Featured image: Radical Optimism Album Artwork / Warner Music
Radical Optimism was released in May 2024 by Dua Lipa, an album which I have grown to love more and more after every listen, and earning my most-listened-to album on Spotify last year. However, critics had different opinions, with the Huffington Post declaring that it’s “great, but not that interesting” and Rolling Stone stating that “Lipa sounds so chill, that the music starts to lose energy”. Many other critics share similar opinions, with fans online questioning whether Lipa is in her ‘flop era’. But Radical Optimism is an overlooked gem, an album which deserves more praise than it currently receives, and should belong to the echelons of albums loved in 2024.
Sophomore record Future Nostalgia was a masterpiece of an album, a sentiment shared by fans and critics alike, so following that up was always going to be a difficult task. But Radical Optimism has arguably had more of a lasting impact than people think. Take The Devil Wears Prada 2, a movie based on the very heights of fashion, using ‘End of an Era’ on the soundtrack this year. The Radical Optimism tour itself grossed over $112.3 million and sold over 960,000 tickets, making it bigger than the Future Nostalgia tour and it hadn’t even finished yet. So how can we still be calling this a flop?
But what about the music? Radical Optimism is different to the albums being churned out in the last few years – the key difference being Lipa doesn’t write songs that reveal her personal life, instead they’re written for fun. A lot of breakup albums achieve the aim of shitting on exes and leaving a breadcrumb of hints, fuelling media frenzies and inciting wars on social media. But in ‘Happy For You’, Dua sings about being happy for her ex, wishing him well with his new partner. Sure, we all love pining for our exes from time to time, but doesn’t it get boring after a while? Lipa swerves this – and the potential cash grab – by taking a mature approach, yet she’s critiqued for it?
These songs carry so much emotion, from the heartbreak of ‘These Walls’ to the gratitude of ‘Maria’, and just because Lipa doesn’t air out her love life in these songs, does not mean it isn’t interesting. It’s an album you can dance to, cry to and introspect on, all in a 36-minute run time. And who doesn’t like an album with that much variety and emotion? This album is severely underrated, but snubbed at the Grammy’s an injustice for Lipa’s talent and for such a gem of an album.
But why believe me? Listen to the album, and make a decision for yourself. Take a leaf out of Dua’s book, be a ‘Radical Optimist’, and you’ll find 36 minutes of Lipa just isn’t enough.
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