Training Season
"Training Season" is a song by English singer Dua Lipa from her third studio album, Radical Optimism. Lipa wrote it with Caroline Ailin, Danny L Harle, Tobias Jesso Jr., and its producer, Kevin Parker. The song contains a sample of "Tokyo Nights" by Digital Farm Animals, so the following writers were added to the credits: Martina Sorbara, Nicholas Gale, Shaun Frank, Steve Francis Richard Mastroianni, and Yaakov Gruzman. Warner Records released it as the album's second single on 15 February 2024. A disco-pop song with influences of Eurodisco, "Training Season" details Lipa's demands from romantic partners as she chides bad dates and underscores her self-worth.
Music critics believed "Training Season" had commercial potential and compared its production to other singles from the album. The song debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart and number twenty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached number one in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Turkey, Latvia, and Lithuania and the top ten in several other countries, receiving platinum or higher certifications in Australia, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Vincent Haycock directed the music video for "Training Season", which depicts Lipa listening to voicemails from former partners in a cafe, while surrounding men try to capture her attention. Lipa premiered the song at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards before its release and later performed it at the Brit Awards 2024 and the Time 100 Gala. She included it on the set list of her 2024-2025 concert tour, the Radical Optimism Tour, and reprised it at festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival 2024.
Background and release
In 2021, Dua Lipa began writing songs intended for her third studio album. In January 2022, she revealed that a large part of songwriting for it had been completed, and half of it was done by March that year. Lipa decided to move away from the disco sound of her second studio album, Future Nostalgia, and write material evocative of 1970s-era psychedelia. The follow-up album began to take shape in July 2022, when Lipa met Kevin Parker, whom she had been a fan of. She invited him to a studio session with Caroline Ailin, Danny L Harle, and Tobias Jesso Jr. at 5DB in London. After becoming comfortable with each other, they completed a song the same day and three by the weekend.Lipa, who had been taken out to a series of unimpressive dates, considered the last one "the final straw". The following morning, in November 2022, she joined Ailin and Jesso Jr. in a studio and declared that "training season is over". They wrote the song "Training Season" with Harle and Parker. Since the song contained a sample of Tokyo Nights, Martina Sorbara, Nicholas Gale, Shaun Frank, Steve Francis Richard Mastroianni, and Yaakov Gruzman were added to the writing credits. Lipa was inspired by the title's dual meaning, stating that it is about both informing men that she will no longer be training them about how to treat her as well as the completion of her own personal growth. Lipa ended up writing 97 songs for the album; 8 of the 11 tracks finally included on it were written with Ailin, Harle, Jesso Jr., and Parker.
Lipa released the song "Houdini" as the lead single from her third studio album in November 2023. She wore a sweater with the caption "Training Season" in an Instagram photo in January 2024. On 25 January 2024, Lipa posted a TikTok video of her singing the song's chorus in a car. She premiered it at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on 4 February 2024. Warner Records released "Training Season" as the second single from the album 11 days later, accompanied by its extended, instrumental, and a cappella versions. The following day, Warner Music Group sent the song for radio airplay in Italy and made it available on physical formats like 7-inch, cassette, and CD. Warner Records promoted it to contemporary hit radio stations in the United States. In March 2024, "Training Season" was supported by the release of its Live at the Brit Awards 2024, extended instrumental, London sessions, acoustic, and Chloé Caillet mix versions. The album title was revealed to be Radical Optimism that month, and "Illusion" was released as the follow-up single.
Composition
"Training Season" is three minutes and 29 seconds long. Parker produced and programmed the song, and he handled engineering alongside Cameron Gower Poole. He played bass guitar, drums, guitar, keyboards, percussion, and provided sound effects; Harle provided drum programming; and Ailin and Poole provided vocal production. It was recorded at 5DB Studios in London, Woodshed Recording in Malibu, California, and Parker's home studio in Los Angeles. Parker, Ailin, and Jesso Jr. delivered the background vocals. Josh Gudwin mixed the song, and Chris Gehringer mastered it at Sterling Sound in New York City."Training Season" is a disco-pop song with influences of Eurodisco. It has also been characterised as a pop song. The song employs a hook, disco beat, and guitar syncopations. "Training Season" includes girl group harmonies and a dancefloor pulse. Consequence Mary Siroky believed the song's disco-pop sound kept with that of "Houdini" and Future Nostalgia, while Beats Per Minutes Lucas Martins thought it was "a better representation of sonic palette of synths, organic basslines, and guitar flourishes". Aspects of it received comparisons to the work of ABBA: its piano line to "Dancing Queen", the Middle Eastern-influenced melody to "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! " and "Voulez-Vous", and its robustness to "Lay All Your Love on Me".
The lyrics of "Training Season" are about Lipa's demands from her romantic partners as she chides bad dates and underscores her self-worth, highlighting the importance of boundaries and ideals in relationships. In the first verse, Lipa articulates her skepticism about a prospective partner and considers not proceeding with a relationship. She yearns for someone who can provide emotional support, be in command when Lipa feels vulnerable, and who she can have meaningful conversations with. Lipa asks a person if he can meet these requirements because she no longer wants to have to guide people how to love her correctly: "Training season's over". In the second verse, she takes a vexed tone and recalls how she undeservedly tried to be positive about her previous partners, hoping that a better suitor "hits me like an arrow". Lipa questions the prospective partner about his commitment in the bridge, whether he would take initiative himself or someone would have to prompt him to act. Siroky believed its theme of self-confidence resembled Lipa's 2017 single "New Rules".
Critical reception
Upon release, music critics were positive about "Training Season" and opined it had commercial potential. Billboards Jason Lipshutz included the song in the magazine's Friday Music Guide, which predicts music that will gain popularity in playlists, and Pitchfork put it in their Selects playlist. Alex Gonzalez of Uproxx called it a "bouncy bop" that could potentially become "the ladies anthem of summer 2024", and Steffanee Wang of Nylon believed it was one of Lipa's best singles in a while. Igor Bannikov of PopMatters described "Training Season" as one of "the most stadium-sized hits" on the album. Lipshutz thought the song showcased her most powerful skills and people who enjoyed her 2020 single "Physical" would become fans of it. Angie Martoccio of Rolling Stone described it as one of Lipa's strongest vocal performances.Critics commented on "Training Season" and the other singles in the context of the rest of Radical Optimism. They believed the songs have a similar club-friendly and catchy production, which formed the segment of the album most suited for parties. Lisa Wright of DIY believed the singles constituted the more assertive and "after-hours" segment of Radical Optimism, which otherwise focused on turbulent romantic experiences, and Varietys Steven J. Horowitz thought they enhanced the fleeting and feel-good quality of the album. The Arts Desks Joe Muggs praised the songwriting and believed the singles sounded like Lipa's other material. Writing for Pitchfork, Laura Snapes believed the song had cluttered production which could use more breathing room, something she described as typical of Parker's work.
Some other critics were positive about the composition of "Training Season". Aimee Phillips of Clash thought the beats were deeper, more layered and sensual, while the lyrics carried greater intent, reinforcing the bold and self-assured pop star persona that Lipa had consistently embodied. Varietys Jem Aswad believed ABBA's influence was initially subdued but later realised by the piano flourishes, which formed "the best kind of tribute: nothing overt, but a sly, fun wink for fans who notice it". Rania Aniftos of Billboard ranked it seventh among the album's eleven songs, claiming "if the lyrics aren't motivating enough, the thumping bass should do the trick."
Year-end lists
Commercial performance
"Training Season" debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart and became Lipa's 15th top 10 single. The song received a platinum certification in the United Kingdom from the British Phonographic Industry. "Training Season" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 27 on the chart issued for 2 March 2024. It debuted at number 11 on the Canadian Hot 100 issued for the same date and was certified triple platinum by Music Canada. In Australia, "Training Season" entered at number 12 and received a double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association. It debuted at number 10 in New Zealand and became Lipa's ninth top 10 single."Training Season" charted at number six on the Billboard Global 200. Elsewhere, the song reached the top 10, at number one in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Turkey, Latvia, and Lithuania, number two in Greece and Russia, number three in Bulgaria, Croatia and San Marino, number four in Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Lebanon, Poland, and Slovakia, number six in Belarus, Ireland, and Kazakhstan, number seven in South Africa, number eight in the Netherlands and Paraguay, and number 10 in Luxembourg. It received diamond certifications in Brazil and France, platinum in Italy, Poland, and Portugal, and Spain, and gold in Denmark and Switzerland.