Day 236: Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia

I needed a workout album today, I’m trying to get hench. Contrary to many-a music nerd, I actually like gym music – it tends not to be the sort of music I’ll listen to anywhere else than from a gym speaker so I feel like I can trick myself into having a Pavlovian response to gym pop where I’ll actually want to get on a step machine if I hear a certain type of song. And I think Dua Lipa is a sort of chain gym playlist final boss, so it was Dua Lipa time.

Album cover courtesy of Warner Records

Dua Lipa is a British-Albanian pop star who’s known for her disco-tinged pop and for just being cool – in addition to being one of the biggest pop stars in the world, she’s about as good-looking as you can be, she has a very highly regarded literature podcast, she’s often called Duo Lingo for her language skills and her thing outside of music is being known for traveling a lot whilst being sexy. Me, jealous? Of course not. But to be fair the best workout music is made by ladies who I admire (am jealous of).

Future Nostalgia was released in 2020 as Dua Lipa’s second album, and it’s a very disco-y and synth-y collection of modern pop music with a twist. It received pretty universal acclaim, and I remember hearing a lot of hype about it at the time. I had high expectations, which the beginning of the album didn’t really fulfil – it was good, but I didn’t see the whole saviour of pop-angle for about the first three songs. But it picks up.

The album does lean into the nostalgia of the title, reminding you of the pop girlies of the time when she grew up. I can occasionally hear a bit of Kylie (especially on “Hallucinate”) and the verses on “Good in Bed” reminded me a bit of Lily Allen, but mainly it doesn’t really sound like anyone other than Dua Lipa. Something like “Cool” didn’t sound too crazy to me because it’s a song that I can see other artists doing, but then songs like “Physical” and “Love Again” do have something that’s unique to her. I’m not as in love with it as people were at the time, but I think that’s because there wasn’t another pop star doing what she’s doing, now we’re so used to her sound.

It’s a good pop album, I love that she’s been on the disco train because I’m convinced we’re at the beginning of a disco revival. And it’s good for working out, I might whack it on again, I’m giving it an 8/10.