Physical (Dua Lipa song)

"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. 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. which makes use of a synthwave bassline, techno and disco beats, as well as synth-pop instrumentals and grooves. 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. Prior to the chorus, a suction effect is used where the production briefly disappears before appearing again. 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 ==

in 2022 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. 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. 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". 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". 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". 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. 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 ==

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. The song spent a total of 24 weeks on the chart. In Australia, "Physical" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart issue dated 16 February 2020. It was awarded a double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for selling 140,000 track-equivalent units in the country. In Canada, the track peaked at number 54 on the Canadian Hot 100 and lasted for 11 weeks on the chart. The song was awarded a platinum certification in the former country from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and a triple platinum certification in the latter country from Music Canada. In the US it sold 1,000,000 track-equivalent units while in Canada it sold 240,000. The Hwasa remix peaked at number 127 on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart. The track charted at number 38 in Brazil's monthly streaming chart, where it was later certified double diamond by Pro-Música Brasil for sales of 320,000 units. In September 2020, Billboard launched their Global 200 chart and "Physical" debuted at number 117. == 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. Ariadna Martín was hired as Lipa's stunt double, mainly for the scene which required balancing on a revolving stage that rotated at . 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 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. 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. 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 shared another photo of herself in costume for it on 16 January 2020, with the caption, "New music coming soon to a galaxy near you...". On 20 January 2020, she shared an image on social media of the sports car featured in the video, with the caption, "Remember the signs..." The music video was released to YouTube on 31 January 2020 at 05:00 PT (12:00 UTC). The trailer showed Lipa solving a Rubik's Cube while staring out of an apartment window. 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. 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. number five in IndieWire, number six in Insider, number 13 in Idolator, as well as an unranked list published by Slant Magazine. The video also received numerous awards and nominations, including nominations for Best Video at the 2020 LOS40 Music Awards, Best International Video at the 2021 MVPA Awards, Video of the Year at the 2020 NRJ Music Awards It was nominated for Best Music Video and Best Cinematography at the Camerimage Music Video Awards in 2020 while placing in silver for both Best Achievement in Music Video Production and Best Music Promo Film at the Creative Circle Awards. At the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Choreography as well as winning Best Visual Effects. It was nominated for Best Pop Video, Best Production Design in a Video, Best Styling in a Video and Best Editing in a Video at the 2020 UK Music Video Awards. == Workout video ==

A 1980s-inspired workout video for "Physical" was released to YouTube on 6 March 2020. It was directed by Daniel Carberry and filmed in New York City on 17 February 2020. The video was created as Lipa desired her own Jane Fonda-like workout video. 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. Their outfits are imprinted with manga versions of Lipa. 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. == Remixes ==

On 17 March 2020, 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 (EP) for remixes of "Physical", including those by Ofenbach, Claptone and Erika de Casier was released on 25 March 2020. Lipa and Alok appeared together in an Instagram Live video to promote the remix's release. A remix of "Physical" by Mark Ronson, featuring Gwen Stefani is included on Lipa and the Blessed Madonna's DJ Mix crafted remix album, Club Future Nostalgia, released on 28 August 2020, while the unmixed version was released on 11 September 2020. Stefani's vocals were produced and recorded by Lauren D'Elia at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. The remix was mixed by Brandon Bost. Insiders reported in 2023 that Lipa intended on releasing a remix of the song featuring Australian singer Troye Sivan in 2021. He wrote and recorded his verse for the song, but her team was supposedly against this and thought that she should choose someone else, suggesting The Weeknd instead. On 22 March 2025, during Melbourne's fourth night of the Radical Optimism Tour, Lipa brought Sivan on stage to perform together. Later on in the show, the two would give a fan in the crowd a USB flash drive containing the remix in MP3 format, entrusting them to leak the file online. The remix would see an official release on digital platforms just a week later on 28 March 2025 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Future Nostalgia. == Awards ==

• Digital download and streaming • "Physical" – 3:13 • Streaming – 360 reality audio • "Physical" (360 reality audio) – 5:39 • Digital download and streaming – Hwasa remix • "Physical" (featuring Hwasa) – 3:13 • Digital download and streaming – Alok remix • "Physical" (Alok remix) – 3:09 • Digital download and streaming – Mark Ronson remix • "Physical" (featuring Gwen Stefani) [Mark Ronson remix] – 3:06 • Digital EP – remixes • "Physical" (Ofenbach remix) – 2:53 • "Physical" (Alok remix) – 3:09 • "Physical" (Claptone remix) – 3:09 • "Physical" (Erika de Casier remix) – 3:08 • "Physical" (Leo Zero Disco remix) – 4:16 • "Physical" (featuring Hwasa) – 3:13 • Digital download and streaming – Troye Sivan remix • "Physical" (featuring Troye Sivan) – 3:13 == Personnel ==

• Dua Lipa vocals • Jason Evigan production, engineering, drums, synthesizer, vocal production • Koz production, drums, synthesizer • Todd Clark backing vocals • Clarence Coffee Jr. backing vocals • Sarah Hudson backing vocals • Lorna Blackwood programming, vocal production • Gian Stone engineering, vocal production • Daniel Moyler engineering • Matt Snell assistant engineering • Rafael "Come2Brazil" Fadal additional engineering • Cameron Gower Poole vocal engineering • Matty Green mixing • Chris Gehringer mastering • Will Quinell mastering assistant == Charts ==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts == Certifications ==