Dua Lipa‘s Radical Optimism, which dropped Friday (May 3), is the pop star’s most revealing album yet. And in a new interview with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly, she explained why.
When asked what makes the 11-track project different from her past LPs — 2020’s Future Nostalgia and her 2017 self-titled debut — Lipa revealed that the songs are “more personal in a way that maybe people haven’t heard from me before.”
“For a long period of time I was like, ‘What do I keep for myself, what do I put out there?’” she continued. “‘How do I talk about my stories while also not putting my whole personal life on blast?’ It’s quite a vulnerable position to put yourself in, whereas for this record, I felt so free in telling my stories and talking about my experiences.”
“I think that also just came from my confidence as a songwriter and knowing what is asked of me and knowing what this job requires,” she added. “Whether it’s heartbreak or if the people that you thought were the ones you knew so well aren’t actually who they made out to be, all of those are lessons in life.”
Led by the singles “Houdini,” “Training Season” and “Illusion,” Radical Optimism was crafted by Lipa in collaboration with a team of fellow hitmakers, including Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. It follows the success of the British-Albanian star’s Barbie hit “Dance the Night,” which reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Grammy nods for best song written for visual media and song of the year.
“A couple years ago, a friend introduced me to the term ‘radical optimism,’” she said in a statement when announcing the new album in March. “It struck me – the idea of going through chaos gracefully and feeling like you can weather any storm. At the same time, I found myself looking through the music history of psychedelia, trip-hop and Britpop.”
Watch Dua’s Billboard interview above.
