Upon release, Radical Optimism received generally positive reviews from critics. Some reviewers praised its neo-psychedelic production, while others found the album underwhelming and compared it poorly to Future Nostalgia. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted atop the UK Albums Chart and scored the biggest opening week for a British female in three years. In the United States, it accumulated Lipa's highest first week sales and became her highest-charting album on the Billboard 200. Radical Optimism is being supported by the Radical Optimism Tour, which began in November 2024.
In 2023, Lipa revealed her third studio album would be released sometime in 2024 with a new sound that sees her moving away from the disco soundscape of Future Nostalgia; instead embracing more of 1970s-era psychedelia.[9] After having deleted all of her Instagram posts in October 2023, she revealed she had gotten her hair coloured red via a picture of herself captioned "miss me?".[10] In anticipation of new music, Lipa posted pictures to her social media with cryptic captions[11] and temporarily replaced the cover art of her previous albums with kaleidoscopic versions on streaming services.[12] In the cover story for the February 2024 issue of Rolling Stone, Lipa described her forthcoming album as a "psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to UK rave culture".[13]
Lipa announced her third studio album, titled Radical Optimism, and its release date, via an Instagram livestream on 13 March 2024.[14] The album is her first studio effort in four years, following Future Nostalgia.[15]
Music and lyrics
Radical Optimism is a dance-pop,[16]neo-psychedelia,[17]electropop,[18] and Europop record.[19] It "taps into the pure joy and happiness" of having clarity in situations, including "hard goodbyes and vulnerable beginnings" that eventually turned out to be milestones as a result of choosing optimism and grace to navigate "through the chaos".[20] The album is inspired by "the energy of [Lipa's hometown] London, and the rawness, honesty, confidence and freedom of 90s Britpop".[21] In a press release, she expressed her desire to "capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun" with the record. The concept of radical optimism was introduced to her by a friend a few years prior, which resonated with her and allowed it to "weave" into her life.[22] Inspired by the term, Lipa found herself doing research on the history of "psychedelia, trip hop, and Britpop". The concept turned out to be a "confidently optimistic" feeling to the singer that she sought to incorporate in her recording sessions.[23]
Release and promotion
Radical Optimism was released through Warner Records on 3 May 2024,[21] and was made available for streaming, digital download, cassette, CD, and vinyl LP variants.[24] Pre-orders for the album began on 13 March 2024.[25]
Title and artwork
Lipa unveiled the album's cover, title and tracklist on 13 March 2024.[26] According to Lipa, the title Radical Optimism was inspired by "the idea of going through chaos gracefully and feeling like you can weather any storm".[27] The artwork of the album was unveiled along with its announcement. Shot by Tyrone Lebon,[28] it depicts the singer floating in an ocean and the fin of a nearby shark seemingly approaching her.[26]
Singles
The lead single "Houdini" was released on 9 November 2023, with its accompanying music video.[29] The song topped the charts in Belgium,[30] Bulgaria,[31] and Greece;[32] reached number two in the UK,[33] the top-ten in various countries,[34] and number 11 in the US.[35] It also topped the BillboardDance/Electronic Songs chart for 17 weeks,[36] becoming her second-longest-running number-one on the chart.[37] An extended edit of the song was released on digital and streaming services on 1 December followed by remixes by Adam Port and Danny L Harle, one of the track's producers, on 22 December 2023 and 19 January 2024 respectively.[38][39][40]
The second single "Training Season" was debuted live at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on 4 February 2024 before being released on 15 February.[41] It was issued on limited 7-inch vinyl, CD, and cassette formats in addition to accompanying instrumental, a capella, extended, and extended instrumental versions on digital and streaming platforms.[42][43] The song's music video, directed by Vincent Hancock, was released alongside the track.[44] The single debuted at number four in the UK,[45] six in Ireland,[46] 10 in New Zealand,[47] 11 in Canada,[48] 27 in the US,[49] and within the top 40 in various other countries. An acoustic version of the song was released on digital and streaming services on 22 March 2024, followed by a remix by Chloé Caillet on 29 March.[50][51]
"Illusion" was released as the album's third single on 11 April 2024.[52] Accompanying instrumental, a capella, and extended versions were released the same day on digital and streaming services.[43] The song debuted at number nine in the UK, becoming the album's third consecutive top ten entry,[53] and within the top 40 in various other countries. The track also reached the summit of the US Dance/Electronic Songs chart, becoming the second single from the album to reach the peak there.[54] The song's accompanying music video drew comparisons to Kylie Minogue's video for her 2003 single "Slow".[55]
The fourth and final single, "These Walls", was released on 8 November 2024 as a collaboration with Belgian singer Pierre de Maere, along with a lyric video featuring footage of the two singers recording the new version.[56] It reached number 60 in France and numbers 11 and 8 in the Flanders and Wallonia regions of Belgium, respectively.[57]
Live performances
As part of promotion for the album, Lipa performed the album's singles at various venues across various media forms. Performances of "Houdini" and "Training Season" filmed in a London warehouse were released to YouTube on 12 January 2024 and 15 March, respectively. The performances, subtitled "London Sessions", were also released in audio form on digital and streaming services on the same day as their respective debuts.[58][59] Lipa opened the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on 4 February 2024 with "Houdini" and debuted then-unreleased "Training Season", along with "Dance the Night", a song for the 2023 film Barbie.[41] She performed "Training Season" again at the Brit Awards 2024 ceremony on 2 March.[60] On 12 April, Lipa performed a private concert at a McDonald's convention in Barcelona. Her setlist at the event consisted of the album's first two singles alongside several other songs from her catalogue.[61]
Lipa recorded a performance for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge series at Maida Vale Studios that aired on BBC One on 6 May 2024. Her performance included "Training Season", "Illusion" and "Happy for You" from Radical Optimism in addition to her 2015 single, "Be the One", and a cover of Cleo Sol's 2021 track "Sunshine".[62] On 25 April, she performed the first three singles off of the album at Time magazine's 2024 100 Gala. The event aired on the ABC network on 12 May.[63] On 4 May, a day after the album's release, Lipa hosted Saturday Night Live and performed "Illusion" and "Happy for You" during the show.[64] The next day, she performed the same two songs again alongside "Houdini" and "Training Season" during a surprise concert in Times Square in New York City.[65]
On 18 March 2024, Lipa announced the Radical Optimism Tour, a concert tour in support of the album. Tickets went on general sale on 21 March via Ticketmaster; fans who pre-ordered Radical Optimism were granted pre-sale access.[72]
Radical Optimism received generally favourable reviews from music critics.[84] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 73, based on 21 reviews.[74]
Writing for Evening Standard, El Hunt says that "Radical Optimism, despite having a title that sounds like an inspirational fridge magnet, boasts some real dance-pop gems which belong right at the top of her output", but adds that it's a "slightly half-hearted experiment".[85] For the Financial Times, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney noted that "there's a lot of production layering and effects, but the songs share a similarly straightforward groove".[86]
Aimee Phillips of Clash lamented "I can't see Radical Optimism sliding in straight to number one in fans' affections, but if the slow-burn of Future Nostalgia is anything to go by, Dua Lipa would have grounds to be, as her latest project suggests, radically optimistic about the album's future".[87]DIY writer Lisa Wright remarked that "on her hugely-anticipated third, there's plenty of sun-drenched sonic optimism but not so much that's all that radical".[88]
Radical Optimism has received some mixed reviews.[89][90][91][92] In The Line of Best Fit, Claire Biddles said "In her [Dua's] dance-pop singles, she's proven that she can do the "pop" part, but the "star" is still lacking".[93] Writing for NME, Thomas Smith wrote that "perhaps it's unfair to hold Lipa too strongly against what might have been a throwaway comment in a profile too literally, but Radical Optimism offers little else to latch on".[80] Jaeden Pinder of Paste felt the album lacks "depth and risk", describing it as a "series of vignettes" rather than a "fully fleshed-out record".[94] Some critics have reviewed the album as inferior to Future Nostalgia and said it failed to match the high expectations set by Lipa.[95][96] Common complaints found the album's production to be underwhelming and underdeveloped.[97]
For The Sunday Times, Dan Cairns writes of the album that it "excels..in its sonic detailing," citing 6 tracks as "genuinely fantastic songs, befitting of a star" whilst summarising the album as "Radical? Nope. Great (in parts). Absolutely".[98]
Radical Optimism debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 46,300 units, marking the best opening week for a British female artist since Adele's 30 in November 2021. It marked her first number one debut and her second number one album overall.[103] Following Lipa's performance at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival, Radical Optimism returned to the top-ten of the UK Albums Chart at number three, selling an additional 9,300 copies that week, while her other two studio albums Future Nostalgia (2020) and Dua Lipa (2017) placed at numbers eight and ten, respectively.[104] On 19 July 2024, the album was certified Gold by the BPI for selling 100,000 units in the country.[105]
In the United States, Radical Optimism debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 (hindered by Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department), with 83,000 equivalent units sold on its opening week, consisting of 51,500 pure album sales. With this feat, it became Lipa's highest-charting album in the country, surpassing the number three peak of her previous LP Future Nostalgia. It was also the top-selling album in pure sales that week and marked Lipa's highest first week overall units.[106] In its second week on the chart, Radical Optimism fell 19 places to number 21, selling an additional 23,000 copies, a 70% decline from its first week sales performance.[107] In total, the album spent 15 weeks on the Billboard 200, Lipa's shortest stay for any of her studio albums.[108]
In France, the album debuted at number one on the SNEP Albums Chart, recording 19,501 units sold in its first week of release. Radical Optimism became Lipa's first French number-one album and has since been certified platinum in the country.[109][110] Likewise, Radical Optimism debuted atop the Austrian Albums Chart and marked Lipa's first album to reach the summit in Austria.[111] In the Netherlands, the album debuted atop the Dutch Album Top 100, becoming Lipa's second Dutch number-one album after Future Nostalgia topped the chart in 2021.[112]
Radical Optimism debuted at number one on the Spanish Albums Chart in Spain, becoming the singer's second album to reach the summit in the country, and was later awarded a gold certification by PROMUSICAE.[113][114] Across Europe, the album also peaked at number one in Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and Wallonia, while debuting in the top ten in others.
On 16 June 2024, Radical Optimism surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, becoming her third album to do so, and currently has 1.6 billon streams on the platform as of December 2024.[115][116]
↑ Welsh, Daniel (3 May 2024). "Critics Aren't Exactly Bowled Over By Dua Lipa's Long-Awaited New Album". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024. It's not necessarily that reviews for Radical Optimism are bad, but many critics have been left questioning whether it's a worthy follow-up to Future Nostalgia, particularly given everything that Dua has had to say about her new music in the lead-up.
↑ Radical Optimism (CD liner notes). Dua Lipa. Warner Records UK, a division of Warner Music UK Limited. 2024. 5054197943478.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 19.Týden 2024 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
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