"Physical" is a song by English singer Dua Lipa from her second studio album, Future Nostalgia (2020). Lipa wrote the song 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 flute synth sample that was played by the former. An uptempo power pop, synth-pop and dance-pop song, the song features a chugging synth bassline, drums and various percussion instruments. Lipa uses a spoken word, belting and chanting vocal delivery. The lyrics describe the honeymoon phase of a relationship and the importance of trusting one's instincts.
"Physical" was released through Warner Records for digital download and streaming as the album's second single on 31 January 2020. It was met with acclaim from music critics. Critics viewed the high energy of the song and Lipa's vocals as uniquely reinterpreting the 1980s era. It was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2021 Brit Awards and appeared on numerous 2020 year-end lists, including ones published by Billboard, The Guardian and NME. The song reached number one in Bulgaria, Croatia, Israel, Lebanon, Slovakia 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. The song is certified gold or higher in sixteen countries including diamond in France and Poland and triple platinum in the UK.
The accompanying high concept music video was directed by Spanish 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 (1981). 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. The video received numerous accolades, including Best Visual Effects at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards. Further promotion came from the release of a 1980s-inspired workout video, in which Lipa is an aerobics class instructor as well as numerous remixes, including one featuring Hwasa as well as one by Mark Ronson featuring Gwen Stefani that appears on Lipa and the Blessed Madonna's remix album Club Future Nostalgia (2020). Lipa performed the song on numerous occasions, including at the 2021 Brit Awards, 2020 LOS40 Music Awards and 2020 NRJ Music Awards.
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 created 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". The song was recorded at London's the Bunker at 13 and RAK Studios as well as Modulator Music in Toronto; the vocals were recorded at TaP Studio in London. Matty Green mixed the song at Studio 55 in Los Angeles and Chris Gehringer mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Music and lyrics
Musically, "Physical" is an uptempo dance-pop, power pop and synth-pop song with dance-rock, dark wave and Italo disco elements. The song has a length of 3:13, and is composed in time in the key of A minor, with an energetic tempo of 147 beats per minute and a looping chord progression of Am–F–C–G, the same used in Newton-John's song of the same name. The track has a structure of verse, bridge, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, double middle eight, double chorus. Lipa's vocals range from A3 to D5. It has several 1980s and disco tropes in its production, which makes use of a synthwave bassline, techno and disco beats, as well as synth-pop instrumentals and grooves.
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 over the beat 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.
Prior to the chorus, a suction effect is used where the production briefly disappears before appearing again. 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, changing her pleas to commands while building to an ending crescendo. Lyrically, "Physical" is a statement of purpose where Lipa celebrates the honeymoon phase in an intoxicating and lustful relationship. She sings about trusting her instincts, sex and female empowerment, in the sense where women are not waiting for a man to save them.
Release and promotion
Spotify 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 was shared on 24 January of that year and shows Lipa contortedly posing in a dress that has contrasting coloured animal print. 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. The song was sent for radio airplay in Italy on 14 February 2020.
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. "Physical" was included as the fourth track on Future Nostalgia, released 27 March 2020. On 9 April 2020, a lyric video for the song was shared to YouTube. Lipa performed the song at her 27 November 2020 Studio 2054 livestream concert, as the sixth track on the setlist. On 5 December 2020, she performed it at both the 2020 LOS40 Music Awards and 2020 NRJ Music Awards as a medley with her 2020 single "Levitating". The song was included in a medley of Future Nostalgia tracks for Lipa's performance at the 2021 Brit Awards. It was included on the setlist of Lipa's 2022 Future Nostalgia Tour as the opening song.
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". The Daily Beasts Kevin Fallon thought it signaled the "old-meets-new, disco-meets-techno, electronica-meets-soulfulness" of the album.
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 the singer's "spirited" vocals, while Brad Garcia from Exclaim! complimented the use of her higher vocal register and named it among Lipa's "strongest performances".
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 [toes] 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". Vultures Craig Jenkins compared the chorus melody to that of Patti LaBelle's 1984 single "New Attitude".
Awards and nominations "Physical" was nominated for International Song of the Year at the 2020 NRJ Music Awards and Song of the Year at the 2021 Brit Awards, while also winning the 2020 Popjustice £20 Music Prize and the 2020 OGAE Song Contest. The song also placed on numerous 2020 year-end lists, including unranked ones published by BuzzFeed, E! News, Esquire, Glamour, Nylon and Thrillist. NME and Popjustice both thought it was 2020's second best song while Dazed ranked it at number five on their year-end list. It was placed at number 20 on Cosmopolitans year-end list and number 18 on one published by i-D. The BBC and Billboard ranked it at number nine and 28 on their respective year-end lists. In Pitchfork, they published it as the 49th best song of 2020 while Stereogum placed it as the fifth best pop song of the year. In The Guardian, the song was hailed as the eighth best song of the year and the song placed on unranked lists published by the publication's writers Michael Cragg, Alexis Petridis, Dave Simpson and Kate Solomon.
Commercial performance