1 minute ago, Kern said:

the album doesn't sound at all like they described it in all the press releases

Being inspired by something doesn't mean that the elements of said inspiration must be extremely apparent in every part of every song. If you imagined that than that's a problem of the expectation you created, which is also ok, just not as an argument to say that it's the artists fault.

Just finished my first listen and I can't help but feeling kind of underwhelmed... It's been previously said but most songs just feel empty. I miss when Pop songs had vocal layers, different basses or instruments doing call and response to each other! Worst part is that she sold us this album as psychedelic meets pop with heavy Tame Impala influences that I'm still trying to find besides some arpeggiated stuff here and there...

 

None of the songs are bad, far from it actually, but none of the tracks feel quite finished besides Houdini, Falling Forever and maybe Happy For You.

Future Nostalgia is a really tough album to follow, and some of the songs she released afterwards had me believe she knew exactly where she wanted to go next (Fever, We're Good...) but Radical Optimism just feels like she was torn between taking a risk musically and staying true to what made her successful in the first place.

 

Edited May 2, 20242 yr by Dazed_ALX

Future Nostalgia vs End of an Era

Don't Start Now vs Houdini

Cool vs Training Season

Physical vs These Walls

Levitating vs Whatcha Doing

Pretty Please vs French Exit

Hallucinate vs Illusion

Love Again vs Falling Forever

Break My Heart vs Anything For Love

Good In Bed vs María

Boys Will Be Boys vs Happy for You

Not finished the album yet but These Walls is a really good song.

 

I actually like her sonic direction for this album more than Future Nostalgia, but it definitely doesn't feel like it fits the trip-hop or psychedelic influences she mentioned.

This feels like a great mix of her first album and FN.   The dance bops with some more emotional and guitar driven midtempo moments.    I love it.

2 minutes ago, Asherio said:

Being inspired by something doesn't mean that the elements of said inspiration must be extremely apparent in every part of every song. If you imagined that than that's a problem of the expectation you created, which is also ok, just not as an argument to say that it's the artists fault.

Erm I am fully gonna fault Dua for absolutely selling this the wrong way

 

Like management/PR should've stepped in there and come up with a better story

3 minutes ago, Asherio said:

If you imagined that than that's a problem of the expectation you created, which is also ok, just not as an argument to say that it's the artists fault.

The expectation people created are based on what they were given and what we got was misleading and failed to describe the album properly.

 

You can't just tease your new album with big names like Massive Attack and Fleetwood Mac and then deliver anything but that. It's not fair towards the fans and we should not defend that in any way.

 

Also, literally no one said anything about "artists fault", people are totally right to assume that album might've changed direction because visuals and descriptions doesn't match the later part of the album release stage. You are just being pressed and dense for no reason

21 minutes ago, Burqa said:

i would believe this if the single covers for TS and Houdini weren't shot on the same day as the album cover. she has always said the album felt red and blue in her head, im guessing the first two singles and maybe falling forever? are more dark/red and the others like french exit and maria are more summery and blue. i just think the album was marketed very poorly from the way she talked about it to the visuals feeling a bit incoherent even though they were all planned at the same time. 

15 minutes ago, Cain said:

The Houdini and TS visuals and the album cover were all shot together, so this is was somehow always the plan

I didn't know that actually. Well... so it seems she just didn't make up her mind in which direction she wanted to go. I do agree that the album was marketed very poorly. It didn't really impact me because tbh I don't really keep up with everything my faves are saying/doing on the Internet as much as I used to. Especially since my catalogue of artists that I listen to vastly expanded over the last few years. I just mind my business and focus strictly on the music whenever it drops so I don't really spend time developing any expectations in my head like that. I did expect a little darker direction with this album but I like what she gave us and everything flows rather well together so I can't say I'm disappointed. I can see why some people may feel cheated though..

Edited May 2, 20242 yr by AdrianNicki
typo

This is definitely giving a more subdued and eclectic Ava Max tea. Unfortunately, it's not hitting the level of excellence Dua served with Future Nostalgia   The concept doesn't make sense either... there's nothing radically optimistic about this collection of tunes. 

 

I will be adding French Exit and Whatcha Doing to my playlist. Falling Forever almost made it, but the screechy vocals was an artistic choice I wish she did not make. 

1 minute ago, AdrianNicki said:

I didn't know that actually. Well... so it seems she just didn't make up her mind in which direction she wanted to go. I do agree that the album was marketed very poorly. It didn't really impact me because tbh I don't really keep up with everything my faves are saying/doing on the Internet as much as I used to. Especially since my catalouge of artists that I listen to vastly expanded over the last few years. I just mind my business and focus strictly on the music whenever it drops so I don't really spend time developing any expectations in my head like that. I did expect a little darker direction with this album but I like what she gave us and everything flows rather well together so I can't say I'm disappointed. I can see why some people may feel cheated though..

My theory would be that she gave the songs released first a darker/winter aesthetic because that's when they were released and as we move towards summer the visuals get more summery? 
 

She also said the album 'starts with chaos and then moves towards tranquility' or something, seeing as Houdini and TS are at the beginning of the album maybe she wanted those visuals to represent that chaos 

Future Nostalgia vs End of an Era

Don't Start Now vs Houdini

Cool vs Training Season

Physical vs These Walls

Levitating vs Whatcha Doing

Pretty Please vs French Exit

Hallucinate vs Illusion

Love Again vs Falling Forever

Break My Heart vs Anything For Love

Good In Bed vs María

Boys Will Be Boys vs Happy for You

10 hours left for me  

She definitely topped Future Nostalgia

I do agree with the criticisms about the rollout

 

The music is great, she sounds good, Kevin and Danny did their thing, we're getting lots of promo

 

But the marketing for this, the confusing visuals, the hammering down on it being "psychedelic", and personally, I still don't get the radical optimism concept nor do I think it fits the music on here.

It just misses that major popstar sensibility, and it should've been streamlined better to make it all make sense to people and sell a story

 

That's really where her new management faltered 

Future Nostalgia vs End of an Era

Don't Start Now vs Houdini

Cool vs Training Season

Physical vs These Walls

Levitating vs Whatcha Doing

Pretty Please vs French Exit

Hallucinate vs Illusion

Love Again vs Falling Forever

Break My Heart vs Anything For Love

Good In Bed vs María

Boys Will Be Boys vs Happy for You

any news on the deluxe? 

4 minutes ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

Physical vs These Walls

Way too early for this, but what the hell... Welp tho

 

Future Nostalgia vs End of an Era

Don't Start Now vs Houdini

Cool vs Training Season

Physical vs These Walls

Levitating vs Whatcha Doing

Pretty Please vs French Exit

Hallucinate vs Illusion

Love Again vs Falling Forever

Break My Heart vs Anything For Love

Good In Bed vs María

Boys Will Be Boys vs Happy for You

Only 3 hours left for me.

 

Can the girlies who listened to it tell me if it sounds British af? Because that's what I've been waiting (and yearning) for.

Edited May 2, 20242 yr by Virgos Groove

2 minutes ago, CovalentBondage said:

I never enjoyed Physical like that 

I haven't listened yet.

 

But what kind of walls is she talking about? 

Okay, now my track-by-track thoughts:

 

End of an Era - A great opener and i LOVE how it kinda changes and grow through and through. Until the first chorus i was like "this is cute" and by the end of the song i was obsessed. 10/10

Houdini - A great pop song and an obvious lead. I don't think it's the best pop song of all time like some people make it seem but it's a great song nonetheless. 8.5/10

Training Season - I don't get the hate for this one. It's pretty derivative which is why it generated all those "Dua makes the same song" comments and it's not far off from her usual music, but i like it. It's a great song and doesn't sound out of place on this album. 8/10

These Walls - This one is a timeless CLASSIC and those who get it, get it it needs to be a single. It's catchy, it's nostalgic and so unapologetic britpop. Definitely a career highlight for me. 10/10

Whatcha Doing - After all the fuss from the people that went to the listening party and the ones who got their vinyls early i thought this would be a Levitating type of smash but it's just a Pretty Please. A good song but i don't think it's the best song on the record and i don't see it as a single, but it's cute enough. 7/10

French Exit - This is a ultimate grower, i hated the LQ snippet, then i thought it was cute during my 1st listen and now i love it. There's something so addicting on it and i can't put my finger on it however, instead of the french theme i wish it was something latin related, with her singing the french bits in Spanish, idk. 10/10

Illusion - This is an obvious smash and i agree with some people that said it sounds out of place on the album... like a random droplet that smashed but she decided to include on the album. Anyways it's a classic dance Dua song and for me it's the best single of this era so far. 10/10

Falling Forever - I think this would sound good in the club but i'm not a fan. It's a mix of a Eurovision entry song with Gypsy by Gaga... and i don't like Gypsy. It's cute for what it is and i get why the gays will be obsessed with it but not me 6/10

Anything For Love - I liked it but hated how it ended when the song started to be better? Why not make it as a full song then? And the verses have Julia Michaels written all over it so i knew she got something to do with it the second i heard it. 7/10

Maria - I love the verses and the overall vibe but the chorus kinda falls flat for me this one might need some more listens. 6/10

Happy For You - One of her best songs ever and another career highlight. That's all, speechless. 10/10

 

For me it's more consistent than Future Nostalgia and ST overall, however, the highs on FN were higher which explains why some people felt a bit underwhelmed. Radical Optimism is now my favorite Dua album, even the tracks i'm not a huge fan of i don't think they're bad and they have the chance to be growers. Also, there are two career highlights on this album: Happy For You and These Walls.

 

She made the right decision on picking the singles cause i would do the exact same: Houdini, TS, Illusion... and now i would release These Walls as the 4th one. Not that the first three are the absolute best songs on the album, but considering the marketing and what would work to promote this record, these are the ones that sounds like singles.

 

If you don't like the album give it time cause there's a lot of good stuff in here

 

12 minutes ago, Kern said:

The expectation people created are based on what they were given and what we got was misleading and failed to describe the album properly.

 

You can't just tease your new album with big names like Massive Attack and Fleetwood Mac and then deliver anything but that. It's not fair towards the fans and we should not defend that in any way.

 

Also, literally no one said anything about "artists fault", people are totally right to assume that album might've changed direction because visuals and descriptions doesn't match the later part of the album release stage. You are just being pressed and dense for no reason

All I said is that inspiration manifests differently for literally everyone, otherwise art (music included) would be samey and linear. If she used guitar riffs inspired by massive attack in a barely noticeable section of a song (assumption here) who is to say that it doesn't count? I'm also not blaming those that expected something different, as I said in my last post.

7 minutes ago, Virgos Groove said:

Only 3 hours left for me.

 

Can the girlies who listened to it tell me if it sounds British af? Because that's what I've been waiting (and yearning) for.

This has echos of a vintage Girls Aloud album in parts… no I'm not joking 

 

I really love the album. I think Maria might be my favourite - makes me want her to work with William Orbit for a Ray of Light moment.

Edited May 2, 20242 yr by Peroxide

2 hours and half for my first listen

 

everyone better be JUMPING