Future Nostalgia developed a dance-oriented sound, followed by Radical Optimism. Singles including Houdini and Training Season belong to the latter period, while Dance the Night connects her music to the Barbie soundtrack.

Electricity, recorded with Silk City, paired her with Diplo and Mark Ronson and received a GRAMMY in 2019. Dance the Night later brought her songwriting and performance to Barbie, with credits shared with Caroline Ailin, Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.

The Royal Albert Hall concert on 17 October 2024 gave the songs a different setting from their studio versions. Dua Lipa performed with the Heritage Orchestra under Ben Foster, a choir and her band. The resulting live album was released in December 2024.

The project revisits Radical Optimism alongside earlier material. Its orchestral arrangements make the album useful for hearing how a pop recording can be rebuilt for a concert stage, rather than simply hearing the studio backing repeated. The accompanying television special also includes interview material.

The venue's performance record includes songs from Radical Optimism, such as Maria and Training Season, alongside Levitating, Be the One and Don't Start Now. It also identifies Sunshine as a Cleo Sol cover, keeping the interpretation separate from Dua Lipa's own catalogue.

Elton John joined her for Cold Heart, while Dance the Night connected the set to Barbie. These guest and soundtrack performances explain why a live set can cross several albums and collaborations without becoming a new studio-album era.