Dua Lipa shows us the right way on how to be both nostalgic and new at the same time.
-
10
Back with that 80s vibe and celebrating it as brilliantly as ever, Dua Lipa‘s third single for the upcoming album Future Nostalgia is one of her best singles yet. With a lively beat, a John Carpenter style melody, and all the synthesised sounds you could imagine, ‘Physical’, celebrates the same sexual energy that Olivia Newton-John celebrated in her same-titled 1981 hit.
“Let’s get physical” is a phrase that has an iconic stature in pop culture today, mostly thanks to Newton-John’s great 80s song. It’s also something that Lipa seems bent on celebrating as she sings these words in the same tune Newton-John’s version. While not an exact copying of the original song, Lipa’s spin on the intimacy of “night-time activities” is one that pulsates and resonates with a fast pace. It’s captivating and plays on repeat in your memory long after you’ve stopped listening to it. You just can’t deny how fun the song is, and it always seems to spark and excitement in the listener. It constantly revolves around allusion with lyrics like ‘who needs to go to sleep when I got you next to me’, ‘hold me a little tighter’, and ‘lights out and follow the noise’ that gives the song an unmistakable dimension that emphasises the fun and provocative element of the song. It’s also subtly genius, being undeniably suggestive without coming outright and saying what it means, sharing another vein of similarities with Newton-John’s song in its seeming innocence despite preaching something very different.
In general, it’s just a great upbeat song that captures the nostalgia that Dua Lipa seems ready to channel in her upcoming album. She preaches to a new yet nostalgic sound (paradoxically at the same time) and does a good job and generating buzz in the meantime. A truly great song to listen on repeat next to her first single ‘Don’t Start Now’ she released for the approaching April 3rd album
Dua Lipa’s ‘Physical’ is out now via Warner Records UK.
