New Attitude (song)

"New Attitude"
Song

"New Attitude" is a song performed by Patti LaBelle and written by Sharon Teresa Robinson, Jon Gilutin, and Bunny Hull. It was released in December 1984 and helped launch LaBelle's solo career as a pop music singer after the singer had spent seven years without a crossover pop hit following the break-up of Labelle.

Background and composition

In 1984, Patti LaBelle began taking part in films, participating in her first acting role in the acclaimed film, A Soldier's Story. Around the same time, producers of the film, Beverly Hills Cop, were busy putting together a soundtrack for the film, and called on LaBelle to record two songs for its soundtrack. "New Attitude", a song about a woman changing her outlook on life both emotionally and physically, was composed by Sharon Robinson, Jon Gilutin and Bunny Hull and produced by Harold Faltermeyer. The song was different from previous LaBelle recordings, which had been mostly pop ballads with occasional stabs at dance music and R&B, focusing on a synthpop direction. Prior to that, LaBelle had recorded a similar synthpop song, "I'll Never, Never Give Up" from her first gold album, I'm In Love Again, in 1983. It was LaBelle's first MCA single, released in December 1984.

Reception

The song climbed to number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Dance Music chart in a remixed form in 1986. It also peaked at number three on the Hot R&B Singles chart in 1986. The singer shot the first music video of her career with the song, which was shot at a fashion store.

In other media

• The song appears on the soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop.
• The song is used as the opening theme song of each hour for the Dr. Laura Schlessinger show.
• It also appears in an episode of The Simpsons where Marge buys a pretzel franchise.
• The song also appears on The Nanny episode "I Don't Remember Mama".
• The song was covered by The Chipettes for the 1985 Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "The Chipette Story".
• The song also appears in the film Boat Trip.
• The song appears in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous during the drag queen scene.
• The song appears in the scene on the television show Sister, Sister while Lisa sings the song.
• The song was also used in the opening number of Miss Universe 1985 in Miami.
• The song was also used in a 2006 TV commercial for OneTouch Ultra featuring LaBelle.