Her first full-length studio album in four years since Future Nostalgia (2020), Lipa worked on Radical Optimism with producers such as Kevin Parker, Danny L Harle, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Andrew Wyatt.

[1] Credited as a significant factor in the revival of disco and dance-pop music in this decade,[2] the record yielded multiple singles including "Don't Start Now"[3] and the RIAA diamond-certified "Levitating".

[8] In 2023, Lipa revealed her third studio album would be released sometime in 2024 with a new sound that sees her moving away from the disco soundscape of Future Nostalgia; instead embracing more of 1970s-era psychedelia.

[10] In anticipation of new music, Lipa posted pictures to her social media with cryptic captions[11] and temporarily replaced the cover art of her previous albums with kaleidoscopic versions on streaming services.

[12] In the cover story for the February 2024 issue of Rolling Stone, Lipa described her forthcoming album as a "psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to UK rave culture".

[19] It "taps into the pure joy and happiness" of having clarity in situations, including "hard goodbyes and vulnerable beginnings" that eventually turned out to be milestones as a result of choosing optimism and grace to navigate "through the chaos".

[23] Radical Optimism was released through Warner Records on 3 May 2024,[21] and was made available for streaming, digital download, cassette, CD, and vinyl LP variants.

The performances, subtitled "London Sessions", were also released in audio form on digital and streaming services on the same day as their respective debuts.

[58][59] Lipa opened the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on 4 February 2024 with "Houdini" and debuted then-unreleased "Training Season", along with "Dance the Night", a song for the 2023 film Barbie.

Her performance included "Training Season", "Illusion" and "Happy for You" from Radical Optimism in addition to her 2015 single, "Be the One", and a cover of Cleo Sol's 2021 track "Sunshine".

[63] On 4 May, a day after the album's release, Lipa hosted Saturday Night Live and performed "Illusion" and "Happy for You" during the show.

[64] The next day, she performed the same two songs again alongside "Houdini" and "Training Season" during a surprise concert in Times Square in New York City.

Fans who pre-ordered Radical Optimism were granted pre-sale access on 10 April, followed by the general ticket sale two days later, via Ticketmaster.

[74] Writing for Evening Standard, El Hunt says that "Radical Optimism, despite having a title that sounds like an inspirational fridge magnet, boasts some real dance-pop gems which belong right at the top of her output", but adds that it's a "slightly half-hearted experiment".

[85] For the Financial Times, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney noted that "there's a lot of production layering and effects, but the songs share a similarly straightforward groove".

[93] Writing for NME, Thomas Smith wrote that "perhaps it's unfair to hold Lipa too strongly against what might have been a throwaway comment in a profile too literally, but Radical Optimism offers little else to latch on".

[80] Jaeden Pinder of Paste felt the album lacks "depth and risk", describing it as a "series of vignettes" rather than a "fully fleshed-out record".

[94] Some critics have reviewed the album as inferior to Future Nostalgia and said it failed to match the high expectations set by Lipa.

[98] Radical Optimism debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 46,300 units, marking the best opening week for a British female artist since Adele's 30 in November 2021.

[113][114] Across Europe, the album also peaked at number one in Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and Wallonia, while debuting in the top ten in others.