Looking For A New Love – Jody Watley | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#2) & R&B (#1 for 3 weeks); 1987
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
On January 30th, 1959, the day Jody Watley was born, her godfather, Jackie Wilson, had the most popular R&B single in America: Lonely Teardrops. Perhaps Jody inherited more than just his blessings, for like Jackie – who was renowned for his incendiary in-person workouts – Jody first found her groove as a dancer on Soul Train.
From television she moved on to a seven year stint singing with Shalamar, the trio that reached its high point with The Second Time Around (#1 R&B; #8 Pop) in 1980. After Shalamar, Jody moved to England for two and a half years, then returned to LA where she connected with Prince’s former bass player, Andre Cymone.
On a cassette of music tracks supplied by Andre, one melody triggered a title in Jody’s head, “Looking for a new love,” and a personal breakup provided the emotional impetus for the lyrics.
Not only did Love give Jody a #1 hit, it – via Arnold Schwarzenegger – gave us one of pop culture’s most memorable lines, “Hasta la vista, baby.”
This content and the Song Meaning article was created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2025 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- André Cymone
- David Z.
Lyrics Written by:
- André Cymone
- Jody Watley
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).