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Tyrone Lebon/Courtesy of the artist
On the Could 3 episode of New Music Friday, NPR Music’s Hazel Cills and WRTI’s Nate Chinen focus on the brand new album from dance-pop celebrity Dua Lipa is named Radical Optimism, simply the most recent in 2024’s gauntlet of excessive profile new albums by main artists who’ve, at one time or one other in the previous few years, felt just like the central character within the pop music universe. (Among the different opponents for our consideration this spring: Ariana Grande, Kacey Musgraves, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift. And in only a couple extra weeks we’ll add Billie Eilish to that listing.)
The brand new songs on Radical Optimism are largely within the vein of Dua Lipa’s earlier work — name it her additional adventures because the pilot of the pop music time machine. However that itself is likely to be purpose to maintain a militantly sunny perspective: A parade of hits from her final album, Future Nostalgia, proved to have unimaginable endurance — “Levitating” hung round within the high 10 of Billboard‘s Scorching 100 chart for almost a 12 months — and he or she contributed to final 12 months’s cultural juggernaut Barbie with the hit “Dance the Evening.” Nonetheless, Hazel and Nate say the brand new album gives hints of some shocking creative developments in her sound.
However Radical Optimism is not the one album out this week that calls for consideration. New information by the inimitable folks songwriter Jessica Pratt and the all the time bold jazz maestro and saxophonist Kamasi Washington focus their very own sounds in new and extremely rewarding methods.
Featured Albums:
• Dua Lipa, Radical Optimism
• Jessica Pratt, Right here within the Pitch
• Kamasi Washington, Fearless Motion
Different notable albums out Could 3:
• Willow, empathogen
• Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice
• Steph Richards, Energy Vibe
• Charlotte Day Wilson, Cyan Blue
• Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio, Unknown Rivers
• Digicam Obscura, Look to the East, Look to the West
• Ibibio Sound Machine, Pull the Rope
• The Lemon Twigs, A Dream Is All We Know
• Sia, Affordable Lady
• Chris Smither, All In regards to the Bones
• Frank Turner, Undefeated
• Yuja Wang, The Vienna Recital
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