Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism

[Juan Carlos]

"Illusion" has been officially announced.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5WOIsasGoC

[Taylor.]

Alternate vinyl that's more akin to the original era imagery has been released for pre-order.

[Ling-Ling]

That picture is terrible, lol. And when you flip it upside down it's even worse.

[wjr15]

Apr 4, 2024 13:24:21 GMT -5 Ling-Ling said:

That picture is terrible, lol. And when you flip it upside down it's even worse.

I just turned my phone upside down and choked on my water. Lmfao 😂🤣

[Ivy Leegue™]

LOL y'all are so MEAN! It's not THAT bad! She's just such a pretty woman, so the riotgrrl! expression is a bit unnatural, but whatever. I am still excited for this album, even if it seems more tailor-made for Euro markets.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Album covers are getting so boring. The music better make up for it.

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

LOLOLOL. Looks like she just smelled something real bad.

[Carlitoz]

Are you sure that cover wasn't and April's Fools day this week??

[Glove Slap]

Dec 14, 2022 9:20:55 GMT -5 Glove Slap said:

G-funk masterpiece please.

The new snippet is very underwhelming for her, and while I don't mind the look and vibe of the album art, it feels weirdly disconnected from everything before for this era. It was all nocturnal with dark clothing and lights and now it's suddenly summer haze. Her last campaign felt far more unified visually and thematically.

While I get that DTN was just a hit, and I will say again that I really like Houdini, if she was still going to just fall back on her usual anon hot chick approach and hope to go viral, it wasn't the best idea to wait so long between projects.

[bat1990]

I'm just gonna wait and listen to the album in full in May, but I don't feel a lot of hype this time around.

BUT that's how i felt about Ari and she delivered so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Deleted]

It’s weird to me that she has the two biggest female albums ever on streaming and yet this is feeling like such a non-event. The music and visuals so far really have just felt “they’re there.” Nothing is standing out yet. The Illusion snippet does not scream smash to me, but I’m also not one to judge just based on a snippet.

On an aside, she looks like Lorde to me on the head on hands cover, and it also gives me Solar Power vibes.

[kimberly]

Apr 4, 2024 22:52:34 GMT -5 @pikandru said:

It’s weird to me that she has the two biggest female albums ever on streaming and yet this is feeling like such a non-event. The music and visuals so far really have just felt “they’re there.” Nothing is standing out yet. The Illusion snippet does not scream smash to me, but I’m also not one to judge just based on a snippet.

On an aside, she looks like Lorde to me on the head on hands cover, and it also gives me Solar Power vibes.

I don't think anyone ever expected her past two albums to be the top two all-timers before they got released, either.

Dua isn't that kind of an artist. She collects hits pretty sneakily (and tacks them on the deluxe editions of her albums).

Houdini and Training Season combined have over 500 million streams on Spotify. If she tacks on Dance the Night... that brings the "era" to over 1.2 billion streams with a month to go before the album.

I'm not worried. She's delivering in the music department anyway, the stats are the cherry on top.



What I am worried about is that alternate album cover. Who? What? Why? I really like the standard album cover, thankfully.

[Deleted]

I just don’t think that her or her team would’ve expected this not to be an event era affer the star turn on FN (as I said in the Training Season thread). And after a Barbie soundtrack single likely way over performed their expectations as well.

It’s one thing to have slow burn smashes. Houdini was not that though, and it appears the label is unwilling to see if TS can pull that off since they are moving on. Both look destined to just be minor hits. Which is fine and all, but again I can’t imagine what they wanted for this era.

100% though she could still have a New Rules/Levitating on this album (we haven’t even heard yet) that ends up massive. Queen so far of getting huge hits late into an album era in a time where that almost never happens.

[Juan Carlos]

Alternate artwork photoshoot, which was done by Tyrone Lebon.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5YuK_KsSoo

[Deleted]

Can't wait for the new single and for the actual tour to be announced. I NEED to see her live

[Juan Carlos]

These are all the exclusive retail vinyl variant of the album.

[wjr15]

Yet we don’t get the turquoise variant which is the one I actually want because it’s only sold in her UK store. The US store just gets a clear vinyl.

Also, I didn’t even know Hot Topic or Barnes & Noble sold vinyls. If we don’t get the turquoise variant by release week, I’ll just order the blue Amazon one.

[Push The Button]

Apr 5, 2024 0:08:49 GMT -5 kimberly said:

Apr 4, 2024 22:52:34 GMT -5 @pikandru said:

It’s weird to me that she has the two biggest female albums ever on streaming and yet this is feeling like such a non-event. The music and visuals so far really have just felt “they’re there.” Nothing is standing out yet. The Illusion snippet does not scream smash to me, but I’m also not one to judge just based on a snippet.

On an aside, she looks like Lorde to me on the head on hands cover, and it also gives me Solar Power vibes.

I don't think anyone ever expected her past two albums to be the top two all-timers before they got released, either.

Dua isn't that kind of an artist. She collects hits pretty sneakily (and tacks them on the deluxe editions of her albums).

Houdini and Training Season combined have over 500 million streams on Spotify. If she tacks on Dance the Night... that brings the "era" to over 1.2 billion streams with a month to go before the album.

I'm not worried. She's delivering in the music department anyway, the stats are the cherry on top.



What I am worried about is that alternate album cover. Who? What? Why? I really like the standard album cover, thankfully.

As soon as I heard the first three seconds of “Physical” in January 2020, I knew it was going to be an album for the books. That was an instant dopamine explosion.

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

Apr 5, 2024 11:38:10 GMT -5 @pikandru said:

I just don’t think that her or her team would’ve expected this not to be an event era affer the star turn on FN (as I said in the Training Season thread). And after a Barbie soundtrack single likely way over performed their expectations as well.

It’s one thing to have slow burn smashes. Houdini was not that though, and it appears the label is unwilling to see if TS can pull that off since they are moving on. Both look destined to just be minor hits. Which is fine and all, but again I can’t imagine what they wanted for this era.

100% though she could still have a New Rules/Levitating on this album (we haven’t even heard yet) that ends up massive. Queen so far of getting huge hits late into an album era in a time where that almost never happens.

Totally agree, there's no way at all they were not expecting and planning for equal success given her recent track record.

[Juan Carlos]

"Illusion" out tomorrow at 3pm. PDT / 6pm. EDT / 11pm. BST.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5lqxA8M8jd

[Ivy Leegue™]

Sounds solid from that clip. I think I'll get the cobalt blue vinyl. Gorgeous color.

[PGriffin]

I wonder if this was always the plan to have 3 singles before the album.

[Juan Carlos]

Today.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5nmlyTssG8

[felipe]

Apr 11, 2024 9:24:56 GMT -5 PGriffin said:

I wonder if this was always the plan to have 3 singles before the album.

I'm pretty sure Training Season was expected to last until the album release.

[wavey.]

3 singles before an album was always a thing, with exceptions of course. I'm ready for this one.

[Juan Carlos]

"Illusion" is available now.

[felipe]

Apr 11, 2024 15:34:47 GMT -5 wavey. said:

3 singles before an album was always a thing, with exceptions of course. I'm ready for this one.

3 hit singles before an album is not really a thing. It usually happens when one (or two) of them underperform.

[Deleted]

Apr 12, 2024 8:46:44 GMT -5 felipe said:

Apr 11, 2024 15:34:47 GMT -5 wavey. said:

3 singles before an album was always a thing, with exceptions of course. I'm ready for this one.

3 hit singles before an album is not really a thing. It usually happens when one (or two) of them underperform.

Dua is going to have the last laugh when the album gets to six singles and all of them accumulate 500M to one billion streams on Spotify. Just watch. 

She's literally maximizing single success and playlisting in the streaming era which is literally all about longevity.

[PGriffin]

I liked Illusion from what I remember. The thing is I can't remember it. The same thing happened with Training Season. I heard it and enjoyed it but could not remember the anything about the song after. I didn't have that issue with Houdini. I still think that one was the major hit that got away.

[SHOOTER]

I’ve liked all three songs but I’m not hearing growth nor bops on the same level as FN if I’m being honest. I will always reserve judgement until I hear the full album, which I will likely enjoy, but this era has been underwhelming for me personally.