Dua Lipa

[4th Time Around 25]

It has grown on me a lot  but I still don't think it comes anything close to Future Nostalgia, Houdini and Falling Forever are my favorites

 

 It was a fun listen and I see the summer vibe she was going for but I just can't see myself returning to this often

[allmybirdsofparadise 141]

"French Exit" is beginning to click in all the right places

 

[brandon 13,342]

It’s good, although probably my least favorite of her albums for sure. i listened and i enjoyed, but unlike her other two, there wasn’t a single track that i had to stop and replay because it was so good. ): 

 

it really does feel like houdini (and maybe training season) were for a completely different album though. its a shame she hyped up this record so much with psychedelia and kevin, because you really don’t see that much within the album tracks. she really set herself up with giving everyone completely different expectations than what we would end up with. I’d have enjoyed this album much more if it came after self titled, but it seems like a bit of a step back after FN, which I would consider one of the most defining pop albums in recent history.

 

Given the fact she keeps mentioning how she wrote 90+ songs for this album, I feel like she should’ve simply made two albums.

1. High concept, psychedelia, Houdini + Training Season + (maybe) Illusion (like i’ve said before, i usually hate corny fan concepts, but a vertigo, hitchcocky concept would have been very cool to see from her) 

2. Radical Optimism with the rest of the album tracks and the oceany visuals, more self reflective and lowkey

obviously it would have been an absolute pain to figure out a marketing strategy for two vastly different albums, especially with her current management, but oh well 

 

i got both 7”s for the singles, but something was holding me back from preordering the album itself, and im sorta glad I didn’t. 

[Lindsay Lohan 10,850]

I LOVED 3 songs but the rest of the album did not do it for me at all. The second half of the album was specifically terrible 

Top 3:

These Walls

End of an Era

French Exit 

 

The singles threw me off so much during my listen because they don't sound like the rest of the album at all... It's like a bunch of summer songs then the singles which have a Halloween vibe to them

 

Falling Forever was just.... loud and annoying

Anything For Love... POINTLESS song, it should not have been on the album

Maria... straight up sounds like an incomplete demo 

 

Watcha Doing and Happy For You were okay but didn't really jump out for me

 

[barttttender 5,250]

37 minutes ago, brandon said:

It’s good, although probably my least favorite of her albums for sure. i listened and i enjoyed, but unlike her other two, there wasn’t a single track that i had to stop and replay because it was so good. ): 

 

it really does feel like houdini (and maybe training season) were for a completely different album though. its a shame she hyped up this record so much with psychedelia and kevin, because you really don’t see that much within the album tracks. she really set herself up with giving everyone completely different expectations than what we would end up with. I’d have enjoyed this album much more if it came after self titled, but it seems like a bit of a step back after FN, which I would consider one of the most defining pop albums in recent history.

 

Given the fact she keeps mentioning how she wrote 90+ songs for this album, I feel like she should’ve simply made two albums.

1. High concept, psychedelia, Houdini + Training Season + (maybe) Illusion (like i’ve said before, i usually hate corny fan concepts, but a vertigo, hitchcocky concept would have been very cool to see from her) 

2. Radical Optimism with the rest of the album tracks and the oceany visuals, more self reflective and lowkey

obviously it would have been an absolute pain to figure out a marketing strategy for two vastly different albums, especially with her current management, but oh well 

 

i got both 7”s for the singles, but something was holding me back from preordering the album itself, and im sorta glad I didn’t. 

 

imagine how bad the discarded 80 songs sounded like 

[Flamingos 565]

Love the album. No skip. Love the Illusion mv, too. 🪩

[brandon 13,342]

16 minutes ago, barttttender said:

 

imagine how bad the discarded 80 songs sounded like 

I Mean i’d like to think maybe she just has bad taste

 

we all know what happened with the moonlight edition of FN, completely ignored the immaculate outtakes and instead added songs that no one wanted 

[alpineh 7]

imagine there’s a radical optimism fan looking through these forums years after the initial release and seeing all the critisism 😭

[evalionisameme 13,900]

5 hours ago, details said:

oh poptimism is really dead isn't it

Thank god-@taytay reviews next please 

[details 17,456]

52 minutes ago, alpineh said:

imagine there’s a radical optimism fan looking through these forums years after the initial release and seeing all the critisism 😭

be serious this ain't finna be no one's favorite album on the long run ijbol i can already tell this will be an often forgotten album on dua's discography 

[Make me your Dream Life 88,912]

Happy for you’s a favorite 

[brandon 13,342]

anyways everyone should take a moment to stream Running 

[Make me your Dream Life 88,912]

it's sounds similar to like a Mama Mia ABBA movie companion soundtrack album. it's lighthearted but also almost touching on more emotionally mature. 
I think it'd be perfect for listening while you're  going on a vacation. I wonder how it'd apply to the white lotus. I like it, I just can't eloquate it exactly as to why tho. 

[Pico Ocean Boulevard 41,454]

Tbh I didn't have high expectations for this but I have to admit I liked it, it's a cute and fun album for summer My favorites are End Of An Era, Houdini, Training Season, Falling Forever, Maria and Happy For You (I would even say HFY is the best song on the album)

The rest kinda sounded a bit sameish to me and typical Dua idk how to explain it but I don't mean it in a bad way since I enjoyed them but they didn't stood out to me/clicked with me like my faves did

Anything for love was good too but I need more of the actual song, it is so short

Overall for me this is not AOTY but like someone else already said it is a polished pop album and it is fun for summer and imo not a bad album, so it's a win

 

[Terrence Loves Me 72,892]

Happy for you is the best song on the album

[DeadSeaOfMercury 23,298]

On 5/1/2024 at 9:30 AM, DeadSeaOfMercury said:

SHIPPING LABEL CREATED!!!

Still Just Created…

[summer bummer 1,936]

maybe the psychedelic and massive attack influences were the friends we made along the way

[triangles19 2,463]

 

Isn't Happy for You sampling or extrapolating the opening drums of West Coast + its wah wah guitars on the chorus ?

I really felt this

[Terrence Loves Me 72,892]

I love the album cover so much, this was her chance to give us the psychedelic experimental pop album, this could have been her ray of light era.. oh well

[LunaeManifestum 8,331]

I hate the aesthetic for this era, the artwork, the fact she delivered something completely different than what she promoted… crazy to think that interesting girl from self titled is now doing this to please record labels… I still love Dua but I would love to see that “self titled era” energy girl to come back and deliver something that she *actually* wants to do.

Watcha Doing and Maria are my faves lol 

also crazy to think that the same guy who produced the masterpiece that is “Desire” from Polachek is involved in the production of this album     Its a no for me but I hope the stans can support her through this era bc she’ll need it.

also waiting for the outtakes to come thru bc it can still change my opinion since FN outtakes actually smashed half of that album