WORTH A LOOK?: *****

OUT: now

TRACKLIST: Future Nostalgia; Don’t Look Down; Cool; Physical; Levitating; Hallucinate; Pretty Please; Love Again; Break My Heart; Good In Bed; Boys Will Be Boys

Spring 2020 was expected to see much-anticipated album releases from the likes of Lady Gaga, Sam Smith and Rumer but concern over how they they would land during a global coronavirus pandemic saw plans for them shelved, leaving the way clear for Dua Lipa’s sophomore collection.

• Read on for details of where to see Ms Lipa on her UK tour in 2021

We saw Ms Lipa live at Brighton Dome three years ago and remarked then both: ‘Dua’s certainly one of the best things to remember 2017 by’ and: ‘we predict more major collaborations for album two and greater success around the world’.

What surprises most then about her second album Future Nostalgia is that there isn’t a glut of featured appearances by other artists and instead it is the songwriting that has seen collaboration, most notably by Stuart Price who is also behind one of this year’s other album critical successes.

The title track here seems to refer to the collection’s ability to mine some of the nuggets of pop’s past while incorporating them into some dancefloor gems of this year and beyond.

The bass hook from INXS’ Need You Tonight is hardly recognisable in current single Break Your Heart and the sample from Your Woman by White Town doesn’t sound at all out of place in disco stormer Love Again.

Our interest in this album has been longstanding because Break My Heart is the latest in a rush of outstanding singles including the 70s disco riffs of Don’t Look Down and the clubbing anthem that is Physical.

There really isn’t a duff track here and if the lyrics are a little disposable (we’re particularly enjoying: ‘My love is like a rocket, watch it blast off, And I’m feeling so electric, dance my ass off (Levitating)) they are carried off with an unmistakeable flair.

Dua was due to play two nights at The 02 on a 22-date European tour that was due to kick off next month and has now been tentatively rescheduled to begin again in January.

Lipa already has two Grammys, three BRITs and two MTV Europe Music Awards under her belt as well as our 2017 Best Song monsta for New Rules. On the strength of this album, there’s no reason to assume that  appreciation will dim.

• Picture via Facebook courtesy Dua Lipa. Tickets
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