Club Future Nostalgia
Club Future Nostalgia is a remix album by English singer Dua Lipa and American DJ the Blessed Madonna. A DJ mix edition of it was released on 28 August 2020, with the standard edition following on 11 September of the same year. The album was crafted by remixes of tracks from Lipa's second studio album, Future Nostalgia, with the remixes being created by an assortment of DJs and producers, including Masters at Work, Larry Heard, Mark Ronson and Stuart Price.
Club Future Nostalgia is primarily a house, pop, and soul record, with Baltimore club, dance, disco, drum and bass and piano house influences. Guest appearances are included from Missy Elliott, Jamiroquai, Madonna and Gwen Stefani and Blackpink. The album received generally favourable reviews from music critics, with many praising its danceability and merging of sub-genres; however many preferred its parent album. It appeared on year-end lists published by Billboard, Variety and the Los Angeles Times. Commercially, the album reached number 28 on the US Billboard 200 and number 13 on the Canadian Albums Chart, and became both Lipa and the Blessed Madonna's first entry on the US Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, reaching the summit on the chart.
Club Future Nostalgia marks the first appearance of previously unreleased tracks "Love Is Religion" and "That Kind of Woman". The original version of the latter later appeared on Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition. It also includes a remix of Lipa and Blackpink's "Kiss and Make Up", with the original version of the song being released on Dua Lipa: Complete Edition. The Blessed Madonna's remix of "Levitating", featuring Madonna and Elliott, was released as the lead single from Club Future Nostalgia on 13 August 2020. Alongside the single, a visualizer for the album was released for promotion, directed by James Papper and Will Hooper.
Background
Following the March 2020 release of her second studio album Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa was unable to tour for the album due to the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she was brought much joy after seeing her fans listening to Future Nostalgia in their homes and on Zoom parties as if they were with her. Intending to "take the party up a notch", Lipa enlisted the help of the Blessed Madonna to put together an "old-school" mixtape with remixes of songs from the album, alongside samples. The two of them met at the Glastonbury Festival in 2019, and the Blessed Madonna remixed Lipa and Silk City's "Electricity" in October 2018 before they ran into one and other at NYC Downlow. The Blessed Madonna got involved in the project around May 2020, following a Zoom call between both her and Lipa's respective teams. She handled executive production and A&R duties for Club Future Nostalgia.Club Future Nostalgia was created in two months, during lockdown protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From the beginning of creation, Lipa and the Blessed Madonna were on the same page for what their vision of the album was. The Blessed Madonna started by creating a list of samples and remixers that she wanted for the album, many of whom had already been approached by Lipa's team, including Paul Woolford, Jayda G, Gen Hoshino, Larry Heard, and Yaeji. The Blessed Madonna worked on Club Future Nostalgia from her home studio in London, with a workflow that consisted of breaking down the remixes into sections, creating new versions of them, and going back and forth with engineers while waiting on features.
Production
When remixing "Good in Bed", Hoshino spent countless days in front of his computer, attempting to not waste any time. He intended to mix Lipa's contemporary nature with early 1980s soul essence and electronic imagery of the same time period. The Blessed Madonna then took over, merging the remix with Zach Witness' remix of the same song, though mostly Hoshino's remix is heard. She also increased the pitch of the synth part from "Moments in Love" by Art of Noise to be in key with "Good in Bed". Finally, the Blessed Madonna had Mark Ronson call in and request Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance", which was used to create a radio interlude. She chose the "gigolo" lyric from the song to go with the theme of "Good in Bed". Witness' original "Boys Will Be Boys" remix did not include the song's verses, so the Blessed Madonna remixed it, adding in the verses, as well as a break of Lyn Collins' "Think ".After Lipa mentioned that Jamiroquai was one of her reference points for Club Future Nostalgia, the Blessed Madonna wanted to do something with them. She ultimately found Dimitri from Paris' edit of the band's "Cosmic Girl", which only existed on vinyl during the production of the album, and mashed it up with "Break My Heart" to create a remix. For her own "Levitating" remix, the Blessed Madonna originally created the remix as if Lipa was the only person on it. After Madonna and Missy Elliott joined the song, the two of them sent their respective versions to the Blessed Madonna, who ended up "Frankenstein-ing" the three versions together. Madonna's engineer Mike Dean mixed down the song, while also handling its mastering. Heard, credited as Mr. Fingers, started his "Hallucinate" remix by attempting to place some club-style concepts alongside Lipa's vocals. The Blessed Madonna's "Love Is Religion" remix had multiple versions, which led to both her and Lipa's teams having a lot of back and forth.
Yaeji wanted to pull out different moods and emotions for her "Don't Start Now" remix, which she found difficult to reimagine due to the fact that the song is her favourite of Lipa's. She also used her own voice for the remix. Ronson took apart "Physical" for his remix, intending for a Ruff Ryders direction, and an electronic‑R&B mood. When the album was finished, Gwen Stefani expressed her desire to be on the remix, after having been previously approached for a "Hollaback Girl" sample on Mr Fingers' "Hallucinate" remix. It ended up that she wanted to be on "Physical", which both Ronson and the Blessed Madonna quickly included her on. The "Kiss and Make Up" remix was created after Lipa expressed a desire to include some of her past features and collaborations, which caused the Blessed Madonna to combine vocals from the song with parts of "Rise" by Herb Alpert. Moodymann created two versions of his "Break My Heart" remix, which both were ultimately included on Club Future Nostalgia. After all the remixes were finished, the Blessed Madonna edited each track by chopping and deconstructing them to create a DJ Mix, while also adding sound effects, ad-libs, and the samples.
Composition
Club Future Nostalgia is a 1990s house, 2020 pop, and 1980s soul album, that was noted for blending several different subgenres, including Baltimore club, dance, disco, drum and bass, and piano house. The DJ Mix edition of the album is crafted so each track seamlessly transitions into the next, with DJ drop-ins from the remixers and Lipa, and samples from many of Lipa's influences. The DJ Mix edition opens with Joe Goddard's "jubilant" "Future Nostalgia" remix. Reminiscent of a 3am Glastonbury Festival DJ set, the remix incorporates Hot Chip-style synths and Daft Punk-inspired whirrs. The following track, Jayda G's "Cool" remix, amps-up the original, reimagining it as a 1990s filter-disco track. Witness and Hoshino's remix of "Good in Bed" appears as the next track; it is split into two separate tracks on the album's standard edition. The remix "nimbly" hopscotches between its various parts, and features a funky flow. Back-to-back "Pretty Please" remixes follow, courtesy of Midland and Masters at Work, respectively. Both remixes blend elements of 1990s music, UK garage, New York house, and contemporary dance-pop, while solely Masters at Work's remix is a take on bleep-house, and the Midland refix has a soulful sound. "Boys Will Be Boys", remixed by Witness, has a club and Baltimore sound, with a Rio Carnival feel and it features a Latin-inflected groove that helps amp-up the track. The remix was described as "symphonic", and its production uses frantic drums, whistles, horns, cowbells, and a distorted chanted chorus.The synth-heavy remix of "Love Again" by Horse Meat Disco features a "squelchy" 1980s and retro charm. Horse Meat Disco introduce simple new melodies for the remix while it also includes strutting beats and funk-laced instrumentals. The first part of the song is very clubby, while the second part drops to a cruise. A mashup of "Break My Heart" and a Dimitri from Paris edit of Jamiroquai's "Cosmic Girl", which is a DJ Mix only track, is an upbeat remix with unbridled energy, which makes the former funkier. The Blessed Madonna's "Levitating" remix, featuring Madonna and Elliott, spans electro-disco, electro house, future bass, and techno genres. It has a dance-orientated production that consists of futuristic synths, a pounding bass, and vocodered backing vocals, reminiscent of Daft Punk. A remix of "Hallucinate" by Mr Fingers entitled "deep stripped mix" and Woolford's extended mix follow, both of which incorporate elements of 1990s house and contemporary dance-pop. With his remix, Mr Fingers created a skeletal ambient track, where he reduces Lipa vocals down to a whisper, and incorporates a "gurgling" bassline, slinky synths, and West End disco beats. "Love Is Religion" is a 1980s gospel and pop-house remix, with a choir-backed chorus and bubblegum synths.
The "Don't Start Now" remix by Yaeji is driven by an ASMR-esque drum beat, and makes use of a G-funk deep bass and a stop-start rhythm. The remix spans Baltimore club, house, minimal disco, pop, and trap genres. Ronson's midtempo "Physical" remix that features Stefani reimagines the song as an electro track, with Lipa and Stefani's vocals blending together. The remix of "Kiss and Make Up", a DJ Mix only track, has a club feel and influences from the urban roots of remix culture. It was described as a pop-funk remix. Like its predecessor, Jacques Lu Cont's remix of "That Kind of Woman" also has a club feel, and incorporates Kylie Minogue-style disco and Balearic genres. The DJ mix edition of Club Future Nostalgia closes with a remix of "Break My Heart" by Moodymann, who looped Lipa's vocal phrases and adjusted his sound to fit hers. A Detroit house and modern dance track, the remix includes a bass lick, cowbells, and ambiance, as well as clinking bottles and laughing sound effects. The standard edition of the album also includes a "Don't Start Now" remix by Kaytranada. The remix is a bass-heavy, deep house and funky house track with a pop production.