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 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 is certified gold or higher in sixteen countries including diamond in France and Poland and 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).

[2][3] 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.

Matty Green mixed the song at Studio 55 in Los Angeles and Chris Gehringer mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.

[1] Musically, "Physical" is an uptempo dance-pop, power pop and synth-pop song with dance-rock, dark wave and Italo disco elements.

[37][38] 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.

[48][49] 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.

[68] Writing for The Boston Globe, Nora Princiotti viewed "Physical" as an "instant-classic" and a "spine-tingling endorphin blast" with a "huge chorus".

[70] 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".

[38] 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".

[71] 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".

[41][36] Yasmin Cowan from Clash said Lipa is "ferocious in her execution" and succeeds in "putting her own feminist spin" on a "formulaic theme".

[73] 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".

[74] 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".

[103] It was awarded a double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for selling 140,000 track-equivalent units in the country.

[104] In New Zealand the song reached the sixteenth position and was awarded a double platinum certification from Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for track-equivalent sales of 60,000 units in the country.

[116] The music video for "Physical" was directed by Lope Serrano and Nicolás Méndez of the Catalan production company Canada.

[122] 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 (37 mph).

[122] 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.

[124] 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.

[117][125] Lipa is then shown in a human scene, licking her finger and wearing a Yves Saint Laurent black minidress.

Serrano explained that in this final scene "all the colours (concepts) break their chromatic group obedience and meet together in a purely human celebration of lust and freedom and eclecticism".

[133] 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".

[151] 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.

[155] Robin Murray of Clash described it as "tongue in cheek panache" and a homage to "the glory years of workout videos".

[156] 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.

[159] An extended play (EP) for remixes of "Physical", including those by Ofenbach, Claptone and Erika de Casier was released on 25 March 2020.