Dua Lipa - Future nostalgia [2020]

[honeychile]

Just before this came out she was interviewed on Radio 1 about it and Scott Mills asked her, "didn't you spend quite a bit of time writing with Nile Rodgers for this album?" And she just went, "yeah... nothing came from it though...just wasn't working." Would have been easy for them to settle for something lazy and run with the kudos his name lends - the fact that she didn't suggests quite a focused and particular vision which really comes across in the finished album.

I swear the temperature turns up when i put Cool on. Can't wait to play it in the warmer months.

[rue the polywhirl]

Just before this came out she was interviewed on Radio 1 about it and Scott Mills asked her, "didn't you spend quite a bit of time writing with Nile Rodgers for this album?" And she just went, "yeah... nothing came from it though...just wasn't working." Would have been easy for them to settle for something lazy and run with the kudos his name lends - the fact that she didn't suggests quite a focused and particular vision which really comes across in the finished album.

I swear the temperature turns up when i put Cool on. Can't wait to play it in the warmer months.

If anything that reflects less well on Dua Lipa. Imagine going to a hit-making session with Nile 'The Hitmaker' Rodgers and coming up with nothing. Must have been quite awkward for him. "Hmm.. this doesn't usually happen. I assure you, it's me not you. *bzzzt. Security? Is she gone yet? Burn my clothes. The guitar? Destroy it. Disinfect every last inch of the studio*"

[Custard]

This is a great record. Short, tight, insanely catchy pop tunes. Such an enjoyable listen

Particularly like the singles and Love Again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4mzEgCGa4Q

That said, I could probably do without Good In Bed, which sounds like a rejected Lily Allen b-side

Still, one shit track in 11. No bad

[purlieu]

Not feeling it too much. I like that it feels much more like a consistent piece, as opposed to her debut which actually sounded like a compilation of tracks by four or five distinct artists, but ironically I think the sound she's gone with is actually strangely anonymous. A 2020 update of '00s Kylie. 'Don't Start Now', 'Physical' and 'Hallucinate' are great; I enjoyed 'Love Again' a lot until the 'Your Woman' sample came in. 'Break My Heart' is ok. The rest just feels devoid of personality or interesting songwriting.

[Phil_A]

One thing that does annoy me about this album which is a gripe i've increasingly had with pop music over the past twenty years (at least as i've perceived it) is the complete abdication of writers trying to end songs properly. I'm not even talking about writing a bespoke outro (would love some good examples from recent years actually), but even just taking the effort to resolve a song with a sense of natural conclusion rather than doing one final chorus and stopping abruptly at the end of the bar. The title track has some small degree of resolution, but Don't start now, Cool, Physical, Levitating, and Hallucinate are all guilty, while Pretty please and Break my heart just about stagger over the line. As a kid i always used to hate the laziness of a fade-out, but even that's preferable to the stunted anti-climax that passes for a coda nowadays.

Heh, I wish I could take credit for first noticing that. I think I became aware of it from having to listen to "Hello" by Adele over and over again on work radio when that was first out.

I assume it's a consequence of so much production taking place exclusively in a digital environment these days and a reliance on preset loops and beats. Maybe partly because radio stations don't bother playing tracks to the end nowadays.