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Olivia Newton-John, The Pony-tailed Cutie Of `Grease,` All Grown Up In Down-and-dirty Video

HOLLYWOOD — Olivia Newton-John will be heard from but rarely seen during the next five months as she awaits the arrival of her first child.

Newton-John was perched prettily on a divan in the temporary living room of her Malibu aerie high atop a bluff overlooking the Pacific. She is remodeling her rambling home across the road to accommodate a nursery, among other things.
Her wide blue eyes were filled with excitement at the thought of motherhood, but the four-minute videotape she played of her new album Soul Kiss, was anything but maternal.

There was a new Olivia up there on the screen, a sexy, sultry beauty showing off her legs and vamping a handsome young dude with some passionate kisses in parody of classic movie love scenes from ``Gone With the Wind, Casablanca and Wuthering Heights.``

The handsome young dude, incidentally, is the singer`s husband, actor Matt Lattanzi, garbed in a male bikini. Newton-John explained she didn`t want to kiss another actor.
Her video borders on down and dirty with her blond hair falling across her face. Her bare feet are adorned with toe rings. In one scene Olivia is almost unrecognizable in a black wig. In another with strobes and other wild lighting effects Newton-John is an outright sex kitten on a red velvet bed that emits steam.

The topper is Newton-John in a Marilyn Monroe wig in a bubble bath complete with champagne. Lattanzi kisses Olivia, after which she pulls the fully clothed Lattanzi into the tub with her. Newton-John giggled delightedly as she watched the action on the screen.

What happened to the pony-tailed cutie of ``Grease,`` the innocent high schooler who fell in love with John Travolta? `I`m not a little girl anymore. My God, I`m 37 and all grown up,` Newton-John said. `I can`t do cutesy-cutesy stuff anymore. `I gather from my mail that my fans are growing up with me and are happy that I`m doing more sophisticated things. I don`t want to do the same music I did 10 years ago. It would be very boring.
`The tone of this video was the logical step, you know. It`s kind of moody and suggests something sensual, and I thought I was ready for that. I felt comfortable doing it. I didn`t feel there was anything wrong with it. `Not every song on the new album is like that, nor are the other four videos. You know what`s funny? I did that video last week when I was four months pregnant.
`The whole image changed, I think, when I did my `Physical` album a couple of years ago (which sold 10 million copies).
`That album sort of opened new areas for me, so to speak. `Soul Kiss` is an extension of what I did in `Physical.` It`s even more adventurous for me with more up-tempo stuff.

``The music was quite difficult for me to sing. I would say it`s another step up for me. It`s more rocky, but not punky. I would say it`s very current, but it doesn`t sound like anyone else`s stuff, thanks to my producer, John Farrar.``

`Physical`` amounted to a comeback on the charts for Newton-John who discovered pop singers today cannot simply rely on a new album and a concert tour every year or so. She learned the necessity of changing styles to keep current.

She is aware that Cyndi Lauper and Madonna break new ground almost every time they go to bat. `I like them both,`` she said. ``I think they are very innovative and talented. What they`re doing is new and refreshing. Anything new is exciting. And the music business needs stimulation all the time. They`ve opened up a lot of new areas and that`s great for everybody.

`You`ve got to keep growing and evolving. You have to take a few chances and make changes.``

Newton-John will be changing diapers next February when her baby is expected. Until the baby arrives she will keep a low profile. She is developing a movie project at Paramount Pictures for which she and a friend wrote the script. She hopes to star in the film next year.

The English-born, Australian-reared star will also keep busy with her Aussie retail store, Koala Blue, which she is expanding to include nationwide franchising.

`I won`t be doing any live performing until after the baby arrives, which is the biggest production of my life,`` she said.