It’s nice seeing refreshing faces break into the mainstream pop scene. Although the common artists do have their good days, it gets admittedly tiring hearing Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Ariana Grande infinitely looped on the radio. Some of the new names breaking onto the scene have a lot of promise behind them too. Billie Eilish took the drab moodiness popular right now and made a gem out of it. On the opposite end of the pop spectrum there’s Dua Lipa who broke through with her bouncy and catchy as all hell hit single “New Rules”. Her energy is immense and something we are lacking heavily nowadays. She also brought a level of confidence many have given up on producing that fit her sassy personality and independence driven lyrics which were put on full display on my favorite single of hers “IDGAF”. Such bravado made me excited to see where she would go with her sound next knowing she wouldn’t compromise and water down her sound like many before her.

As expected, Dua Lipa’s newest record Future Nostalgia retains the pace of Dua Lipa’s pop charm. If anything Future Nostalgia is even more bold than her debut self-titled. As the title implies, the record indulges in nostalgia taking influences from disco and other popular sounds from the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s. To avoid making it sound outdated, Dua Lipa and her cast of producers delivered a clean sound that adds a futuristic vibe to compliment the album’s worship of older pop styles. The title’s relation to the record’s sound doesn’t end there. Lyrically Dua Lipa challenges old ideas revolving around gender politics that still linger to this day. Like mentioned before, Dua Lipa comes off as confident and self-driven in her music. This aspect connects with the challenge against sexism by having her play the role of a woman in a more equal and better time in the future where women can strive socially without being looked down upon. That idea isn’t exactly a “concept” persae and is more of an overarching theme, but is great and well-handled nonetheless.

Such a theme makes for some pretty great tunes across Future Nostalgia. “Don’t Start Now” is an up-beat nu-disco jam with a jumpy bassline and little orchestral string flares. It feels victorious fitting the lyrics about being fully over an ex who comes pathetically crawling back. Following it is an even more energetic song, “Physical”, that will get you on your feet and dancing like it’s the 80’s especially when the sparkling synths explode on the chorus. Then there’s “Levitating” which is an amazing track portraying the feeling of levitating when you meet someone at a club and have that immediate connection. “Love Again” is a special song for how it takes a positive spin on being down after a break-up. Those strings are beautiful aside Dua Lipa escaping her state of loneliness and gloriously rising back to the confident person she is. Most tracks off of Future Nostalgia ride on the idea of Dua Lipa being a “female alpha” in her relationships, but “Boys Will Be Boys” takes a more direct approach in crushing sexism. It’s a big “fuck you” to men who are condescending to women and use the excuse of “boys will be boys” to mindlessly justify regressive behavior; all topped off with her calling them out “If you’re offended by this song; You’re clearly doing something wrong”.

Moving forward to a 2000’s dance pop vibe is “Hallucinate” which is an invigorating declaration of feeling free to do whatever you want. I could do without the repetition of first syllables on the chorus which is more of a personal preference of mine, but it doesn’t take away from the sheer bombastic wonderment of the track. Unfortunately Future Nostalgia has more pop clichés that aren’t saved by their respective tracks. An example of which is “Pretty Please” and its chopped up chipmunk vocal fragments not helped by the fairly standard bass groove with very few instruments accompanying it. The title track is another where Dua Lipa does sound confidence and the chorus is incredibly infectious, but her attempt to rap on the verses becomes annoying with how tedious her flow is. Then there’s “Good In Bed” which has too many overused pop tropes. Distracting finger snaps, awkward vocals repeating the last words of each line on the chorus, and two-three piano chords constantly playing without changing up make it a pretty boring listen. It’s a shame because Dua Lipa handles the idea of only being in a relationship for the sex with class not making either side of the relationship sound in more control than the other.

Future Nostalgia doesn’t quite stick the landing with a handful of songs feeling “meh”, but when it does the album is a infectiously uplifting. It’s hard not to feel good listening to this. Plus it is definitely a step-up from Dua Lipa’s debut which had a few great songs but overall was so-so. Being able to work with nostalgia without coming off as dated and blind worship of older styles is something many artists wish they could do. Bringing in a modern rendition makes it all-the-better. I’m beyond happy Dua Lipa is hitting it big with popularity. She deserves it as one of the most promising new mainstream artists and I’m excited to see where she will go next.

Best Tracks: “Don’t Start Now”; “Physical”; “Levitating”; “Love Again”; “Boys Will Be Boys”

Worst Track: “Good in Bed”

Rating: 7/10

Released: 03/27/2020

Label: Warner

Genres: Dance Pop, Nu-Disco

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RATING SCALE

Perfect Excellent Great Very Good Good Meh Disappointing Bad Horrible Pitiful Bottom of the Barrel