New Music Friday: The best albums out May 3
On the May 3 episode of New Music Friday, NPR Music's Hazel Cills and WRTI's Nate Chinen discuss the week's essential new albums, including Radical Optimism, from the dance-pop superstar Dua Lipa.
The songs on Radical Optimism are mostly in the vein of Dua Lipa's earlier work, but that itself might be reason to keep a militantly sunny attitude: A parade of hits from her last album, Future Nostalgia, proved to have incredible staying power \u2014 "Levitating" hung around in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 chart for nearly a year \u2014 and she contributed to last year's cultural juggernaut Barbie with "Dance the Night." Still, Hazel and Nate say the new album offers hints of a few surprising artistic developments in her sound.
Radical Optimism isn't the only album out this week that demands attention. New records by the inimitable folk songwriter Jessica Pratt and the always ambitious jazz maestro and saxophonist Kamasi Washington focus their own sounds in new and highly rewarding ways.
Featured Albums:
\u2022 Dua Lipa, 'Radical Optimism'
\u2022 Jessica Pratt, 'Here in the Pitch'
\u2022 Kamasi Washington, 'Fearless Movement'
Other notable albums out May 3:
\u2022 Willow, 'empathogen'
\u2022 Mdou Moctar, 'Funeral for Justice'
\u2022 Steph Richards, 'Power Vibe'
\u2022 Charlotte Day Wilson, 'Cyan Blue'
\u2022 Luke Stewart's Silt Trio, 'Unknown Rivers'
\u2022 4batz, 'u made me a st4r'
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