vs.

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2025Nov 2 by 3R1K

Midnight Sun is almost skipless. You can tell Zara finally wanted to put together a cohesive, solid pop album and that's what we got. Radical Optimism feels lazy and rushed for the most part.

 

Having said that, the Radical Optimism singles run was phenomenal. These Walls is so so, but those first three singles, whew 

 

Midnight Sun is easily more acclaimed, that's not really up for discussion. 89 vs 73 on Metacritic.

1 hour ago, glitch said:

Having said that, the Radical Optimism singles run was phenomenal. These Walls is so so, but those first three singles, whew 

I don't see anything special about RO singles minus Houdini. 

Illusion sounds like a weak Kylie Minogue song and TS is giving mid 2000s faceless europop tune. this forced retrospective acclaim for RO by ATRL is so tired

Edited November 2, 2025Nov 2 by Rino

Happy For You >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Zara's discography

Midnight Sun is the first Zara album that feels like a proper body of work instead of a collection of singles plus some fillers, it's fantastic! Radical Optimism is also a great album.

RO was so bad even her label stopped Dualipayolaing her Spotify playlists

RO is the better album in my opinion. I know it gets criticized for being a bit boring at times but i enjoy Dua story telling throughout the album. 
 

The single run is fire even though i wish we got a better video for Theses Walls & Falling Forever was the final single & push to finish the era. 
 

I do like Zara's album as well. I actually think MS & Venus are her best albums.

Radical Optimism for all three, but Midnight Sun is cute album for sure

RO for all, But Zara's album is cute ! She served some bops

Both albums are good, but Midnight Sun is a career high for Zara, Radical Optimism is a career low.

Zara clears.

Midnight Sun wins for me.

Dua clears.

Midnight Sun sweetie 

love both, but I'm a Zara stan this era, so Midnight Sun it is x

Better album: Midnight Sun

Better singles run: RO

More acclaimed: RO

Zara ate her up bad here, although Houdini is the best song on either album 

Radical Optimism's biggest problem is that it's boring as ****. Lukewarm music for malls that provoke no reaction.

 

Midnight Sun is a mess of an album, too, but it has higher highs (title track). Pretty Ugly is absolute ass.

 

In either case, they can't make a bulletproof 10 track album (not counting Anything For Love as a full song).

Edited November 14, 2025Nov 14 by limelight elixir

I LOVE Radical Optimism, but I'm shocked it's winning. Midnight Sun is basically skipless and executes its concept perfectly. 
 

RO has the better singles easily, but Midnight Sun is much stronger as a body of work. Also more acclaimed. 

 

Reminder that Dua is my current fave too. 

On 11/2/2025 at 10:09 PM, glitch said:

Midnight Sun is easily more acclaimed, that's not really up for discussion. 89 vs 73 on Metacritic.

Midnight Suns has 4x 80+ reviews (4 reviews total) and using Metacritic maths, the average of 80, 80, 90 and 90 = 89.

I gave it a listen, and it's not a terrible album, might revisit a couple of songs, but that Metacritic score doesn't mean much.

Radical Optimism has 8x 80+ reviews (21 reviews total), and sure it has it's flaws, but the difference isn't anything like 89 vs 73.

 

I guess technically Midnight Suns is more acclaimed, even if it didn't have enough eligible reviews to be included on AnyDecentMusic.

Dua Lipa for singles.