Dua Lipa
Future Nostalgia
Warner
Listen Below
While it was a transition that didn’t happen overnight, it was inevitable—the popular music medium became one of the first staging grounds for a new age of instant gratification. From radio to retail, every facet of this arts and entertainment branch succumbed to the lure of convenience. Of course, this came at the expense of the type of career building and audience engagement that laid the groundwork for the slew of recordings artists that went on to become the basis of our established musical myths. Thankfully, in the last decade an eclectic class of characters (in various genres) have shown that they could endure the current fickle marketplace, compete and write their own ticket.
One such individual was the Albanian-English hopeful Dua Lipa, who emerged in 2015. A string of crafty, but accessible singles led the way to her eponymous debut on the Warner label in 2017—Dua Lipa was a smart, polished, contemporary raft of pop that curried commercial and critical favor. Creatively though, it didn’t pander or challenge; Lipa was the “safe choice.” Still, for those mindful to the choicer cuts on Dua Lipa, a subtle curiosity bubbled underneath them that suggested there was much more to the vocalist and songwriter.
On Lipa’s sophomore affair Future Nostalgia, she unleashes that cited curiosity with a killer focus. The album’s robust writer-producer-musician network is overseen by Lipa, including old friends and new faces, with Ian Kirkpatrick and Stuart Price as two of her most notable compeers occupying those respective former and latter spaces. She not only directs her colleagues to assemble an immersive, retro-modern experience that’s thoroughly in the pocket, she positions herself as a lead songwriter on every track present on Future Nostalgia.
With a crack of her disco whip on the record’s inaugural single “Don’t Start Now,” Lipa predicates that session player finesse and a consistent coat of studio tech gloss are the tenets of Future Nostalgia sonically. At eleven tracks, the collection is an athletic, nearly seamless bricolage of frothy synth-funk (“Future Nostalgia”), spiky dance-rock (“Physical”), layered electro-R&B (“Pretty Please”) and a touch of hip-hop-pop (“Good in Bed”).
Now, these aren’t fresh sounds given all of the disco, new wave and digital soul reworkings and revivals—courtesy of Jamiroquai, Kylie Minogue, Daft Punk, Madonna and more—that have gone on in the past two decades. But, what makes Future Nostalgia noteworthy is how Lipa commands the myriad of influences at her disposal and uses them as an ideal conduit for her spicy alto vocal. As excellent example of this is “Break My Heart,” where Lipa effortlessly drapes her voice over the repurposed groove from the 1987 INXS classic “Need You Tonight.”
But, with a penchant for flirtation over feeling, Lipa sometimes courts an unintended coldness in her performances. However, when she injects just enough emotion—whether vocally or lyrically—into a song, it brings in a new dimension to her work overall.
Take “Love Again,” an undeniable standout. Aside from its own gorgeous string work, “Love Again” samples its brass section from an instrumental piece composed by Bing Crosby. But, it was the take from the long departed jazz vocalist Al Bowlly—along with the Lew Stone and The Monseigneur Band—on “My Woman” that inspired the British one-man band White Town to borrow it to help propel “Your Woman” into the charts in early 1997. It is likely that this is where Lipa first encountered this recognizable horn riff. Unlike any kiss off or ode to clubland attraction that line Future Nostalgia, Lipa finds a sensitive opening on “Love Again” that allows her to emote; it makes for an absorbing listen.
This is also true of the LP’s closer “Boys Will Be Boys,” a caustic, clever rebuke on the traditions of emotional toxicity handed down from grown men to young boys. It breaks with the party/romance arc that dominates Future Nostalgia, pointing to a hopefully soon-to-be realized thematic shift for future albums.
In the end, Future Nostalgia is a highly accomplished outing representing a demonstrable leap forward for Lipa. Yet, Future Nostalgia could have two criticisms leveled at its creator—she’ll either be unfairly miscast as an overeager student of recently learned musical practices or written off as another shrewd Gen Z aesthete. And because almost all of the elements she’s utilizing here have been interpolated into today’s larger pop genre toolbox—albeit with none of the reverence Lipa observes on Future Nostalgia—these negatives could prove damning.
But, there’s a genuine sense of joy and musical discovery that permeates every part of Future Nostalgia that not even the staunchest rock press pundit could disavow. For now, Future Nostalgia lives up to its namesake as a luxuriant second act that prognosticates that Dua Lipa is a much more formidable force than anyone could have imagined.
Notable Tracks: “Boys Will Be Boys” | “Don’t Start Now” | “Future Nostalgia” | “Love Again”
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