After releasing three singles as early teasers, and embarking on a months-long promotional blitz, Dua Lipa has finally released her third album Radical Optimism today, May 3.
The album began in earnest on November 9 of last year, when she released "Houdini," and it was kicked into higher gear on February 15 with the release of "Training Season." The elaborately choreographed video for "Illusion" followed several weeks ago.
As she stated to Billboard recently, "[Releasing the album] feels good. It feels for lack of a better word — radically optimistic. Throughout the whole record, there's this idea of chaos happening around and me trying to push through it in a way that feels authentic and honest to me."
She also chatted with Apple Music's Zane Lowe about the album's overarching theme, which is happiness. "With this album, I feel like I’ve managed to put so much more honesty out there, and be really open in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever had the chance to," she revealed. "There’s this one song, which is the last song in the album called 'Happy for You.' And I love that song because, to me, it’s about seeing someone who you were with move on, and be really happy for them. And I probably wouldn’t have been able to write that song on my first or second record because I don’t feel like I probably would’ve grown as a person or as an artist to be able to see someone that you loved move on. Or I would’ve found it difficult."
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The album is her first full-length release since 2020, and quite a lot has happened to the 28-year-old British singer in that time period. Emerging from the pandemic, she began her upwards trajectory on both the U.K. and U.S. charts with Future Nostalgia. She won the BRIT Award for British Album of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. The inaugural single "Don't Start Now," with its funky bassline, Daft Punk-style melody and Lipa's lyrical focus on empowerment, scored big numbers and signaled a return to the dance vibes of the disco era.
Fast-forward to 2023 and "Dance The Night" as the lead single from the film Barbie. Her acting debut played only a small part in the narrative, but the film's runaway success and the soundtrack helped propel Lipa's song to the top of the charts and was nominated for, among other accolades, Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards, and Best Original Song at the Golden Globes.
Radical Optimism is now available to stream and purchase in a variety of formats, including picture disc, cassette, lenticular CD and even a signed limited-edition boxset on her website.
