It is no coincidence that Dua Lipa's third studio album is called "Radical Optimism". The 28-year-old has declared positive thinking, even in difficult situations, to be something of a life motto.
"I always, always try to be more optimistic with everything," says Lipa in an interview with dpa in London. "It's not the easiest thing. Sometimes things can just be going really badly and you just have to [keep going]."
From the outside at least, everything is going well for the British-Albanian singer at the moment. With her perfectly produced disco-pop album "Future Nostalgia", she rose to global stardom.
In addition to her pop career, this multiple Grammy winner is also active as a model, podcaster and, more recently, in supporting roles in Hollywood films like "Barbie" and "Argylle".
A new collaboration with Tame Impala
Dua Lipa had collected almost 100 songs - many of them before she went on tour with "Future Nostalgia".
"I just had to keep writing until the idea presented itself to me where I was heading next," she says. It was through working with Kevin Parker, better known as the frontman of Tame Impala, that the new album began to take shape.
Producer Danny Harley, songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. and songwriter Caroline Ailin, who wrote the hit singles "New Rules" and "Don't Stop Now" with Lipa, were also involved.
"In 2022, when I worked with Kevin, that was kind of the 'eureka' moment," says Lipa.
"In the first session, where it was me, Kevin, Danny, Tobias and Caroline, we wrote the song Illusion, and the day after, we wrote Happy For You, and the day after, we wrote Whatcha Doing, and I was like, 'Oh, now I feel like I know exactly where I'm heading.'"
The first of three pre-released singles - "Houdini" - suggested a slightly different, darker sound with analogue synthesizers and striking keyboard riffs.
The second single - "Illusion" - was then almost the expected Dua Lipa club hit and, with its hints of French house, seemed like a remnant of the polished "Future Nostalgia". However, the progressive synthesiser solo of "Illusion" hinted that she could try out new things.
The moody Latin house number "End Of An Era" makes for a lively intro to Dua Lipa's third studio album. Like most of the songs that follow, it's instantly catchy.
The 28-year-old singer says she processes experiences from her own love life - which she doesn't want to talk about - and sings about jumping to conclusions and being "hopelessly romantic".
Is she really a hopeless romantic? Lipa's answer: "I'd like to think that I'm hopeful."
New worlds of sound
Thanks in part to Parker's influence, "Radical Optimism" brings rich new soundscapes previously unknown to Dua Lipa. From summery, groovy pop with a cheerful 80s synthesiser ("Watcha Doing") to sophisticated trip hop ("French Exit") and a driving disco ballad that lies somewhere between Giorgio Moroder and Eurovision kitsch ("Falling Forever") - the album never gets boring and always sounds lively.
"After touring for so long in 2022, I fell in love so much more with the live version of the songs," says the singer. "And so for me, it was having that live instrumentation, something more organic, being in a room just with one group of people and just honing in and working almost like a band in a way that I hadn't done so before."
Inventive, refreshing details enrich the songs, like the catchy flute melody in the chorus of "Maria". This rousing dancefloor hit with acoustic guitar put to synthesizers is highly addictive and should really be a single.
It wasn't a specific genre of music that inspired her, but a particular energy, says Lipa, adding that she often listened to "Screamadelica" by Primal Scream, "Dummy" by Portishead and Massive Attack albums.
"I loved the free flowing, the melody, the way it made me feel, the euphoria that I felt when I was listening to those records," Lipa says. "That was the energy that I was trying to portray as well with my album."
A musical journey instead of a Spotify algorithm
At a time when songs are written for the Spotify algorithm, Dua Lipa sees the album in its entirety. "It was a lot about leading that one into the other, sonically, and taking people on a journey."
But she is of course aware that many fans will pick out individual songs and stream those on repeat while ignoring others.
"I would love for people to hear it in one go, but I can't control how people choose to consume the music. I can present it to them in the way that I would love to, for it to be how I intend it to be listened to. But there's not much power I have."
It is indeed worth listening to "Radical Optimism" from the first to the last minute.
"Happy For You" ends with a powerful landscape of sound and a synthesiser outro reminiscent of the Moog escapades of progressive rock legend Rick Wakeman. Who would have expected that?
Dua Lipa's rousing new songs are miles ahead of the masses of mediocre pop songs that regularly fill the charts and whose performers must seriously fear being replaced by AI.
With "Radical Optimism", Dua Lipa confirms her status as one of the most important pop stars of our time. Her third studio album is her best to date.
