Dis Cover: Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism (Japan Tour Edition)

Dua Lipa will be embarking on a World Tour. And unlike many touring acts these days, Lipa has actually acknowledged that East Asia is a part of the world. The Radical Optimism Tour will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Taipei, Malaysia, Thailand and the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan. And to commemorate her stop in Japan, a special edition of Radical flOptimism will release on 13 November, which features new artwork by Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama and a tracklist which includes a remix of “Illusion” with Japanese Hip hop duo Creepy Nuts. I think Lipa shoulda had some Japanese features on “Houdini” and “Training Season” too. But, hey. At least a bitch is giving Japan SOMETHING. If she’s able to give them anything on stage is another matter entirely. But that’s a whole other post.

Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism (Japan Tour Edition) | Warner Records UK / Hajime Sorayama

The Sorayama art is cool. Although it’s a shame that it’s not a little more…bespoke. Nope. Not even the shark y’all. The Sorayama Radical Optimism artwork is based on two existing pieces of his. He dragged and dropped. But at least he worked in an element from the original cover and didn’t just slap a robot woman on it with her legs wide open. Although including water at the very least woulda been cool, so it ties in further with the original visual concept for the album. Although Lipa barely seems fussed about the visual concept for the album, given that it doesn’t carry through to the tour AT ALL.

Sorayama has become more and more of a known figure in American pop culture over the past couple of decades. He illustrated the cover for Aerosmith 2001 album Just Press Play, featuring his signature robot lady. He collaborated with KAWS in 2008. He collaborated with Dior in 2019, where his robot lady pretty much stole the entire show. And Dior even released a collection of T-shirts with his designs. Sorayama also directed the music video for The Weekend’s “Echoes of Silence” and created a statue for his 2021 After Hours Til Dawn Tour. And more recently he found himself on the radars of the Beyhive, following comments that he’d made about – surprise, surprise – Beyonce copying his work and expressing his wishes that he had reached out to him so he could have created something for her. The Instagram post is still up, even after being swarmed by stans. He even @’d Beyonce in the post. It’s funny. Because the thing he is referring to is one of Beyonce’s looks, which shows up several times in the tour visuals. But the Renaissance World tour also features visuals of a robot Beyonce, which bears greater resemblance to his work. If I were Sorayama, I woulda been more pissed over the latter, given that it genuinely does look like this work, to the point that when I first saw it, I wondered if he had something to do with it. And honestly, I think folk would have been more sympathetic to him if those visuals were the examples he used, because the likeness is so obvious. Beyonce in a robot style headpiece which could so easily be a reference to Metropolis, doesn’t scream Sorayma as much as a stylised chrome version of Beyonce on a rocket ship with titty sparks and handcuffs.

It’s really interesting to see another Japanese artist gain prominence and such widespread attention in American pop culture. In the early 2000s Takashi Murakami was experiencing exactly what Sorayama is experiencing now. He did a collaboration with a luxury fashion brand, Louis Vuitton. He worked closely with a popular music artist, illustrating the album artwork for Kanye West’s 2007 album Graduation. And then later in 2019, he would direct a music video for Billie Eilish.

When Lipa hits Japan, she should perform my mashup of “Physical”, to get some of the locals and the Perfume fans talking.