Response to Dua Lipa’s previous single, ‘Houdini,’ were apparently underwhelming, at least according to Stereogum’s Chris DeVille.
And true, Lipa’s singles don’t usually garner the same level of hype as Taylor’s or Beyoncé’s do, despite critical acclaim for 2020’s Future Nostalgia. But I’m gonna have to agree with the one commenter who noted that Lipa’s songs are typically slow-burning in terms of popularity. Future Nostalgia took a while to catch on, helped mostly by the fact that everyone was locked in their homes for months on end, creating domestic discos as the world burned (It was also buoyed by other disco-related releases at the time from Kylie and Jessie Ware). ‘Levitating’ basically launched Lipa into the stratosphere.
So I’m not too worried about ‘Training Season’ not catching on at first, especially since I hear ‘Houdini’ still being played quite a bit. That and Lipa has more than earned her place as a pop girlie, in much the same way as Jessie and Carly Rae: Critical acclaim with cult appeal. And really, that affords you a lot more creative freedom than you think...
Like ‘Houdini,’ ‘Training Season’ has a slick yet commanding bass groove, along with a slight psychedelic bent courtesy of producers Danny L. Harle and Tame Impala's Kevin Parker.
It’s cool. Even in the clip, Lipa has a cool air about her, remaining aloof even as a horde of men try to grab her attention, eventually becoming one big blur.
Says Lipa:
'I had been on a string of bad dates, and the last one was the final straw. The next morning I arrived to the studio to Caroline and Tobias asking me how it all went and I immediately declared “TRAINING SEASON IS OVER,” and like the best “day after” debriefs with your mates, we had a lot of laughs and it all quickly came together from there.
'And while it is obviously about that feeling when you are just absolutely done telling people…men specifically in this case, how to date you right; it is also about my training season being over and me growing with every experience. I have never felt more confident, clear or empowered. And while it may be that training season is never over for any of us, you start to see the beauty in finding that person to experience it with. You stop looking for the trainees and become more interested in having someone where you are and someone to grow with.'
I consider ‘Levitating’ to be one of the best pop songs of the 2020s so far, but I’m also loving this lowkey Lipa as well: Sleek, brooding and enigmatic. And as a semi-‘Flowers’ defender, it’s no surprise that I like this track as much as I do (What can I say, Miley’s Grammy Song of the Year grew on me after a while, though I do acknowledge its flaws...)