Gladiator Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Just now, Roberto said: Gurl, I love Gaga to death but the only similar song to Atrocious Illusion is that Nick Jonas rip-off released months after that. Falling Forever remains unbothered, I fear. king Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sadie Saxton Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Okay I have feelings and I'm sorry if this turns into a bit of a novel. Spoiler I think the record lands somewhere between okay and good. There's some standout tracks. I did really enjoy "Whatcha Doing", "Falling Forever, and "Maria". "These Walls" was good, I wish they did slightly more on it. And "Happy for You" and "End of an Era" serve as a good opener and closer to the album but outside of that I'm not sure I could classify either as any kind of standout. I have struggles on the production of "French Exit"… I may honestly just need time with that one as it might be a grower. And I wish they either fleshed out "Anything For Love" or shortened it so it could serve as a proper interlude. Now the project overall has good songs. It's definitely not a Future Nostalgia remake (not sure how some came to that conclusion ) but what gets in the way of it is the length. With an album that's 11 tracks long - every song needs to either hit - or there needs to be a solid cohesion sonically or story wise (ala Eternal Sunshine). What happens here is there's not a necessarily cohesive story (it could be a story but it's never really connected if so) and there's not a "Radical Optimism" sonically. There's a general theme of 'Optimism' so I understand how she came out with that title - but when you run with that as the common theme… what's to differentiate that with an album like "Smile"? Once again it's not a bad album. I just wish it were more fleshed out or that it was more cohesive. Hope the best for Dua and hopefully she can pull some hits out of it because she's genuinely one of the last pop stars with real drive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisTheLoner Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 7 minutes ago, highdefinition said: YOU'RE CLOUDING MY DECISIONS GOT ME HEADING FOR COLLISION WHATCHA DOING TO ME BABEH OH WHATCHA DOING TO ME oooooh ooh oooh tellmewhatchadoingtome The Pretty Please of the era SNAPPED and did THAT 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisTheLoner Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 3 minutes ago, NoOneDiesFromLove said: Just ordered the lenticular CD Mine arrives the 7th so excited to hold it in my hands 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATRL Moderator wehavetostan Posted May 3 ATRL Moderator Share Posted May 3 5 minutes ago, Parallel said: I genuinely think what happened to Dua this era is similar to what happened to Olivia. Future Nostalgia and SOUR were such huge eras that maybe they got either complacent or unsure of how far to push the envelope for the next era. I'm not saying they put less effort into making the music but they didn't really evolve. I think they thought it'd be easier to keep the GP in a chokehold doing similar things to what worked so well before GUTS explored more pop rock than her debut and the lyrics felt very personal. I feel like anyone could the sing the lyrics on Radical Optimism 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkboy Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 The album sounds SO european in a good way. It's clearly not as ambitious as Future Nostalgia, but it's such a easy and refreshing listen. Houdini is the only one that screams smash to me, but it's fine. I feel like the replay value is there. The only one I didn't care too much so far is Happy For You. early standouts: Watcha Doing, French Exit, Falling Forever, Maria. Illusion is a mega bop but they should have pushed something different and avoided the all the same accusations. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 I am such a **** for Dula Peep. I love this. "Maria" and "Falling Forever" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkboy Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Yup French Exist should have been the spring/early summer hit. So good. So european 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisTheLoner Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 I just noticed Falling Forever is one of the Ian Kirkpatrick produced tracks IT MAKES SENSE NOW WHY ITS SO GOOD OMFG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parallel Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 4 minutes ago, wehavetostan said: GUTS explored more pop rock than her debut and the lyrics felt very personal. I feel like anyone could the sing the lyrics on Radical Optimism Well lyrically Olivia is leagues above Dua but I really love the production on this album Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdefinition Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 she made this album for the traveling girlies 4 minutes ago, ChrisTheLoner said: The Pretty Please of the era SNAPPED and did THAT if these walls could talk they'd say the girls who get it, get it the girls who don't, should switch careers 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suilen Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 She did my legal name justice on Maria 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisTheLoner Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Lemme leave this streaming while I go do other things to give my fave girlie extra streams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Shameless v2 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 It's a pretty album. Whatcha Doing & Happy For You have the best choruses, different reasons (production in WD, climatic for HFY). Everything else is just kind of there but I can see myself revisiting it regularly and growing to enjoy more as the months go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parallel Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Falling Forever is the obvious hit to me but These Walls sounds singleworthy too and it's more different from Illusion so they did a good job picking it next to avoid the same song comparisons 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdefinition Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 I feel like the songs flow so well into each other, you could really play around with the tracklist order how radical dua, her mind 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleRainbow! Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 I subscribed to Apple Music just to listen to this an hour earlier but I finished my training session so late that I'll end up listening to it when it comes out on Spotify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shimenawa Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Listening to the album and not impressed so far... but French Exit is so good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarksonator Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) This is AMAZING. Wtf. She definitely hits Future Nostalgia's highs, while not hitting lows like BWBB and GIB. Falling Forever and Maria literally gave me tears in my eyes because of how good they are. Edited May 3 by Clarksonator 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parallel Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Single 4: These Walls Single 5: Falling Forever Single 6 Maria [END ERA] She needs to come back in two years tops with a new album that shakes the table 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurora Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 "These Walls" isn't really a single, is it? It's the worst song Dua's ever released and quite possibly one of the worst songs I've ever heard. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dula Peep Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 1 hour ago, Miichael said: Dua at the start of Falling Forever: HOW LONGGGGGGGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parallel Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 1 minute ago, Aurora said: "These Walls" isn't really a single, is it? It's the worst song Dua's ever released and quite possibly one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Why? It's kinda giving Save Your Tears in a good way 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naikuun Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 I'm on End of An Era and i'm gagged 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dula Peep Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 These Walls is serving masterpiece, def a great single choice and totally different sound than the public has heard from her. This was the song that was compared to Gwen's Cool, right? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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