Pop star Dua Lipa recently came out with her new album, Future Nostalgia, following her self-titled debut album. Released on March 27, Future Nostalgia is intended to display Lipa’s childhood and current life, as well as show “that women are allowed to take risks and try things differently musically.”

The new album has 11 songs consisting of Future Nostalgia, Don’t Start Now, Cool, Physical, Levitating, Pretty Please, Hallucinate, Love Again, Break My Heart, Good in Bed and Boys Will Be Boys. Future Nostalgia shows the “fearlessness” of female empowerment, as described by Lipa. It is supposed to be a bold statement inspired by the “female alphas” in her life.

“It was just about having fun and not taking yourself too seriously. And also, for me, a feeling of empowerment and sassiness. This felt like the perfect album opener,” Lipa, in an interview with Apple Music, said.

Next in the album comes Don’t Start Now, which has a disco element and is labeled as the “perfect breakup song.” While talking about Cool, Lipa explained that because the album was about taking new chances, she decided to switch up the style of her music with this song. In Physical, the heat gets turned up and makes others want to dance, enforcing its theme of a “spur-of-the-moment kind of song.” Levitating is meant to be fun and bubbly, with the aspect of exploring love. While on the other hand, Pretty Please is about remaining calm in the beginning of a relationship, only to discover later on it is not what the other wants.

“It sounds cool and chill, but it’s about the opposite. I like playing with sounds and concepts in that way,” Lipa said.

The seventh song on the album, Hallucinate, is different from the others, as it was not supposed to tie in with the overall theme, rather than be a fun festival-type song. Love Again and Break My Heart is about recovering from past relationships and learning to love again, while also making things work in a current and healthy relationship, having dealt with trauma. In Good in Bed, Lipa was trying to describe how the intimacy of a couple may be the only thing that is continuing to keep them together. The song is “carefree” and “open.” Finally, Boys Will Be Boys is intended to highlight the actions some men are able to get away with in life. Lipa even went on to share some of her personal experiences she had as a child or young adult.

“I talk so much about female empowerment, but I’d never done a song which really talks about the growing pains of what it’s like to be a woman. For girls at school, there was always that fear of trying to get home before it got too dark. I can’t believe that I had to actually put keys through my knuckles, like Wolverine, in case anybody might say something or try to chase or attack me. I just want this song to be a conversation starter. I want it also to just be a little bit of an eye-opener. It’s not a song that’s out to offend anyone, or point any fingers. But… [rather] in the hope that there can be change,” Lipa said.

Overall, Future Nostalgia is seemingly a strong and empowering album with lots of stories and meanings behind it all. Lipa had been working on this new album since last spring, sharing many hints about its future release on social media, with a picture of a tattoo inspired by it. Many fans were impressed with Lipa’s new album after the release of her first one back in 2017. Since then, Lipa has collaborated with a large handful of artists from DJ’s such as Calvin Harris to K-pop sensation, Blackpink. Many are hoping she will continue to make music and inspire people all around the world.