Yesterday, American pop singer/actress Katharine McPhee debuted her first solo music since 2010, a catchy little number called “Lick My Lips,” and I have to say it’s nice to have the American Idol alum back. Check out the fun Diane Martel-directed clip below.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0MV4JjkXpQ]
Fun and flirty is the vibe here, which is totally fine by be. I’ve been clamoring for a new Katharine McPhee record since we last heard her singing on that Ryan Tedder/Bonnie McKee-penned CLUB-SMASHER “Touch Me,” taken from the soundtrack of McPhee’s 2012-2014 NBC series SMASH (the song went on to peak at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart). Before that, McPhee released two albums on Verve Forecast Records, including a Christmas album. While I dug the adult contemporary, pop-LITE vibe on these two records, I was craving a little something more like her self-titled debut from 2007. While that album was all over the place, it did contain a couple nuggets of pure pop GOLD, including the Danja-produced “Love Story,” “Not Ur Girl,” and “Open Toes.” From the first few listens, “Lick My Lips” appears to be EXACTLY what I was looking for.
McPhee’s 80s inspired “Lick My Lips” was written with Sam Sparro and Florence + The Machine‘s Isabella Summers (AKA “Isa Machine“) and is the lead single from her fourth studio release, Hysteria, due July 21st. The song is super sweet, pop-candy confection and the best kind of guilty pleasure out there. With it’s driving beat, infectious pop chorus (“You make me lick my lips, you’re my favorite baby | When we kiss, I just want to savor every drop of it | I can’t get enough, you make me lick my lips, my lips“) and DRIPPING with innuendo (“Now let me see what’s underneath that hood“) the song is a welcome return to to pop form for the 31 year-old singer/actress.
In an interview with Billboard Magazine, Katharine McPhee talks a bit about the writing process behind Hysteria, and calls “Lick My Lips” the “most summer-y, carefree song that I have on the album,” which makes me a little nervous. McPhee has a great voice and it deserves to be showcased through a better vehicle than “Lick My Lips,” YES but I hope this isn’t to mean we get one up-tempo and a bunch of ballads. Here’s hoping the album features a good, albeit more consistent mix than we heard on her 2007 debut.
“Lick My Lips” is out now (iTunes) via indie labels LilyDog Entertainment and Entertainment One.
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