Physical (Dua Lipa song)


"Physical" is a song by English singer Dua Lipa from her second studio album, Future Nostalgia. Lipa wrote the track with Jason Evigan, Clarence Coffee Jr. and Sarah Hudson, taking inspiration from 1980s music and the 1983 film Flashdance. It was produced by Evigan and Koz, and stemmed from a Persian synth flute sample that was played by the former. An uptempo power pop and synth-pop song, the track features a chugging synth bassline, drums and various percussion instruments. Lipa uses a spoken word delivery in the prechorus, but belts and chants the chorus, which includes a reference to Olivia Newton-John's 1981 song of the same name. The lyrics describe the excitement of falling in love.
Released to digital download and streaming by Warner Records as the album's second single on 30 January 2020, "Physical" received acclaim from music critics. Critics viewed the high energy of the track and Lipa's vocals as uniquely reinterpreting the 1980s era. The track reached number one in Bulgaria, Croatia, Israel, Lebanon, and Poland, and peaked in the top 10 of 17 additional countries, including the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at number three, becoming Lipa's eighth UK top 10 single. It also became her ninth appearance on the US Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number 60 without a US radio release. The song is certified Gold or higher in nine countries including Diamond in Brazil.
The accompanying high concept music video was directed by Catalan production team Canada, and is based on a Venn diagram by Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss from their series of works, Order and Cleanliness. The video shows Lipa dancing in various coloured warehouse stage sets and features anime-inspired animation. The music video received praise from critics for its high-concept nature and rejection of heteronormativity. "Physical" was further promoted with the release of a 1980s-inspired workout video, in which Lipa is an aerobics class instructor. A remix of the track, featuring South Korean singer Hwasa from South Korean girl group Mamamoo, was released on 17 March 2020.

Writing and production

"Physical" was written by Lipa, Clarence Coffee Jr., Sarah Hudson, and its producer Jason Evigan. The song was inspired by 1980s music and the 1983 film Flashdance. It was recorded at Evigan's home studio in Tarzana, Los Angeles, where Hudson used a tarot card reading as an icebreaker for the session. Lipa wanted the track to be fun, upbeat, and unique from what was played by radio stations at the time, and she suggested the use of world music instruments. "Physical" thus started with a Persian flute sample Evigan played. Koz later fine-tuned the production, filtering down the volume of the flute sample, which was nearly excluded according to Evigan. Coffee Jr. and Hudson recorded backing vocals with Lipa, simultaneously in the same booth.
Lipa described the writing process as a puzzle of collaborative ideas being put together, which Hudson noted down in all caps. Lyrics such as, "You got me feeling diamond rich / Nothing on this planet compares to it", were written with inspiration from the 1980s era. Lipa came up with the bridge melody when experimenting with a bedroom microphone. The "Let's get physical" line in the chorus of "Physical" is also used in Olivia Newton-John's 1981 song of the same name. However, the former was not based on it, although Lipa acknowledged afterwards that there is "definitely a nod" to the song. According to her, "Physical" was a "spur-of-the-moment kind of song, which at times had a Eurythmics vibe to it".

Music and lyrics

"Physical" is an uptempo power pop and synth-pop song. It is composed in time in the key of A minor, with a tempo of 148 beats per minute and a chord progression of Am–F–C–G. The track has a structure of verse, bridge, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, double middle eight, double chorus. It opens with a chugging synth bassline that plays an eighth note pattern, combining two sawtooth wave synths with an analogue modelling synthesizer and a heavily processed bass guitar. The drums have a simpler, repeating kick and snare sequence, but are accented with a shaker throughout the verses and tapping percussion in the build-up to the chorus.
Lipa uses a deadpan delivery in a lower vocal register prior to the song's spoken word bridge. The chorus is led by a synth flute similar to the Japanese shakuhachi instrument. The chords are introduced in this section alongside a cymbal, eighth note hi-hats, and various impact effects. Lipa belts each chorus which all end with her intensely chanting, "Come on / Let's get physical!" In the middle eight, her vocals reach a higher register, spanning the notes of A3 to D5, changing her pleas to commands while building to an ending crescendo. In The Guardian, Laura Snapes wrote that the track is "ostensibly about sex", while NMEs Rhian Daily interpreted it as a celebration of an "intoxicating and lustful relationship".

Release and promotion

first revealed the song's title in an advertisement for Future Nostalgia on 6 January 2020. On 22 and 23 January 2020, Lipa shared teaser images captioned with lyrics from "Physical" on social media. The single's cover art were shared on 24 January of that year and shows Lipa contortedly posing in a dress that has contrasting coloured animal print. The song was made available to pre-save on streaming services the following day. On 28 January 2020, Lipa shared a teaser video on social media, featuring a 19-second snippet of the track. "Physical" was released for digital download and streaming as the album's second single on 30 January 2020 at 15:00 PT.
Lipa delivered her first live performance of "Physical" on 29 February 2020 at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. A vertical video for the song was released via Spotify on 14 March 2020. On 17 March of that year, a remix of the song, featuring South Korean singer Hwasa, was released. It features Hwasa singing the first verse in Korean and the bridge in English, while the middle eight is performed bilingually by both singers. An extended play for remixes of "Physical", including those by Ofenbach and Claptone, was released on 25 March 2020. On 9 April 2020, a lyric video for "Physical" was shared to YouTube. A remix of the song by Brazilian DJ Alok was released on the same day. Lipa and Alok appeared together in an Instagram Live video to promote the remix's release.

Critical reception

"Physical" was met with acclaim from music critics. Chris Taylor of The Line of Best Fit called it "this decade's perfect workout song". Gigwises Jordan Emery regarded the song among "the most well crafted and fun pop songs heard in recent memory", saying it "throws you around the room with its frenetic intensity". In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Marc Snetiker described the song as "immediately, irresistibly catchy". Music critic Peter Robinson referred to it as Lipa's best single since 2015's "Be the One", and said the former is "so powerful it could reverse Brexit". In The Irish Times, Louise Bruton called the song "riveting" and "a perfect pop song". Writing for The Boston Globe, Nora Princiotti viewed "Physical" as an "instant-classic" and a "spine-tingling endorphin blast" with a "huge chorus".
In his review for Pitchfork, Eric Torres wrote that the song's "vigorous chorus is as fit for the gym as the dancefloor" and appreciated that it "brushes past simplistic, imitative devotion". Music critic Maura Johnston expressed similar feelings, writing that "Physical" resisted "the urge to let familiarity do the heavy lifting" and the reference to Newton-John's track was "reinterpreted in exciting ways". Meanwhile, Jonathan Wright of God Is in the TV wrote that Lipa "manages to take the perhaps overused lyric, 'let's get physical' and deliver it with a thrilling energy". The Independents Helen Brown favoured Lipa's vocals for being "muscular with authority" and said, "Each note gets down and gives her 20." Similarly, Conrad Duncan of Under the Radar appreciated Lipa's "spirited vocal performance", while Brad Garcia from Exclaim! complimented the use of her higher vocal register and named it among the singer's "strongest performances to date".
Yasmin Cowan from Clash said Lipa is "ferocious in her execution" and succeeds in "putting her own feminist spin" on a "formulaic theme". Nick Malone of PopMatters described the song's imagery and production as "gleefully campy", and said it "confidently the line between taste and the total lack thereof", and "could aptly soundtrack both a high-speed chase montage and Jamie Lee Curtis in Perfect". In The New York Times, Caryn Ganz wrote that "Physical" is "not as iron-clad" as Lipa's previous single "Don't Start Now", but "has enough sizzle to winningly live up to the album's title". On the other hand, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called it "a bit of a bait-and-switch" for referencing Newton-John's "Physical", but viewing the song as akin to "the frenetic future-pop" of her 1983 song "Twist of Fate". In June 2020, the song was listed as the eighth best song of the year so far by Billboard.

Commercial performance

In February 2020, "Physical" debuted at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, with first-week sales of 29,700 units. Following the release of Future Nostalgia, the song experienced a 30% sales increase and peaked at number three, selling 44,921 units. "Don't Start Now" and Lipa's single "Break My Heart" also reached the top 10 of the chart that week, making her the first English female since to have three songs chart simultaneously in the top 10 since Vera Lynn in 1952. Lipa became the fifth female overall to achieve this, following on from Lynn, Ruby Murray, Rihanna and Ariana Grande. The track was Lipa's eighth single to chart in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. In June 2020, "Physical" was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for track-equivalent sales of 600,000 units in the United Kingdom.
In Ireland, "Physical" became Lipa's sixth single to reach the top 10 of the Irish Singles Chart and peaked at number two, being held off the top spot by Saint Jhn's track "Roses ". On the German Singles Chart published by GfK Entertainment, the song debuted at number 39 and ultimately peaked at number 14. In France, "Physical" entered the singles chart at number 97, and in its 15th week, the song reached number 30. The Hwasa remix peaked at number 127 on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart.
In Australia, "Physical" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart issue dated 16 February 2020. Following Future Nostalgias release, the song rose to a peak of number nine on the chart, while "Don't Start Now" and "Break My Heart" charted at number three and six, respectively. Lipa thus became the first artist since Ed Sheeran in July 2019 to have three songs chart simultaneously in the top 10 of the ARIA Singles Chart. On the US Billboard Hot 100, "Physical" debuted at number 60, but was not released to radio in the country, and spent only two weeks on the chart. In Canada, the track peaked at number 54 on the Canadian Hot 100 and lasted for 11 weeks on the chart. The track charted at number 38 in Brazil's monthly streaming chart, where it was later certified diamond by Pro-Música Brasil for sales of 160,000 units.

Music video

Production and concept

The music video for "Physical" was directed by Lope Serrano and Nicolás Méndez of the Catalan production company Canada. Lipa contacted Canada through their London office to direct the video, and it was filmed at Fira de Barcelona in Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona. The video was shot over the time span of three 16-hour working days in December 2019.
A budget of €500,000 was used for the production, which involved the hiring of about 80 staff and over 150 dancers, the majority of whom were Catalan professionals. The video was choreographed by Charm La'Donna. Ariadna Martín was hired as Lipa's stunt double, mainly for the scene which required balancing on a revolving stage that rotated at 60 km/h. She had to dye her hair because there were no wigs available in Lipa's hair colour. The coloured pants in the video were created by Pepe Jeans London as part of the brand's SS20 Dua for Pepe Collection.
The high-concept music video is based on a Venn diagram by Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss from their 1981 series of works Order and Cleanliness. The video matches four primary universal concepts in the diagram; human being, emotions, animals, and matter, to the four primary colours. Each concept is intersected to form new concepts such as technology and meat, and this results in the central concept of an orgasm forming. The dancers in each colour category all have individual slogans on the back of their shirts relating to each concept from the Venn diagram. The concept of the video was inspired by the song's increasing trajectory and crescendo, which Serrano likened to sexual arousal.

Synopsis

The video begins in a dark, red-lit setting, where Lipa walks towards a male dancer who takes off his jacket, pulling out a paper heart and blows it away. After Lipa puts her hand on his chest, the scene cuts to an anime-inspired animation, in which she pulls out the dancer's heart. Returning to the human scene, Lipa holds his light-emitting diode heart in her hand. The lights switch on and the two of them start to dance in a red circle with other dancers, while she throws his heart away. Cutting to the animation, two cardinals land on the heart in Lipa's hand, turning it into sparkling dust. Lipa is then shown in a human scene, licking her finger and wearing a Yves Saint Laurent black minidress.
As the video progresses, Lipa dances in various coloured warehouse stage sets, changing the colour of her Helmut Lang tank top and Pepe Jeans London straight-cut jeans to match each set. She is also shown reclining in a sports car and rollerblading on a rotating platform. For the climax, dancers from each colour set flood to the middle of the stage, forming a rainbow colour palette around Lipa. They dance together in mixed and same-gender couples. Serrano explained that in the final scene, "all the colours break their chromatic group obedience and meet together in a purely human celebration of lust and freedom and eclecticism".

Release and reception

Lipa first teased the music video's release on 20 January 2020, sharing an image on social media of the sports car, with the caption, "Remember the signs..." The music video was released to YouTube on 31 January 2020 at 05:00 PT. It was preceded by the release of teaser trailer on the platform, and two teaser clips shared on social media by Lipa. The trailer showed Lipa solving a Rubik's Cube while staring out of an apartment window. On 21 February 2020, a director's cut of the music video was shared via YouTube.
Brian O'Flynn of i-D wrote that the music video marked the return of high-concept pop videos, calling it Lipa's "ascent to art girl glory", and appreciating its diversity, and rejection of heteronormativity. Brendan Wetmore of Paper said the visual "nearly broke gay Twitter". For MTV, Patrick Hosken felt the video manifested Lipa's newfound confidence as a singer and called it "an opus" with "eye-popping production detail". W magazine's Kyle Munzenreider viewed the music video as "a literal kaleidoscope of late '90s and early '00s music video signifiers simmered down to their essence and built up into something new". Rachel Hahn of Vogue said the fashion eschewed maximalist trends, while also favouring deceptive simplicity over extravagance. "Physical" is shortlisted for both Best Music Promo and Best Achievement in Music Video Production at the 2020 Creative Circle Awards.

Workout video

A 1980s-inspired workout video for "Physical", directed by Daniel Carberry, was released to YouTube on 6 March 2020. Branded merchandise from the video was made available for purchase on Lipa's website the same day. A version of the video mixed entirely in Sony's 360 Reality Audio from the usage of MPEG-H 3D Audio was released through Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer. Lipa teased the release with several images on social media and a mock VHS cover art.
The workout video begins with Lipa dressed in a yellow leotard, introducing herself as the instructor of Physical: Get Fit in Under 6. She starts the aerobics class with a breathing exercise and introduction of the attendees; Ginger Snap, Good Ol' Steve, Chitter & Chad, Extra-Va, Bruce the Juice, Sunny & Delight, Tardy B & Upset, and Shay & Dee. Their outfits are imprinted with manga versions of Lipa. Throughout the workout, she does several voice-overs of encouragement as they do routines such as the Hip Thruster, the Fonda, Step Back Step Touch, the Rump Shaker, and the Crybaby. The class also makes time for a water stop, with Lipa noting, "Make sure you stay hydrated during your workout." The video features various 1980s-style neon graphics and technicolour visual effects.
Guy Pewsey of Grazia said the workout video surpassed "Physical" by Newton-John and "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz to become "without question, the most iconic fitness-themed music video of all time". Robin Murray of Clash described it as "tongue in cheek panache" and a homage to "the glory years of workout videos". Newsbeat reporter Steve Holden said Lipa helped lead a re-emergence of 1980s inspiration in pop music in 2020 with the video, calling it "a camp and colourful homage" to televised aerobics classes from the 1980s. In The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli wrote that the video's relevance was renewed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Certifications

Release history