At the beginning of 2020, the pop star Duolipa was preparing to release a new upbeat dance

album.

But before that date came the pandemic hit.

And suddenly there were a lot of reasons why putting out an album at that particular moment

was a bad idea.

The cons were enormous.

That's Wall Street Journal magazine contributor and music journalist Alan Light.

I mean, if you made a list, there was no logical reason that you should go forward with

putting out an album weeks into a pandemic rather than trying to put the brakes on and wait

and let things shake out and come up with a strategy when you have more information.

A lot of other artists were delaying their albums.

Movie studios were pushing back releases.

The entire entertainment industry was scrambling.

Most musicians were really scrambling to push back their release and say, let's wait and

see how this sorts itself out because if we can't promote, if we can't tour, how's anybody

going to hear anything?

What mood is anybody in?

What kind of musical they want to listen to?

Recently, Alan met with Duolipa in a cafe on the west side of Manhattan, where she told

him about that moment.

So when the pandemic happened and everyone was worried about the album and whether we

should release it, I was just like, you know, maybe it's just...

...