After four years of no new music, Dua Lipa released her third studio album “Radical Optimism” on Friday, May 3. It is safe to say the public and her fans were very excited for the record’s release, especially with all of the hype that was built with her promotional hit single “Houdini.”

The record features 11 tracks with no features, making it her first solo album. Although it is definitely an album where you can see her push out of her comfort zone, it still resembles past albums such as “Future Nostalgia” with the same retro beat washing over the tracks. Many of the tracks on the album have the same “chill” vocals to them, which makes them almost be drained out and meshed into each other, with not much difference between them. This is evident in songs such as “Watcha Doing” and “French Exit” that seem to just blend into each other, with not much differentiations between the two tracks.

Just like following the same instrumental, many of the tracks seem to follow the same theme of letting go of past situations and being able to apply optimism in order to navigate through said situations. This message is evident on track “Happy For You,” where Lipa is discussing the carefree feeling she is experiencing when seeing a past lover be around a new girl, and how having an optimistic attitude with life helped her get through a heartbreaking situation like this. “Illusion” shares a similar meaning, with Lipa using a realistic and optimistic viewpoint when going through heartbreak with a guy that showed no interest in her.

There is another side of the record as well, where we are taken to a point of view that opens up to an idea of love again, but feeling somewhat wary of it. Tracks such as “Training Season,” “End Of An Era” and “Houdini” all have that similar theme, where Lipa is discussing being open to love again but still having a wave of insecurity even on top of the hopeful facade.

“Radical Optimism” did average numbers compared to past releases this year, selling 83 thousand copies in its first week but reaching #2 on Billboard’s Top 200. Compared to her competitors such as Ariana Grande, who sold 227 thousand units in her first week, numbers like these are fairly standard.

Overall, this album isn’t something new or revolutionary that we haven’t heard from Dua Lipa before or in the pop category. Compared to past releases this year such as “The Tortured Poets Department” and “eternal sunshine,” the album is definitely more lackluster and didn’t live up to the hype that it was built up to be. After the smash album “Future Nostalgia,” more was definitely expected from the artist, but unfortunately it just sounded like her past albums.