{"id":2071958,"date":"2025-10-06T10:17:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2071958"},"modified":"2025-10-06T10:17:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:17:46","slug":"dua-lipa-pops-disco-sophisticate-rides-her-radical-optimism-into-the-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/dua-lipa-pops-disco-sophisticate-rides-her-radical-optimism-into-the-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Dua Lipa, pop’s disco sophisticate, rides her ‘Radical Optimism’ into the Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a pop era where personal messiness is the oxygen of fame, Dua Lipa is the rare unfazed professional.<\/p>\n

Just as Taylor Swift and Charli XCX\u2019s (extremely asymmetrical) feud spilled over the Hot 100 trenches, in comes Lipa\u2019s Radical Optimism tour for four nights at the Forum to reassert that it is, in fact, possible to spin off hits while leaving one\u2019s personal life unscathed.<\/p>\n

On Saturday at the opening night of her Forum stand, Lipa \u2014 herself a British-Albanian-Kosovar atelier of sophisticated, structurally flawless disco-pop \u2014 played for nearly three hours with nary a sweat broken. The club hits pulsed, her dancing was evocative and precise, and the set was again punctuated with a locally-sourced cover from each city she performs in; this time \u201cThe Chain\u201d from Fleetwood Mac. (Other recent installments included \u201cMe Gustas T\u00fa\u201d by Manu Chao, AC\/DC\u2019s \u201cHighway to Hell\u201d and \u201cDerni\u00e8re Danse\u201d by Indila.)<\/p>\n

Even if the gyre of contemporary fandom demands mess, spite, flops and redemption arcs, Lipa glides over all of it, with morally sound politics<\/a> and an immaculately tasteful book club<\/a> to spare.<\/p>\n

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Dua Lipa takes her Radical Optimism tour to the Forum over the weekend.<\/p>\n

(Madison Phipps)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

This tour in particular feels like the moment when Lipa is opting out of the rise-and-crash fame cycle and into becoming more of an album artist and deeply considered live act. The hazy disco-rock of \u201cRadical Optimism\u201d (produced with tastemakers Kevin Parker, Andrew Wyatt and Danny L Harle, among others) hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200, her best album debut yet. But it didn\u2019t yield era-defining singles like the pandemic lifesaver \u201cFuture Nostalgia\u201d did.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a tough act for anyone to follow up; she should have been on the NHS payroll for the good that \u201cDon\u2019t Start Now,\u201d \u201cLevitating\u201d and \u201cPhysical\u201d did in keeping spirits up in 2020. Her last U.S. top-10 single was 2023\u2019s \u201cBarbie\u201d-soundtrack cut \u201cDance the Night,\u201d and \u201cHoudini\u201d peaked at 11. Yet this tour sold out four nights in L.A. and is unquestionably the most creative, rigorous and musicianship-driven tour of her career.<\/p>\n

With a sprawling live band and big moments of unvarnished vocal candor, this was pop at its highest caliber, but with an eye toward long-term durability and integrity. During the set, Lipa took at least two passes around to the front rows, pressing the flesh and taking selfies with gobsmacked tweenage fans. No algorithm will match that for an impact.<\/p>\n

From the opening calisthenics of \u201cTraining Season\u201d and \u201cBreak My Heart,\u201d Lipa ripped through a quiver of deep-house and neo-disco staples to fuel Pride parties for the rest of her life. Those early memes about her terminal chillness must have lighted a fire under her: Lipa\u2019s revamped as one of the top-tier dancers and physical performers of her era, while never shortchanging that smoky \u201890s house-diva vocal power. No singer deserves a Pilates Reformer endorsement <\/a>deal more.<\/p>\n

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Dua Lipa makes a stand at the Forum on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

(Madison Phipps)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

On the poignant breakup-in-waiting ballad \u201cThese Walls,\u201d the stiff-upper-lip rock bombast of \u201cHappy For You\u201d and her pass through \u201cThe Chain,\u201d she made the case that her range extends well beyond the fizzy, watchgear-precise electropop she\u2019s best known for. On record, \u201cAnything For Love\u201d gets a knowing wink with in-studio jibing between Lipa and her producers; here she played it straight as a lofty piano ballad for the back seats on a floating riser.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s something just so effortless about her Majorca-primed house singles like \u201cMaria,\u201d which feel ready to slip into magic hour rooftop DJ sets for time immemorial. There are other singers to turn to when you\u2019re emotionally ransacked; Dua gets the best nights of your life instead.<\/p>\n

Encoring with the still-freaky, deliciously disciplinarian \u201cNew Rules\u201d and the laser-cut banger \u201cHoudini,\u201d Lipa walked off the Forum stage with all the proof she needed that, by aligning with a fervent literary life, unwavering peace advocacy and an expanding palette of meticulously groovy songwriting, she\u2019s in an enviable position for a long and meaningful career to come. Let the woman vacation in peace.<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n