Album Review: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

For this weeks album review I have chosen British singer songwriter Dua Lipa's brilliant second album Future Nostalgia which was released a few weeks ago. This album follows Dua's hugely successful debut album which was released in June 2017 it peaked at number 3 but has yet to fall out of the UK charts spending 134 of it's 157 weeks in the top 40 (currently at number 25), it also went top 10 in thirteen other countries including Australia and top 40 in another twelve countries including the US. Outside of that it was an incredible debut album, leaving big shoes to fill for Dua's second album but she definitely filled them with an even better album and more chart success so far. Future Nostalgia has spent it's first ten weeks in the top 5 with four of them being at number 1 in the UK, it also hit number 1 in Australia and ten other countries, the album went to number 4 in the US and top 10 in another 18 countries. So far three singles have been released from Future Nostalgia, all have gone top 10 in the UK, Australia and Ireland, Don't Start Now went top 40 in fifty one countries including number 2 in the US, Physical went top 40 in thirty seven countries and Break My Heart went top 40 in thirty nine countries including number 21 in the US.

I was really impressed with Dua Lipa when she broke onto the scene and just got more and more into her music as she showed just how talented she is both with her singing and songwriting, each song revealed some new aspect of her and came together to form an incredible debut album as I've said above. So you can imagine the hype for her new music was massive and I wasn't sure what to expect however I was so relieved when she released Don't Start Now and it easily matched the quality of her first album, this set a great tone. The next two singles were even better and now having heard the album in it's entirety it is actually better than her debut album, which I thought would be difficult to do yet she achieved greatness.

My favourite song on Future Nostalgia is Break My Heart, I had a feeling this would be my overall favourite as it was my favourite single before I heard the rest of the album. This song has a great funky beat and Dua's voice goes slightly deeper here while bringing the same power and emotion into it all, this makes the music and Dua's vocals flow perfectly together giving a smooth delivery. Dua really conveys the feelings of this song incredibly, with it being about someone who usually does the breaking up falling in love with someone who it would break their heart to lose, making for an extremely emotive song that still makes you want to dance along as the beat is infectious.

Honourable mentions for this album go to Physical and Love Again. Let's start with Physical, this is a bigger pop song giving a nod to Olivia Newton-John's 1981 hit of the same name and bringing the same energy and Dua's powerful voice adds to the meaning with the sultry way she sings the verses. This is another great example of what she can do with her voice and how well the flow of the song accentuates it. Now for Love Again this is another really vocally and lyrically strong song about discovering being able to love after a heartbreak, combining the style and lyrics this creates a really upbeat song with a great beat and shows off Dua's higher range a little.

To finish off here are the ratings for each song on the album;

1. Future Nostalgia - 7.5/10

2. Don't Start Now - 8.5/10

3. Cool - 8/10

4. Physical - 9.5/10

5. Levitating - 8/10

6. Pretty Please - 9/10

7. Hallucinate - 8.5/10

8. Love Again - 9/10

9. Break My Heart - 9.5/10

10. Good In Bed - 7.5/10

11. Boys Will Be Boys - 8.5/10