Remember Toni Tennille’s come hither purr– “do that to me one more time” –her clear, sweet voice fronting the growling, prowling sound of a satisfied woman.
It takes a lot of confidence to emote like that, and when listening to 22-year old Dua Lipa (pronounced (doo-wah leap-uh) sing her former #1 Top 40 hit “New Rules,” you can hear Tennille’s vocal colour: husky, confident, powerful, lusty. Not the sound you’d expect from someone so young.
The tempos of the two songs are different, but they have similar melodic elements.
Also noticeable is how much more “in your face” and feminist today’s lyrics and content are, compared to the 70s:
Don’t pick up the phone
You know he’s only callin’ ‘cause he’s drunk and alone
Don’t let him in
You’ll have to kick him out again
And
You know you’re gonna wake up in his bed in the morning
And if you are under him, you aint’ getting’ over him
Lipa recently won the Brit Award (Britain’s Grammy) for Best Female Solo Artist and British breakthrough act and streams of “New Rules” have passed the BILLION mark, making her the youngest female artist to accomplish that feat.
“New Rules” is Top 10 on both the Adult Top 40 and Rhythmic Top 40 charts.
From the mid to late 70’s Captain & Tennille rolled out hit after hit. “Do That To Me One More Time” went to #1 in 1979, and was their last major success.