The world around us is quite brutal and ugly currently, so who couldn’t use a little optimism that things can and will get better? Dua Lipa has returned to the music world with a shimmering album titled Radical Optimism. With songwriting and producer credits from Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, plus other seasoned veterans like Danny Harle, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Andrew Wyatt, Dua Lipa comes well-armed for success. The album plays out quickly over the 11-song, 37-minute play time that is filled with thrilling moments, great vocal performances from Dua Lipa, as well as plenty new tricks to her arsenal. Radical Optimism is a heat-seeking missile to the eardrums and is bound to make even the most negative person feel a little bit better about their day after spending some time with it. While the current pop scene seems to lean towards darker elements (much like the brooding pop Billie Eilish), Dua Lipa cuts through the negativity with a surgeon-like precision on this instant pop classic.

It’s no use explaining what’s happening in the world around us—you already know. Everything we’ve known has been upended and changed forever. We’re still years from discovering what that new normal actually is. It’s heavy, it’s infuriating, and it’s scary: it’s grief. Everything we hold dear—vacations, concerts, healthy daily life—is canceled. There isn’t an end in sight, but there is an abundance of graphs, uncertainty, and fear.

We need an escape. Enter Dua Lipa’s—I’ll go ahead and say year-defining sophomore album, Future Nostalgia. Three years ago, “New Rules” was ever-present on the radio, a top ten worldwide, indisputable Song of the Summer candidate. The US was behind the rest of the world on discovering “Blow Your Mind (Mwah)” and “Be the One,” whose style laid the groundwork for her second album’s sound. However, two 2018 collaborations with Calvin Harris (the tropical house-influenced “One Kiss”) and Silk City (the straight dance-pop of “Electricity”) kept her pop star rising.

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