It’s been about a year and a half ago Dua Lipa released her third album, “Radical Optimism,” A project that is perfect for sound tracks a nice day at the beach. She recorded it during time residues on her 2022 tour for “Future Nostalgia”, a record that designated the tropics from Disco past and mapped them into a modern pop sound. “Optimism” was not met with the same enthusiasm as her previous record – perhaps because “nostalgia”, released at the beginning of pandemin, offered the imagination of escape at a time when it was most needed – but still it still managed to broaden the extent of her pop forces and dropped new influences while he re -established the bombing.
Lipa brought that album to life for the first of four sold out performances on its “radical optimism” tour last night at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, which made a pop -spectacular that never ended breath. It is easy to forget how many hits she has gathered since her self-titled debut 2017-So many, in fact, that her “Barbie” crushes “dance the night” was moved to a 30-second blip under the encore-but here they were full paired for almost two hours, strolled together as a greatest hits retro
As a 30 -year -old, Lipa is a curious artist, one that clearly achieved the main pop girl with “future nostalgia” but feels separated from the prisoners who come with it. She doesn’t have such a rabid fanbase as her comrades – her fandom name is “love”, if you wonder – but she manages to occupy her own space in the competitive world of pop. She is present in the discourse but does not surpass the conversation, which gives us glimpses in her glamorous life with regular updates on social media and accurately gathers her persona as a attractive but finally unattainable figure.
That is why her “radical optimism” tour felt so immediate. Lipa was completely present and in Fuller Command, never missed a note or clue when she played leaders for a full band and dance crew. If we talk about living the life of a showgirl, lip surely lives up to its requirements with at least five glittering outfit changes (Fur Boa and floor length fur included), lasers in abundance and vanity mirror light bulbs that flash on the screens behind her. She embraced “Optimism” aesthetics with the set, designed as a crowning wave to reflect her much discussed album cover and punctured the most explosive moments during songs like “Break My Heart” and “Hallucinate” with Jettisons of Confetti.
There is something to say about how much Lipa has improved as an artist since her early days with gigging over the city at Belasco and Hollywood Palladium. Her dance movements have been memorized to death (some called her most viral “pencil sharpener”), but these days there is little reason to enjoy them. She was constantly on her way, flanked by dancers on the stage’s lip for “One Kiss” and stripped down the walkway to the banking pace of “electricity”. The only times she stayed were to really center the song, standing in a swirling ring of fire on “Love Again” and posing as the core of her band for a place-on cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”
And then there is the voice. One of Lipa’s most significant attributes is the husky tone of her mezzo soprano, which gives a dirty roughness to her songs’ Poppolska. Perhaps the most dynamic vocal moment throughout the evening came under “Falling Forever”, when she stood on top of the stage and produced two backup singers in the middle of the song. The music cut out and left the three to deliver powerful harmonies before the band kicked in again. It was happy and raised, the type of sophisticated touch that reinforced that this was more than just your average pop show.
The only time tonight felt like it could have fallen from the rails was during her audience work. She came down in a barrier between the stage and the pit, took selfies and talked to clear Starstruck fans who struggled to answer. But she handled it with Grace, which she tends to do, running along the lip on the B stage and banging her hands with the audience members as the very hard-working crew members dismantled and mounted new stage sets in real time.
If “radical optimism” felt like a more measured successor to “future nostalgia”, as some fans complained, her show on the forum may be the cause of its reconsideration. “Illusion”, “Maria” and “Exercise Season” felt as vivid as “levitating” and “physically”, as if she was mounted them all on the same glittering factory line. It is part of her charm, that no matter how much she thinks of her formula, she manages to make everything feel her specifically. That she can live everything to life and bind such a good looking bow on it is another proof of how singular she remains in the ever -changing pop landscape.
