Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism

[Juan Carlos]

This is the Porsche ad.

[thezatch]

This era...

[Juan Carlos]

"Training Season" has been certified gold (unit sales in excess of 400k) in the UK.

[Juan Carlos]

I need Dua and her team to do something because this era is so quiet right now. I'm aware that they're planning to do the long term thing, like they did with Future Nostalgia, which is understandable. However, the difference between both of them are that we got a lot of content, even during the pandemic, in the former while we're not getting too much in this one.

Aside of the extended version of the album and her Glastonbury headlining performance, which received critical acclaim and good press as well, her team wasted that opportunity to re-launch the era and they opted to milk / continue supporting "Illusion" even more when it was better to begin promoting a new single instead. I get that, four years ago, Dua mentioned that she envisioned "Hallucinate" as the go-track / key track to perform during the festival (which ended up being cancelled due to COVID-19), so it makes me think that they wanted to replicate that moment with "Illusion", hence the reason of the 'final push' when it's not having a lot of support in the DSPs, especially in the UK, which is her core market.

As a side note, it's known for a while that she shot a music video in early June when she was in Budapest and the local media revealed that it was for "Falling Forever". However, it's still unknown whether they're going with it or not (or if it was indeed "Falling Forever", but considering that she performed the track for the first time during Glastonbury, it makes sense that this was the song). At this point, I wouldn't mind a split release because I think that "Falling Forever" is too European for the American market, so "These Walls" or, even, a re-release of "Training Season" might work better there. In case it's the latter, they could push "These Walls" globally in the fall and, then, re-release Radical Optimism early next year. Personally, this will be my favourite scenario, although if it's taken into consideration that there isn't too much promotion, the best option is to go with another single and, then, re-release Radical Optimism in Q4.

[Night Senses]

I would be remiss to ignore the irony of the album title in correlation with how I’m feeling about this era. Love the music, but I think I was way over spoiled with how perfectly she and her team handled Future Nostalgia. I’ve whittled myself down to just accepting that the moment has passed.

[PGriffin]

I was wondering if they planned a remix album like Club Nostalgia. That would be cool to inject some life into this era.

[iHype.]

There’s not really any hits left for the album. The 3 singles chosen were amongst the best songs on the album, and even if there were a much better song it’s still a hard challenge to make a hit as a post-album single following 3 underperformances.

Her best bet is to drop a brand new standalone single going into the Fall season, possibly followed by another standalone single a few months after. If they do just moderate or worse, simply add them to a re-issued version of Radical Optimism and call it a day.

However if a standalone single smashes and becomes bigger than any of the 3 singles on Radical Optimism, then I honestly think it’d be better to just go into a new era with that as a lead.

[Eqbk]

Given the fact that yet another official remix of "Illusion" has been put out, it's obvious that they expected the song to be bigger than it ended up being (lol, why?). They were probably hoping/planned for the song to keep the album afloat all summer but that's obviously not how things panned out. They need to move on and it's honestly baffling that they haven't pivoted to something else at this point.

[spiritboy]

She should release French Exit next featuring a French artist.

[Ling-Ling]

"These Walls" is right there. Like how are they this oblivious? lol

[thezatch]

The Red Ruby Target Exclusive vinyl is on clearance it seems. One of my local stores had it for $8.39. Good enough for me.

I also picked up the Justin Timberlake "EITIW" Target Exclusive and the Bleachers self-titled Target exclusive vinyls for $10.49 each tonight.

[Juan Carlos]

Calling "Illusion" a 'hit' is debatable, but I'm sure Ben and Ed from TaP would have done that.

[thezatch]

Aug 13, 2024 7:51:36 GMT -5 Juan Carlos said:

Calling "Illusion" a 'hit' is debatable, but I'm sure Ben and Ed from TaP would have done that.

The networks and the Olympic committee could have even cut together a commercial inserting actual athletes diving instead of the extras in the video and it would run during almost every commercial break. What a huge missed opportunity.

[Juan Carlos]

"Physical" is part of the billions club on Spotify. This is her tenth overall song to achieve that.

[Juan Carlos]

9 years! Time flies...

[Juan Carlos]

Happy birthday Dua! I hope something is coming sooner than later because I'm bored, lol.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-96sxvsecP

https://www.instagram.com/p/C--GA8xoAG0

[Choco]

God what a waste of an era.

[It’s me again, bitch]

Still no United States tour dates yet?

[Ivy Leegue™]

It's sad how this completely flopped on the heels of the mega smash that was FN, but I know she will kill it when I see her this fall, so I am excited. Also, I am sold on this as her best body of work, flop or not.

[Eqbk]

It's just bizarre how they completely dropped this album campaign and did practically nothing in the summer...for a summer album.

I guess if anything, she's consistent. She was "go girl give us nothing" when it came to her performances in her debut era and now she's "go girl give us nothing" when it comes to promoting her music this era.

[thezatch]

I honestly would not be surprised if she had less US dates, if many at all, for the tour this go round, given how things have transpired on the charts here in the States. I’d love to be wrong and be able to see her somewhere close but I’m willing to bet she skips over most of the Midwest all together and rolls through primarily the major markets (NY, LA, Chicago, Denver, somewhere in Texas, Miami / Tampa), choosing to focus mainly internationally.

[Eqbk]

Aug 24, 2024 0:54:52 GMT -5 thezatch said:

I honestly would not be surprised if she had less US dates, if many at all, for the tour this go round, given how things have transpired on the charts here in the States. I’d love to be wrong and be able to see her somewhere close but I’m willing to bet she skips over most of the Midwest all together and rolls through primarily the major markets (NY, LA, Chicago, Denver, somewhere in Texas, Miami / Tampa), choosing to focus mainly internationally.

It's honestly kind of hard to gauge what the interest will be for an US tour. There are multiple examples of artists who don't necessarily sell well album-wise but manage to still do well touring-wise so the reception to Radical Optimism may not be too much of a hindrance. Granted, most acts that fall into that category are veteran artists, but one thing that might help her is the positive reception people and reviewers had to the Future Nostalgia Tour.

She definitely has a stronger base in other places (like Europe) but this album has generally under-performed in pretty much every market, even ones where's she bigger than in the US. Yet despite this, she's managed to do quite well tour-wise so far. I'm honestly surprised at how well she seems to be selling tickets for the Asian leg of the tour. For example, she sold out both arena dates in Tokyo despite not seemingly being as big there as she is in other places, even in comparison to the US.

[Juan Carlos]

FYI, there's a rumour that she's touring North America next year. 22 dates are planned, being NYC one of them on 9/17.

That said, based of that, it makes me think that the re-issue of Radical Optimism (or another album, which would be something optimistic to be honest) might be out around the corner.

[Juan Carlos]

Dua celebrated her birthday in Ibiza and she has announced a concert in India this November. As a side note, she (sort of) teased "Falling Forever" using some of the lyrics of the track in her birthday post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_A_aa6shdi

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_EEovqsE6x

[Juan Carlos]

Featured as an honorable mention from the 25 greatest Pop stars of the 21st century list by Billboard staff.



Her 21st Century in Pop: Dua Lipa wrote a set of "New Rules" for what a pop breakthrough looks like when she scored her first top 10 Hot 100 hit with the 2017 electro-pop post-breakup playbook following a series of hits in her native U.K., mixing her high-fashion sensibility and indie tastes to create an undeniably cool star. She's doubled down on dance in the years since — including high-profile collabs with Calvin Harris ("One Kiss") and Silk City ("Electricity"), plus her PNAU remix with Elton John ("Cold Heart") – and fully established her nu-disco domination with her supernova sophomore album Future Nostalgia in 2020. Not even a global pandemic could keep people from dancing to the project's string of smashes, most notably the unstoppable fifth single "Levitating," which became the longest-charting song ever by a female artist on the Hot 100 (77 weeks) and finished as 2021's year-end No. 1 Hot 100 hit. In 2023, the Albanian-British artist was the face of the blockbuster Barbie soundtrack, thanks to her mermaid cameo and party-scene-setting Hot 100 top 10 lead single "Dance the Night."

Why Not Top 25? While Billboard selected Radical Optimism as one of the best albums of 2024 so far, thanks to its sure-footed lyrics and riskier productions, Lipa failed to crack the Hot 100's top 10 with the project's first three singles – but we're still more than radically optimistic that she could rejoin pop's upper echelon at any moment.

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

If these walls could talk... they would say RELEASE THESE WALLS AS A SINGLE.

[Ty]

I really like "Training Season" and "Illusion" and was disappointed by their commercial performances. I wonder if the general public are a bit tired of her doing retro dancepop at this point.

I can see "These Walls" becoming a big hit if promoted properly. But I won't be surprised if her team decides to drop any furthur promotion plans for this album.

[Love Plastic Love]

Aug 24, 2024 11:23:09 GMT -5 Juan Carlos said:

FYI, there's a rumour that she's touring North America next year. 22 dates are planned, being NYC one of them on 9/17.

That said, based of that, it makes me think that the re-issue of Radical Optimism (or another album, which would be something optimistic to be honest) might be out around the corner.

I cannot imagine they are not doing a reissue or re-release with a new single or remix of a song on the cd now. Maybe that is copium lmao. I just can't imagine they are thrilled with its performance at this moment (even though it was not a flop).

[Eqbk]

Well, now we know what she was doing (besides vacationing) instead of promoting her music:

[miserygame]

Aug 24, 2024 11:06:56 GMT -5 Eqbk said:

Aug 24, 2024 0:54:52 GMT -5 thezatch said:

I honestly would not be surprised if she had less US dates, if many at all, for the tour this go round, given how things have transpired on the charts here in the States. I’d love to be wrong and be able to see her somewhere close but I’m willing to bet she skips over most of the Midwest all together and rolls through primarily the major markets (NY, LA, Chicago, Denver, somewhere in Texas, Miami / Tampa), choosing to focus mainly internationally.

It's honestly kind of hard to gauge what the interest will be for an US tour. There are multiple examples of artists who don't necessarily sell well album-wise but manage to still do well touring-wise so the reception to Radical Optimism may not be too much of a hindrance. Granted, most acts that fall into that category are veteran artists, but one thing that might help her is the positive reception people and reviewers had to the Future Nostalgia Tour.

She definitely has a stronger base in other places (like Europe) but this album has generally under-performed in pretty much every market, even ones where's she bigger than in the US. Yet despite this, she's managed to do quite well tour-wise so far. I'm honestly surprised at how well she seems to be selling tickets for the Asian leg of the tour. For example, she sold out both arena dates in Tokyo despite not seemingly being as big there as she is in other places, even in comparison to the US.

That’s not accurate. First of all, the Japanese market is one of the most challenging for any non-domestic artist to break into. However, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia performed quite well by Western standards in Japan. Both "Levitating" and "Don’t Start Now" were certified singles there, a rare achievement for Western artists. This shows that she does have a market in Japan, South Korea, and even China, though the exact numbers might not be publicly available. The fact that Dua sold out arena dates in these countries further validates her presence and popularity in these markets.