For years now, the dominant sound of pop music has been anxious, paranoid, aggrieved and claustrophobic — uncertain, downbeat songs for unstable times. Then came Dua Lipa.
Across her first two albums, the 24-year-old English pop singer has favored up-tempo, dancey and joyous-sounding tracks that, even when they are about breaking up, encourage sweat, movement and optimism. Fittingly, she called her latest LP — which was released in March and throws back to fun-loving pop by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Pink, Nelly Furtado and Blondie — “Future Nostalgia.”
But while Dua Lipa’s new music was supposed to soundtrack a sticky summer on dance floors around the world, “Future Nostalgia” came out in a time of forced isolation as countries struggled to combat the coronavirus. Rather than an outright celebration, the album instead became a balm for many, with the kinds of songs that might light up a living room. And none have that effect more than “Physical,” which Lipa breaks down in the latest episode of Diary of a Song.
The track, which shares a chorus lyric and attitude with Olivia Newton-John’s ’80s hit, came together as something of a lark one day in Los Angeles, where Lipa was joined by a team of collaborators including the songwriters Clarence Coffee Jr. and Sarah Hudson, who started the recording session off, as she always does, with a tarot card reading. The producer Jason Evigan set the musical vibe by sampling the sound of a Persian flute, while Lipa and her co-writers tried to match the positive energy and driving beat. “Physical” was later polished off with assists from the producer Koz, who touched up the track, and the encouragement and expertise of Lipa’s vocal coach and producer Lorna Blackwood, who helped the singer master both her husky low ends and wailing high notes.
“Physical” has since become a smash in Lipa’s native Britain, reaching a peak of No. 3 on the singles chart during the same week she landed two other singles, “Don’t Start Now” and “Break My Heart,” in the Top 10. The song’s music video has also been viewed more than 100 million times — and that’s not counting the at-home aerobics version, which took on a new relevance amid the global pandemic. Watch how “Physical” was made in the video above.
“Diary of a Song” provides an up-close, behind-the-scenes look at how pop music is made today, using archival material — voice memos, demo versions, text messages, emails, interviews and more — to tell the story behind the track. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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May 07, 2020 at 08:26PM
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Dua Lipa Craved a Fun ’80s Dance Song. See How She Made ‘Physical.’ - The New York Times
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