Katrina from Katrina & the Waves channels her inner Debbie Harry on her Blondie-influenced new single Drive.

The uptempo track serves as the lead single from the Walking On Sunshine star’s forthcoming album, Hearts, Loves & Babys. Speaking to Retro Pop, Katrina opened up on the song’s New York beginnings.

“I did a lot of pre-production for this album in New York City because my first idea was I wanted to do like a Lower East Side, Blondie, New York City energy,” the Eurovision legend shared.

“So I took a bunch of songs – really raw songs – and I went to New York City and worked with a guy I know called Jimi K Bones.”

Jimi, incidentally, is a successful musician, songwriter and producer, who’s enjoyed a decades-spanning career touring and recording with the likes of Blondie and Joan Jett.

Katrina recalled of their early sessions, “We worked on about 10 songs together, but when I brought it home I found a lot of it unlistenable,” admitting she was, “obviously going for something that I wanted to make when I was 23 or something.”

After returning to the UK, the star started up again with producer Darren Loveday, and the pair resumed work on the tracks, scaling back some of the “crazy energy” of the original cuts while maintaining the New Wave influence which underpins portions of the record.

On direct comparisons to classic acts like Blondie and Missing Persons, Katrina commented: “[That’s] exactly what we were going for – especially on the song Drive.

“It even kind of starts like [Blondie’s 1999 hit] Maria. That kind of energy and that’s what I wanted… I mean, that’s just the greatest song ever!”

Hearts, Loves & Babys, featuring Drive and the new single I Want To Love Again, is out August 28th. Pre-order here.