Lipa's Voice is the Focal Point of Her Major Debut LP

Dua Lipa 

Dua Lipa 

Warner 

Release date: June 2, 2017 

By Shawal Ras 

Follow @shawalras

Albanian-born Lipa finally dropped her major self-titled debut LP after being delayed for almost a year (originally slated for September 2016 and February this year). 

A very summer-y release of 2017, the singer tackles on the theme of love, heartbreak, and the joy of life within the album's 12 tracks (17, if you're on the deluxe edition). 

Tackling pop music is hard in this age where everything relies your ability to create hype around yourself as an artist and your music. Lipa, on the other hand, did it in a somewhat traditional way. I found out of her from an array of songs played at the gym ('Scared to be Lonely', common track at the club earlier this year, and 'Be the One', a staple in many Zumba classes today). 

And, to be honest, they're good. Enough to create the hype I needed to start Googling about her. 

From then on, I finally came across this long play and immediately fell in love with Lipa's main feature: not her unique look, but her raspy-but-strong voice. A standout track in the album, 'Thinking About You', is such a slow burner, the perfect song that actually captures the essence of the singer's as an artist. It's chilled, her voice is the focal point, and it touches your heart through the lyrics (which she co-wrote herself). 

Dua Lipa opens with 'Genesis', an ode to her fixation with her beau. "I need your love and I'm dying for the rush / 'Cause my heart ain't got enough / I need your touch / This is getting serious." The track, produced by Axident, Big Taste, and Lorna Blackwood, pretty much the blueprint of the album; synth-y, mixed together around heavy bass and beats, a major move made by the singer during the conception of the album. 

Other standout tracks than the aforementioned two are 'Hotter than Hell', 'Lost in Your Light', 'New Rules'and 'No Goodbyes'. The latter may be a generic pop track but hey.. if it's a good track, it's a good track. 

In summary, the big feature of the album is definitely, as I mentioned before, Lipa's voice. The whole album, in my opinion, is an very good effort from the singer. It's not strong and as personal as she stated but that's okay. The first album, no matter how major it is, should be a breezy look into her as an artist. Plus, a pop singer's big expectation usually come together with the sophomore effort (not tryna put the pressure on you, Lipa). 

As a teacher, I'd probably give it a B+.