Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” Looks to the Past to Carve out the Future

On “Future Nostalgia,” Dua Lipa is back and bolder than ever. So bold in fact that she immediately sets the standard for her sophomore album with its own title. Lipa truly brings “future” and “nostalgia” together on the album, pulling the dance-pop sensibilities of the ‘80s and ‘90s and mixing them with the directness of music in the modern era. The result is a dynamic, punchy project that showcases Lipa evolving into a true artist.

The Lipa found on “Future Nostalgia” is a far cry from the one on her breakout 2017 debut. Released two years into her music career, the model-turned-musician’s first album was a mediocre release that failed to differentiate her from her contemporaries. While it certainly did have its highlights, like the anthemic “New Rules,” it wasn’t until “Future Nostalgia” that Lipa started to control the direction of her music. Becoming more active in the production and taking sonic inspiration from the classic artists she loved, Lipa comes into her own, radiating an authentic and all-consuming confidence. This dominant personality ties the album together as it switches from bouncy electro funk to glittery disco, with Lipa’s commanding lyrics and relaxed voice setting the stage for each track.

While the album pulls from a wide variety of influences from Madonna to Jamiroquai, it never feels aimless. Almost every song is lean, catchy, and purposeful, with the singles serving as the perfect example. “Don’t Start Now” is an empowering song about rejecting an ex’s advances, with a heavenly pre-chorus dropping into a powerful, pulsating chorus. The title track and single “Future Nostalgia” is a great opener, perfectly introducing the album with its addictive beat and playful lyrics and highlighting the album’s theme of female empowerment. “Physical” is an over-the-top piece of power pop that could soundtrack the training montage of an ‘80s movie, and “Break My Heart” is a fantastic modern disco track with an infectious chorus and a killer baseline.

As “Future Nostalgia” progresses, it becomes clear how much thought was put into making the album a cohesive project. The tracks are arranged so that the album never loses its steam. For every moment of respite, like the barebones “Pretty Please,” there’s another track that immediately picks up the energy, like the high-energy “Hallucinate.” The momentum of the album is only bolstered by the strength of each individual track. While the singles are obviously great, almost every track is just as catchy and well-made to the point that it’s hard to choose favorites. “Cool” serves as the album’s first lowkey moment, and while it does sound relatively modern, the combination of its chill synths and Lipa’s strong vocals make it a welcome rest stop. The aforementioned “Pretty Please” and “Hallucinate” are a hard-hitting one-two combo, with the minimal ode to losing yourself immediately transitioning into an explosive track about a love so powerful it transcends reality. There’s also “Levitating,” which is instantly catchy and one of the most purely fun songs on the album, and “Love Again,” an outrageous disco throwback that sounds like nothing else in mainstream pop.

If there is one point where “Future Nostalgia” falters, however, it is in the final two tracks. “Good in Bed” departs from the ‘80s influence of the previous nine tracks with a cheap piano sample and unfitting trap production. The track is also weighed down by a repetitive chorus and weak pre-chorus vocals. Perhaps the worst song though is the final track “Boys Will Be Boys,” a generic piano ballad that feels completely out of line with the vibrancy of the previous tracks and has some of the worst lyrics on the album. With the album already projecting a strong message of female empowerment, the decision to end with a boring song filled with feminist platitudes is a disappointing one. While these two tracks certainly don’t kill the album, they do kill its constant energy, which is one of the best aspects of listening to it in full.

Despite the weak final tracks, “Future Nostalgia” is one of the best pop albums of 2020 so far and an incredibly strong showing from Lipa. Even with the album’s influence from multiple eras of pop, Lipa has created an album that sounds ultimately timeless. She is not just mindlessly following modern pop trends or flatly imitating the sounds of the ‘80s, but taking influence from them to create something that feels wholly original in the current pop landscape. It is a shame that Lipa didn't get the success she deserved due to the outbreak of COVID-19, which hurt her sales and led to the cancellation of her live performances. While it would have been understandable to postpone her album’s release, Lipa wanted to spread joy in a time of uncertainty and released it early. Let’s hope good things come her way then because “Future Nostalgia” is what we all need right now.