DUA LIPA’S RETRO-DISCO ‘FUTURE’
The pop singer finds her voice on the dance floor
Iknow you’re dying trying to figure me out,” Dua Lipa sings on her second LP. She’s not wrong: While her self-titled 2017 debut established her as a smoky-voiced purveyor of easily digestible Top 40 hits, it lacked the sense of identity she more than solves with Future Nostalgia, a breathtakingly fun, cohesive, and ambitious attempt to find a place for disco in 2020.
Lead single “Don’t Start Now” has become a global smash for good reason. It’s the type of big, Robyn-esque breakup dance-pop anthem that every pop star is due to attempt at least once.
Lipa’s special sauce is a mix of disco strings and funk bass à la Chic and Donna Summer. “Hallucinate” is gorgeous, house-inflected euphoria, while “Physical” is a high-octane, Olivia Newton-John-referencing slice of Eighties synth-noir in the vein of “Sunglasses at Night.” At its best, this record can make you feel like you’re nuzzled away in a corner of Studio 54, ogling Bianca Jagger and Cher under the glimmering lights. BRITTANY SPANOS