Dua Lipa
Future Nostalgia

«Are you coming to the club with us tonight?»
«No, my mom won't let me...(-_-)»
«Come on! Just sneak out the window, right? (^v^) You've already done it a few times»
«True... but what if I get caught this time? (°o°)»
«Who cares, you'll already be on the dance floor for a while ;)»
«Alright... I'm coming»
«(^-^)»
«Can't wait to see you <3 <3 <3»
«Me too <3 <3»
The girl left the iPhone on the nightstand and opened the closet. She put on the short dress, the one full of sequins. She grabbed the fur coat, put her smartphone in the purse, and climbed out the window.

I never would have imagined writing a review (a positive one at that) of a Dua Lipa production. To be honest, I didn't even listen to the previous album, but due to those two or three relentless singles from a few years ago, I already got the gist. There she is: Dua Lipa, the typical Pop-star making a ton of (gazillion) money by churning out songs with a cookie-cutter borrowed from a hundred other contemporary Pop-stars. Maybe I was right, maybe not, who cares. The fact is, this "Future Nostalgia" really impressed me. Partly because I'm a vinyl-enthusiast obsessed with vintage sound and bass lines that go *dum-dum-slap-dumme-dum-slap*, and partly because it's truly an interesting piece of work. Its most notable aspect lies in the bass lines (derivative but never too banal) and the vocalist's voice, raw and anything but annoying.

There are some weak tracks: for example, "Cool" does nothing for me, and "Good in Bed", despite its intriguing Swing-like touch, is a bit dull. But overall, it's all about dancing and bobbing your head until you're exhausted. The Title-track "Future Nostalgia" is the perfect manifesto to understand the idea behind and around the album. "Levitating" and "Love Again" are two songs reminiscent of Daft Punk's latest work and they do it well. The two leading singles, "Don't Start Now" and "Break my Heart", have Groovy bass lines that are stimulating and haven't been heard in the Pop world for a while. "Pretty Please", even though it might be the most modern song among the 11 on the record, is fascinating and surprisingly enjoyable. And if you listen carefully, you might even imagine Madonna and Lady Gaga writing "Physical" and "Hallucinate" in a club after 200 Long Islands, lending them to Dua Lipa who, not satisfied, modifies them to make them her own. Finally, "Boys Will Be Boys", a relaxed finale that vaguely reminded me of some ballads from Us by Peter Gabriel, which discreetly concludes the album.

In short, to sum it all up. "Future Nostalgia" is certainly not a composition by Bach, it's not a record by Frank Zappa, nor is it an album by Earth, Wind & Fire... it's nothing outstanding. However, it is a fresh (albeit "nostalgic") album, sunny, cheerful, making for a pleasant 37 minutes. When you start listening to one song, you have to listen to them all. One hopes it will inspire other artists to explore (or re-explore) that dance music, a bit Funky, and quite Pop, to bring it into the 21st century, adapt it well to these times, and (why not?) improve it.

I'll leave you as I go to listen to some bass that goes *dum-dum-slap-dumme-dum-slap*