Dua Lipa's remix pastiche with The Blessed Madonna doesn't quite deliver

Courtesy of Mariah Carey’s landmark revisions of 1993’s “Dreamlover” and 1995’s “Fantasy”, which cemented the legendary singer-songwriter’s crossover into the dance and hip-hop world, the remix is now embedded at the core of contemporary music, and has equally served as a playground for sonic experimentation and innovation. As such, it has almost become a rite of passage for budding artists to dabble in this practice, to the point where the remix has largely become synonymous with contemporary music’s blatant commercialisation.

Where Club Future Nostalgia, the latest iteration of Dua Lipa’s recent disco-inspired showpiece, fits on this spectrum is up for debate. Conceived in collaboration with The Blessed Madonna, the album is less of a synthesis of their individual styles and more of a multi-genre pastiche. Harkening back to a golden age of remixes by Lipa’s female pop forebears, Club Future Nostalgia inadvertently draws attention to its lack of depth and innovation in this regard.

Whereas tracks such as “Pretty Please” and “Hallucinate”, co-remixed by Masters of Work and Mr Fingers, expertly synthesise the elements of '90s house with Lipa’s own brand of contemporary dance-pop, songs such as the “Levitating” and “Physical” remix – featuring Madonna, Missy Elliott, and Gwen Stefani – fail to truly live up to their original versions, despite the superficial promises of their superstar cast members.

Another track of note, “Kiss and Make Up”, a collaboration with South Korean girl-group BLACKPINK, is a multi-lingual, slow and sleek funk groove. It sees Lipa, whether knowingly or not, pay due homage to the ultimately urban roots of remix culture. This is perhaps a microcosm of the album’s intent as a whole – a project through which Lipa can redefine the current state of popular remix culture by drawing on its past sounds. But moments like this on Club Future Nostalgia are few and far between each other – an album which, despite its ambitions, can’t get around its failure to live up to its parent album.