Girls really do just want to have fun, just ask Dua Lipa.
Today the pop star dropped her much anticipated third studio album, Radical Optimism, and there’s no other way to put it: this record is a bop.
The timing of the album couldn’t be more crucial for Dua, who is about to embark on the biggest summer of her career to date – with a headline slot on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury just eight weeks away.
As well as performing some of her biggest hits, including Levitating and New Rules, at Worthy Farm, Dua will play brilliant new tracks from her album including catchy songs End Of An Era and Falling Forever – which, when you hear them, I guarantee will be stuck in your head for days.
Insiders told me how Dua was going all out for her big moment. And while her new tunes will resonate with her fans, she is in talks with legend Cyndi Lauper to come out as a special guest.
A source said: “Dua is raring to go for Glastonbury and she can’t wait for people to hear her new music.
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“She knows the record will strike a chord with her fans but for the old school muso’s at the Farm, she wants a touch of nostalgia.
“Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, who worked on Radical Optimism with Dua is another.
“She wants this set to go down in history.”
Straight to the No1
Dua’s work ethic, passed down to her from her mother and father, who fled Kosovo as refugees in the 1990s as war broke out, is impressive.
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She has grafted, like us, and worked her way up from being a waitress in a bar to being one of the UK’s most successful pop exports.
Radical Optimism should go straight to the No1 spot on Friday, but with record-breaker Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poet’s Department, still holding strong – Dua may find herself resigned to being a runner up.
But if that is the case, it is, by far, only bad luck which will keep her from landing a second No1 album following 2020’s Levitating.
The lyricism on Dua’s new 11-track record is some of her best work yet and she has clearly poured her heart into the songs.
Happy For You is by far my favourite song and tells the story of seeing your ex find love again – a reality many of us can relate to.
Lyrics on the track include: “I must have loved you more than I ever knew, I am happy for you.
“Looking back now I hope you see it, even the hard parts were for the best
“I see where you’re at now, you picked up the pieces and gave them to somebody else.”
While End Of An Era, which is nailed on to become the next single after the already released Houdini, Training Season and Illusion, is the perfect soundtrack for this summer.
Like Taylor, Dua doesn’t shy away from her own personal relationships on the record.
While she is loved up with British actor Callum Turner, tracks like French Exit and These Walls hint at her break ups with American model Anwar Hadid and Parisian born film director Romain Gavras.
Lyrically, it’s Dua’s strongest and emotionally mature album yet – but is tinged with the catchy beats and melodic guitar riffs she has become best known for.
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Welcome back, Dua. It’s been worth the wait.
