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Olivia Newton-John’s Physical

Olivia Newton-John’s Physical cover

Olivia Newton-John’s Physical

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Pre-order. Available 22 Jul 2027
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Description

This is a critical examination of Olivia Newton-John's 1981 album Physical and its cultural impact, particularly in her native Australia.

Physical marked a turning point in ONJ's career. With its explicit lyrics and suggestive accompanying music videos, Physical ushered in a newly sexualized Olivia Newton-John, who still couldn't quite shake her "good girl" image. The shift in her on-screen persona and her early adoption of innovative music videos are traced and analyzed to identify the implications of such image transformations on her career and how they aligned with the shifting gender roles and concepts of feminism in the 1970s and '80s.

This album also calls into consideration questions of genre, identity, and authenticity. The book interrogates, scrutinizes and contextualizes themes of national identity, including how popular culture reflects on national(ist) values, in contemporaneous Australian music. In so doing, this work challenges the parameters and gatekeeping of "authentic" Australian music. Concepts of authenticity and taste are relevant to the exploration of Newton-John's forays into country, adult contemporary and rock genres. While ONJ may have had claims to and resonances with a swath of genres, personas, and places to call home, this work puts forward that her music deserves a place in Australian popular music history.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

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The publication contains no hazards

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Table of Contents

Introduction - “Look at me / there has to be / something more than what they see…”
1. “As a young girl, I came here by sea…”: The complexities and contradictions of ONJ as Aussie icon
2. “Suddenly, the wheels are in motion / And I'm ready to sail any ocean”: ONJ as shapeshifter
3. “Where did my innocence go…?”: ONJ's changing image
4. “Let's get animal…!”: the sound of Physical
5. “A place where nobody dared to go…”: The Physical music videos
Conclusion - “I'm holding out for something more than physical”: ONJ post-Physical
Notes
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 22 Jul 2027
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 128
ISBN 9798216387442
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Series 33 1/3 Oceania
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Jarrod Sturnieks

Jarrod Sturnieks is a Melbourne, Australia-based E…

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