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 Olivia Newton-John's career. With its explicit lyrics and suggestive accompanying music videos, Physical ushered in a newly sexualized Newton-John, who still couldn't quite shake her "good girl" image. In this book, Jarrod Sturniek's traces and analzyes the evolution of her on-screen persona and her early adoption of innovative music videos. In doing so, he identifies the implications of these 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. By interrogating, scrutinizing, and contextualizing themes of national identity - including how popular culture reflects on national(ist) values in contemporaneous Australian music - Physical challenges the parameters and gatekeeping of "authentic" Australian music. While Newton-John may have had claims to and resonances with a swath of genres, personas, and places to call home, Physical proves that her music deserves a place in Australian popular music history.