"It Takes a Muscle to Fall in Love" is the debut single by Dutch electronic band Spectral Display, released as a single in 1982 from their eponymous debut album. It was written by members Michel Mulders and Henri Overduin, and produced by Mulders.

M.I.A. version

British recording artist M.I.A. covered "It Takes a Muscle to Fall in Love" in 2010, titled "It Takes a Muscle". It is from her third studio album, '' Maya''. Production of M.I.A.'s version was handled by

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...

and incorporated

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

elements. The single was released worldwide as a digital download, under license to

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...

and

N.E.E.T. Recordings N.E.E.T. Recordings was a vanity record label of Sri Lankan English hip hop recording artist M.I.A. as an imprint of Interscope Records in 2008. N.E.E.T. is an acronym for " Not in Education, Employment or Training". The first artist signed to ...

, on 20 December 2010. Prior to the official release of the single, Diplo uploaded the song to his

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

account on 26 October 2010. The song served as the sixth single from the album. After audience encouragement, M.I.A. performed "It Takes a Muscle" at Terminal 5,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in September and on British TV show '' Later... with Jools Holland'' in December 2010. The track received positive feedback from music critics. Promo copies of the single announced that a music video for the song, directed by

Spike Jonze Adam H. Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes commercials, film, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze began his ca ...

, would be released. However, the video was never released and it is unknown whether it has ever been filmed.

Track listing

;Digital download # "It Takes a Muscle" – 3:03 # "It Takes a Muscle" (Pearson Sound Refix) – 5:53 ;Promo CD # "It Takes a Muscle" (Radio Edit) – 2:38 # "It Takes a Muscle" (Original) – 3:00 ;12" single # "It Takes a Muscle" (Pearson Sound Refix)

Release history

Other versions

In 2019, Australian musician

Kirin J. Callinan Kieran John Callinan (born 21 January 1986), known by his stage name Kirin J. Callinan, is an Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is also a founding member of Mercy Arms and has played with the Night Game, Jack Ladder and the Dream ...

covered the song for his

covers album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

''Return to Center''.

References

{{authority control 1982 songs 1982 debut singles 2010 singles Dutch new wave songs Synth-pop songs M.I.A. (rapper) songs EMI Records singles XL Recordings singles N.E.E.T. Recordings singles Interscope Records singles Song recordings produced by Diplo