Future Nostalgia was arguably one of the best albums of 2020, with huge chart and critical success including multiple Grammy nominations.
Future Nostalgia was an incredible trip to, as the album title would suggest, a modern twist on some retro sounds.
Lipa has been working hard over the Future Nostalgia era, and she comes again now with a new version of the album: Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition. This Edition including 8 new tracks, more features, and even a couple more languages.
It's clear straight from the first listen that Dua Lipa seemingly can't make a bad song. The new tracks effortlessly fit in with the flow of the original album, despite some being slightly more experimental. Lipa and her fellow creators have a clear vision that they stuck to, to create more planets in the Future Nostalgia universe.
The only minor criticism to make is that I wouldn't say these songs necessarily add anything to the magic and spectacle that is Future Nostalgia. Future Nostalgia is an exceptional album and remains a good album with these songs attached, but there's no real revolutionary change to it. Obviously, it's simply a deluxe version of an album, but with the number of tracks added on, maybe a bit more of an elevation could have been expected. You don't necessarily feel like you'd be missing out if you only listened to the original version from now on.
'Prisoner' is a welcome addition to this new edition just as it was on Plastic Hearts - the combination of Cyrus and Lipa's sounds works well, and we gushed about how much we loved the song on our Plastic Hearts album review.
The standouts of the new songs however are the extra solo tracks. 'If It Aint Me' and 'That Kind of Woman'. Dua Lipa's classic independent woman attitude mixes with the turmoils of lover and the typical heavy synth beat that Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition is fueled by. 'We're Good', the lead single from this new version, is once again a great song, but it's the video that really makes it with the odd yet charming video which tells the story of a lobster whose loves keep getting, well, eaten which appears to be set on the Titanic. We're Good, much like the video, is simple and charming and works well as a transitional single between the original Future Nostalgia and The Moonlight Edition.
'Not My Problem is probably the most modern of all songs on the deluxe album, as it takes inspiration from the 90s as well as the 70s and 80s that the rest of the album takes its flair from.
With 'Fever' and 'Una Dia (One Day)' we go international. Adding in lyrics from other languages by artists from non-English speaking countries is a brave choice for Lipa but it works. Both Angèle and J Balvin / Bad Bunny / Tainy lift up the tracks they feature on and add another dimension that keeps you listening.
The only real negative with not only Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition but the original album is that right now we can't have parties or go to bars where these albums are blasting loudly as the soundtrack. Here's hoping to be dancing to 'Levitating' ft Da Baby by the end of 2021.
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