album Dua Lipa - 'Radical Optimism'

[Cain]

3 minutes ago, Jglj said:

Forgot about that

 

Considering how Future Nostalgia was so cohesive with it's promotion and roll out, I'd have serious talks with my team.

It's definitely gonna be an interesting family dinner!

[Relampago.]

2 hours ago, Cain said:

As vinyls have to be sent in 6 months ahead of pressing, the album was pretty much done by the time Houdini came out 

 

So this was definitely a marketing error

Marketing goes without saying, but I'm also starting to think Dua and her team don't know who she is as a brand, and they're trying to see what sticks

 

It's like they half knew this but wanted to push the boundaries at the same time… and it fell flat. You have 3 or so parts going on for this era and NONE of them are working together:

 

1.) The Psychedelic/Dark era, seen through her performances, her fashion and the singles overall

 

2.) The Vacanza Pop Queen, seen through the album's imagery and a lot of the album's sounds

 

3.) The More "Personal" Relationship Girl, seen with the album's overall concept and Radical Optimism, there's a clear attempt at a cohesive narrative with the album's songs regarding this

 

What the **** do any of these have to do with each other, I have NO idea. But Dua, you're a pop girl at your foundation in the BEST way, people come to you to deliver carefree, perfectly crafted, not just pop songs, but pop ERAS. Your music brightens people's lives and your eras transport us to better times. Why would you not lean into the vacation queen aesthetic? That is your current brand. It was not only a safe option for this era to take, but one that really would have sold people on the laid back, stripped down pop era you brought. 

 

**** trying to be some edgy pop girl who's doing Tame Impala meets pop if you're not actually gonna deliver on that. If you want to swing on something like that, you need to swing BIG, instead this era is a bunch of half swings and it all fell flat. It's extra unfortunate because the 2nd option would have actually worked amazing as a follow up to FN, and now she's put herself in a position where she can't really play it safe again for DL4 but she's not in a comfortable position to take a risk and have a safety net— her next album will be seen as the make or break.

 

My best advice to her is that she needs to recreate the FN era, not in sound, but in going back to her brand; the Pop QUEEN who makes pop music feel like a work of art without having to do something avant garde or forced. Study the trends, get ahead of the curve, start crafting some concepts both image wise and sound wise and make sure that **** is cohesive as ****. No half baked ideas tossed into a pot, hoping that one will make sense. Go back to what Dua Lipa's brand is and don't try to be something different but show you still know what you're doing in the studio and that you're not lost artist nearly a decade into her career. You are DUA LIPA, not Bebe Rexha or Ava Max still trying to make a name for themselves. 
 

She really does have the potential to have a Rihanna-esque career where no one really expects some weird artisté album or sound from her, but they can always rely on her to bring a fun concept that makes them feel like dancing. She just needs to go back to basics for the next era and remind people why we loved her in the first place.

[Relampago.]

At risk of writing another essay, one plus we got from this era is that the b**** can turn a performance. The tour will certainly garner some goodwill the the public, and honestly the era is flopping so hard I don't even think anyone cares about the flop.

 

If she comes back swinging next era, it'll be like this never happened, but we'll be coming back with the reputation of being a great performer. I just hope she doesn't get lazy and feels the pressure to deliver next time around. 

[Cain]

8 minutes ago, Relampago. said:

At risk of writing another essay, one plus we got from this era is that the b**** can turn a performance. The tour will certainly garner some goodwill the the public, and honestly the era is flopping so hard I don't even think anyone cares about the flop.

 

If she comes back swinging next era, it'll be like this never happened, but we'll be coming back with the reputation of being a great performer. I just hope she doesn't get lazy and feels the pressure to deliver next time around. 

Keep writing papi, we're listening 

[Nefertiti0]

2 hours ago, Cain said:

As vinyls have to be sent in 6 months ahead of pressing

It took 6 months during the pandemic. now it takes a few weeks, for example, Beyonce had on Cowboy Carter vinyl songs she recorded in February x x

[Cain]

15 minutes ago, Relampago. said:

Marketing goes without saying, but I'm also starting to think Dua and her team don't know who she is as a brand, and they're trying to see what sticks

 

It's like they half knew this but wanted to push the boundaries at the same time… and it fell flat. You have 3 or so parts going on for this era and NONE of them are working together:

 

1.) The Psychedelic/Dark era, seen through her performances, her fashion and the singles overall

 

2.) The Vacanza Pop Queen, seen through the album's imagery and a lot of the album's sounds

 

3.) The More "Personal" Relationship Girl, seen with the album's overall concept and Radical Optimism, there's a clear attempt at a cohesive narrative with the album's songs regarding this

 

What the **** do any of these have to do with each other, I have NO idea. But Dua, you're a pop girl at your foundation in the BEST way, people come to you to deliver carefree, perfectly crafted, not just pop songs, but pop ERAS. Your music brightens people's lives and your eras transport us to better times. Why would you not lean into the vacation queen aesthetic? That is your current brand. It was not only a safe option for this era to take, but one that really would have sold people on the laid back, stripped down pop era you brought. 

 

**** trying to be some edgy pop girl who's doing Tame Impala meets pop if you're not actually gonna deliver on that. If you want to swing on something like that, you need to swing BIG, instead this era is a bunch of half swings and it all fell flat. It's extra unfortunate because the 2nd option would have actually worked amazing as a follow up to FN, and now she's put herself in a position where she can't really play it safe again for DL4 but she's not in a comfortable position to take a risk and have a safety net— her next album will be seen as the make or break.

 

My best advice to her is that she needs to recreate the FN era, not in sound, but in going back to her brand; the Pop QUEEN who makes pop music feel like a work of art without having to do something avant garde or forced. Study the trends, get ahead of the curve, start crafting some concepts both image wise and sound wise and make sure that **** is cohesive as ****. No half baked ideas tossed into a pot, hoping that one will make sense. Go back to what Dua Lipa's brand is and don't try to be something different but show you still know what you're doing in the studio and that you're not lost artist nearly a decade into her career. You are DUA LIPA, not Bebe Rexha or Ava Max still trying to make a name for themselves. 
 

She really does have the potential to have a Rihanna-esque career where no one really expects some weird artisté album or sound from her, but they can always rely on her to bring a fun concept that makes them feel like dancing. She just needs to go back to basics for the next era and remind people why we loved her in the first place.

EXACTLYYYYY you said everything that needed to be said

 

The way the era went from kaleidoscopic teasing, Tame Impala sounding, dark imagery using, saying it's "personal and alternative" and throwing the word psychedelic around in every single interview set her up REAL bad for the release of the actual album she had already handed in  like who tf told her to tease the lighthearted beach bops with a vacanza themed album shoot (that she had also already shot by that time) with a grunge aesthetic and description?

 

I tried to make sense of it myself with a 'they're going from a winter to summer aesthetic' but **** that, they had no clue what they were doing

 

But you're right, this is such a colossal bomb that even the bombing is going unnoticed. She can totally fix this all with a banger next album, the thing is that we don't even know if she still can deliver such an era with her current management 

[halcyonday]

DUA LIPA THE PSYCHEDELIA TOUR 2024

 

ACT I - THE PSYCHEDELIA

1. HOUDINI (EXTENDED INTRO)

2. PHYSICAL

3. TRAINING SEASON

4. FALLING FOREVER

 

ACT II - DISCO BALL

5. WHATCHA DOING (EXTENDED INTRO)

6. LEVITATING

7. DANCE THE NIGHT

8. COLD HEART / BREAK MY HEART

 

ACT III - WITHIN THE HEART

9. THESE WALLS

10. HAPPY FOR YOU

11. ANYTHING FOR LOVE / SCARED TO BE LONELY (ACOUSTIC)

12. LOVE AGAIN

 

ACT IV - VACANZA

13. HOTTER THAN HELL 

14. END OF AN ERA

15. IDGAF 

16. BLOW YOUR MIND / MARIA

 

ACT V - FINAL KISS

17. ONE KISS

PARTY MIX (ELECRICITY, POTION, UN DIA, KISS AND MAKE UP MASH-UP)

18. ILLUSION (WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HALLUCINATE)

 

ENCORE

19. NEW RULES

20. DON'T START NOW

 

[Cain]

7 minutes ago, halcyonday said:

DUA LIPA THE PSYCHEDELIA TOUR 2024

 

ACT I - THE PSYCHEDELIA

1. HOUDINI (EXTENDED INTRO)

2. PHYSICAL

3. TRAINING SEASON

4. FALLING FOREVER

 

ACT II - DISCO BALL

5. WHATCHA DOING (EXTENDED INTRO)

6. LEVITATING

7. DANCE THE NIGHT

8. COLD HEART / BREAK MY HEART

 

ACT III - WITHIN THE HEART

9. THESE WALLS

10. HAPPY FOR YOU

11. ANYTHING FOR LOVE / SCARED TO BE LONELY (ACOUSTIC)

12. LOVE AGAIN

 

ACT IV - VACANZA

13. HOTTER THAN HELL 

14. END OF AN ERA

15. IDGAF 

16. BLOW YOUR MIND / MARIA

 

ACT V - FINAL KISS

17. ONE KISS

PARTY MIX (ELECRICITY, POTION, UN DIA, KISS AND MAKE UP MASH-UP)

18. ILLUSION (WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HALLUCINATE)

 

ENCORE

19. NEW RULES

20. DON'T START NOW

 

Wait, this 8

 

[Relampago.]

FWIW, Falling Forever and EOAE are kinda career highlights for me so that's something  

[Relampago.]

8 minutes ago, halcyonday said:

DUA LIPA THE PSYCHEDELIA TOUR 2024

 

ACT I - THE PSYCHEDELIA

1. HOUDINI (EXTENDED INTRO)

2. PHYSICAL

3. TRAINING SEASON

4. FALLING FOREVER

 

ACT II - DISCO BALL

5. WHATCHA DOING (EXTENDED INTRO)

6. LEVITATING

7. DANCE THE NIGHT

8. COLD HEART / BREAK MY HEART

 

ACT III - WITHIN THE HEART

9. THESE WALLS

10. HAPPY FOR YOU

11. ANYTHING FOR LOVE / SCARED TO BE LONELY (ACOUSTIC)

12. LOVE AGAIN

 

ACT IV - VACANZA

13. HOTTER THAN HELL 

14. END OF AN ERA

15. IDGAF 

16. BLOW YOUR MIND / MARIA

 

ACT V - FINAL KISS

17. ONE KISS

PARTY MIX (ELECRICITY, POTION, UN DIA, KISS AND MAKE UP MASH-UP)

18. ILLUSION (WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HALLUCINATE)

 

ENCORE

19. NEW RULES

20. DON'T START NOW

 

Ending without a song from this era is such a kii but you spilled

 

The way the audience would be silenT with Illusion last or even worse— they'd leave before the encore if DSN closed the main set  

[campelo]

Training Season opening and Houdini closing the concert  

 

Houdini is too grandiose to be a opener 

[Burqa]

On 5/20/2024 at 7:52 PM, ChrisTheLoner said:

My avi's brand

 

I'd be here for her going back to Disco if it makes the GP happy ngl

?

 

[GrandeVersace]

French exit hits me so hard lately. Miles better than Trump's walls. 

[Burqa]

 

 

it's insane if you listen to the (filtered) instrumentals you'll notice a lot of small psychedelic details. if they had been a lot more prominent the album could've been soooo much better

[Cherish]

It's a been minute since I've listened to this and okay, it's not as bad as I remember. Anything for Love is literally a crime against humanity though for how short it is. French Exit is alright too, I found myself wanting to pause it and not focus on it though.

 

[IBeMe]

20 minutes ago, GrandeVersace said:

Trump's walls

I- 

[Relampago.]

55 minutes ago, GrandeVersace said:

French exit hits me so hard lately. Miles better than Trump's walls. 

No cause why did this suddenly start getting put on repeat yesterday for me? Whatcha Doing ended and suddenly I couldn't move onto Illusion anymore

[RadioactiveLights]

If they released the album in January we could have avoided all this  

[LanaXtinaFan]

This album wasn't going to land either way, no matter when it was dropped. The hits just aren't there.

 

She really, really needs to hire new management for the next era. There's no way TAP would have ever let her steer herself in this direction.

 

Management is a major issue. But sadly, quality of the music is also an issue this time around.

 

Especially when you compare to all of her peers who have dropped. Almost every album dropped blows RO out of the water. Cowboy Carter, TTPD, HMHAS, Deeper Well… 

 

Shes gotta bring it next era. No dressing room tunes anymore dua. Give us pop masterpieces again, thank you.

[NostalgiawithDua]

Is it me or the bridge of Falling Forever just ruins the momentum of the song, it had the potential to pull Physical and go even higher and they just pull everything back?!

[Crank_It_Up]

32 minutes ago, LanaXtinaFan said:

This album wasn't going to land either way, no matter when it was dropped. The hits just aren't there.

 

She really, really needs to hire new management for the next era. There's no way TAP would have ever let her steer herself in this direction.

 

Management is a major issue. But sadly, quality of the music is also an issue this time around.

 

Especially when you compare to all of her peers who have dropped. Almost every album dropped blows RO out of the water. Cowboy Carter, TTPD, HMHAS, Deeper Well… 

 

Shes gotta bring it next era. No dressing room tunes anymore dua. Give us pop masterpieces again, thank you.

I agree with everything you said, except that inclusion of TTPD.
 

As much as the management messed up badly this era, especially with the marketing of the concept/title and doing almost nothing promo-wise…I still do feel like if there was something strong on the album, it would've been clicked with the GP already. Unfortunately, the album didn't have anything that sounded like a massive hit whereas with FN, there was a HIT after HIT throughout the album (except Good In Bed and Boys Will Be Boys). Almost every song on that album was single-worthy, while with RO, I couldn't really tell which one would be clear standout except for Houdini. The album feels like you can put on for a pleasant listen in the summer, not something that would have hits. 
 

But I'm glad this came out because I am seriously obsessed with Happy For You and I don't know how I would've survived if the song was scrapped or never released. 

Edited May 22 by Crank_It_Up

[LCTV]

17 minutes ago, NostalgiawithDua said:

Is it me or the bridge of Falling Forever just ruins the momentum of the song, it had the potential to pull Physical and go even higher and they just pull everything back?!

the way every song had potential but they couldn't make Dua utter a single adlib anywhere.

[SchmoodRing]

On 5/20/2024 at 5:42 AM, NostalgiawithDua said:

I wish she'd do a storyline mv, her mvs are kinda getting repetitive. It's either dancy with choreo or just serving the face card. Cool by Gwen Stefani would be a great inspiration to start with…

Now theirs an issue with her looking great and choreography which is literally a staple and the standard for any music video jfc

On 5/20/2024 at 6:07 AM, TayDuaStan said:

Well… 

So when's DL4 era starting? Any guesses? 

Ya need to pop a Xanax with the way yall are stressing over this ya would've thought this was your career or something 

On 5/20/2024 at 6:24 AM, kayliah said:

Nope just abandon it already why stay on a sinking ship.. i say work hard on DL4 and release it in Oct next year or March 2026. Also benson boone only has 1 ww smash slow it dowm is slowly rising but i dont think he has a huge fanbase or gp interest yet like a justin bieber to help a remix. Also i would pick morgan wallen to help her cuz hes a streaming giant and the male taylor in america.

The last thing I'd ever want is for her to collaborate with a ******* racist just because yall are desperate for another hit. The only thing sinking is your opinions of her just because ya stan success. The album is objectively good. I say push one more single and switch it up. Making HAPPY FOR YOU the next single so that she can have her COOL moment would be ideal

On 5/20/2024 at 6:28 AM, kayliah said:

Told ya warner would drop the ball on the songs and cut the promo immediately. All the songs are out already and training season is next. The delusion in here and downvoting wont help if you cant handle the truth . Facts and figures dont lie. Preorders helped her big time first week and the amount of posting she did on twitter for that wow. I cant relate to desperation...

So before the issue was that she wasn't promoting and now that she is you want her to stop yall are so damn fickle and fraudulent as fans. Alot of yalls negativity is what's bringing down the era. She gave 3 great singles and videos. The promotion has definitely been sloppy but let's not act like as if any of the girls we've stanned for haven't gone through an era like this. Yall are doing the most. Enjoy the music and support our girl. If not just check back in the next era and let others enjoy this for themselves. 

On 5/20/2024 at 6:37 AM, Zari said:

This is a complete bomb on every single metric. It's gonna be interesting to see if DL4 can rectify this mess or if the GP permanently abandons her for good.

 

Atleast she has touring though.

Did you break an arm with your reaching because none of this is true. This is just her "Artpop" era she'll be more than fine and bounce back

On 5/20/2024 at 6:53 AM, spiritboy said:

This is becoming one of my fave albums of the year along with CC, ES and Billie album. 
 

The best thing she can do is to stay away for a year or two and come back with DL4.

Finally someone with some reasonable sense

On 5/20/2024 at 8:09 AM, Cain said:

No looks, no hits, no acclaim, no performances, what does this era have

The redhead is a look

Houdini is a hit

She's been giving us great performances like are you just gonna dismiss all of her efforts just because this era didn't perform to your expectations?

On 5/20/2024 at 9:15 AM, TayDuaStan said:

If i were her, i would do the festival run she has currently booked and then dip. No public appearance, no ig posts, nothing. Get back in the studio and work with pop producers known for hits like idk Max Martin, Oscar Holter, Oscar Gorres, Calvin Harris, Greg Kurstin. Maybe even get a Jack Antonoff session in there (i know this base hates him but you can't deny his award track record - he has been the Grammys Producer of the Year for like 3 times + Dua, I think, knows him based on the fact that he appeared in her 2018 GQ interview). And do a full high quality pop project with 0 skips and drop it early next year with 0 pre released singles. 

Working with other producers I agree with. Specifically Greg Kurstin. Dua can't get away with a surprise release. And coming back next year with a new album/era would not bode well. I think another One Kiss with Calvin Harris type of serve to bridge the gap in between eras to keep her afloat will do the trick 

On 5/20/2024 at 9:21 AM, theoghon said:

Anyone feel like her podcast should of been a late-career thing...?

No, I love hearing what the new generation of artist experienced are in real time during the heigh of the career. It's different then the standard approach like you suggested 

On 5/20/2024 at 9:50 AM, kayliah said:

No she has been everywhere from 2019 to 2024 so take a year and a half break work harder with amazing pop producers and make bangers then get good management and put deals in place with label and brands to make a huge career comeback. She has been on the radio non stop for several years. 

I've asked around and some people feel like she's been everywhere for a minute and can use a break. Some of my friends haven't checked out this album cause they're burned out by FN like ...

On 5/20/2024 at 12:06 PM, shark_heather said:

The fact that her tickets for the Berlin date are sold on the black market LESS than the original price ... 

This is not that crazy lol

[Cain]

2 hours ago, NostalgiawithDua said:

Is it me or the bridge of Falling Forever just ruins the momentum of the song, it had the potential to pull Physical and go even higher and they just pull everything back?!

That's the song's only good part

[ahauntingnearu]

12 hours ago, Relampago. said:

now she's put herself in a position where she can't really play it safe again for DL4 but she's not in a comfortable position to take a risk and have a safety net— her next album will be seen as the make or break.

 

 

And what's frustrating is that FN was seen as her make or break, then RO, and now DL4 will be again. Like