Hi, everyone. Nothany Beeftano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Dua Lipa album, Radical Optimism.

This is the latest project from pop singer and songwriter Dua Lipa, the long-awaited follow-up to her second full-length album Future Nostalgia, which dropped four years ago at this point and rocketed her to a level of incredible stardom, mostly thanks to its numerous killer singles that had a lot of lasting power. "Break My Heart," "Physical," "Don't Start Now." Really some of the snappiest, most well-produced and widely appealing tasteful pop-bops of the decade so far.

But future Future Nostalgia's magic wasn't just limited to its lead tracks. The deep cuts were impressive, and the record overall really lived up to its title. There were many songs on this record that revamped various eras of pop music in a very tasteful and creative way. And while it was not a perfect record by far overall, it was a vast improvement over her debut, which to my ears, read as generic, and frankly, nonspecific to the point where I had a hard time off that album, seeing where and how exactly Dua would carve a niche for herself in the greater pop sphere.

Now that she's finally done that, it seems she is here to stay. And since we really had to wait a minute for this album going into it, I was hoping for a record that was just as fun, sharp, and long-lasting as its predecessor at the very least. But the more I listen to this project, the more I feel like it is a swing and a slight miss. Now, on one level, I can't appreciate what this record is trying to do, as it is an ambitious attempt at portraying the countless sides of love, with each track working like its own little short story in a greater treatise.

There are tracks on here about breaking up, about not being broken up, but needing to break up. Wanting the real thing now in your romantic life because training season is over. Also ghosting. Also feeling over taken by the power of love to the point where it's changing you. Also feeling tricked and toyed with in the midst of the courting process and even feeling happy for an ex after you see them post-separation with someone else. On this front, Radical Optimism has a lot going for it.

Look, for all of its positive qualities, that is one thing Future Nostalgia did not have, some nice, tight narrative focus. But at the end of the day, I'm probably going to be going back to that record a lot more than this one because musically and esthetically, I think Radical Optimism is a step down. Instrumentally and sonically, I think it's a lot more basic and streamlined, focusing Dua into a musical corner that seems based less on artistry and more on trying to repeat formulas that have worked for her commercially in the past. With that being said, there are some decent attempts on this record at recreating that Future Nostalgia magic.

"Houdini," for example, is a killer single that features some punchy kicks, some 80's synths, and grumbly little guitar licks that feel like they're pulled right out of the Michael Jackson "Thriller" playbook, and it makes for a great backdrop for this very catchy song. There's also "Maria," whose opening guitar cords feel like if you tried to take the start of Weezer's "Island in the Sun" and spice it up a little bit with some zany synthesizers and flourishes of Spanish guitar. Top it off with some '90s Lala radio pop background vocals, too. It's a very likely fusion, but it works the more I listen to it.

There's also "Training Season," which is a very sharp dance pop cut with dramatically strummed acoustic guitars and these very plucky lead melodies that sync up with Dua's lead vocals very tightly, much in the same way they did on key tracks from Future Nostalgia. But on the LP, we're three tracks in so far. Isn't it a little early to start painting yourself into a corner?

Speaking of getting self-referential, there are also cuts on here such as "Illusion," which to me feels like Dua repeating the disco dance-pop formula of that hit song that she had on the Barbie soundtrack, continuing to sing about dancing all night, but this time, instrumentally, just do it a bit darker. "What You Do Into My Ears," hangs in a very similar space. And while as a song, I think it is passable. I just feel like Dua has done this before. I wish she would just take another risk.

On the song "French Exit," as far as the lyrics are concerned, she continues to be unable to move past dancing as a narrative device. And while I do respect this song for trying to, production-wise, come in and present something a little bit different, the melody on the chorus here falls flat and the attempt at making this song sound Europe, romance, vacation getaway with the bongos and strings. The track ultimately sounds about as French as French fries and just does not speak to the versatile and fun pop excursions that Future Nostalgia did so well.

While there are some bops in this tracklist, there are almost as many cuts here that either leave me a little underwhelmed or just confused. "Anything for Love," for example, starts out stronger than a lot of songs on here, frankly. But simultaneously, it is super on the short side and ends out of nowhere. It may have something to do with the love that is being sung about on the song ending, but I feel like there are various conceptual ways one could play with that idea on a track without basically giving us something that feels like half a song.

What's even more confusing, though, is the song "These Walls," which is all about the idea of the walls surrounding a couple. Oh, boy, if only they could talk. They'd tell us to break the fric up, which I feel like is a concept that duo doesn't really bring a new spin to on top of it. The instrumental on this track, to be honest, sounds like some royalty-free YouTube pop rock. I have no idea why she's singing on top of this. Her last album proved her to have so many good solid production choices and this is just, what is this?

Finally, I don't really think you could ask for two more overproduced, effect-heavy, boring, and bland intros and outros on this record. Where are the groups? Where's the vibrance? Where's the definition? Which is why at the end of the day, I'm pretty indifferent toward this album. Again, was hoping for something that was going to blow Future Nostalgia out of the water or at least present Dua Lipa in a different in more interesting light. But unfortunately to my ears, I don't think this record did that. It feels like a regression on the lyrical side, on the songwriting side, on the instrumental side.

The only way in which I feel like this record beats out Future Nostalgia is that there is a focused lyrical theme across the entire thing, and that's just about it, which is why I'm feeling a strong five to a light 6 on this record.

Anthony Fantano, Dua Lippa of Forever.