sadness; lead single ‘Training Season’ is the album’s brightest firework, its impeccable beat and flawless, nuanced vocal performance placing it firmly amongst my ten most-played songs of 2024.

  I’ve not seen this record on any of the big critics’ lists to date, and that seems wild to me. Still, surely another top five finish on this list is what counts.

• 

  Water

  Rachel Cabitt

  Released May 2024 on Warner Music UK. Photography by Tyrone Lebon.