Denise LaSalle, Trapped By a Thing Called Love | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 101st edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Trapped By This Thing Called Love” by Denise LaSalle.   

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 101^st edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Trapped By a Thing Called Love” performed by Denise LaSalle.

“Hooked on this thing called love.” As a millennial, my introduction to Denise LaSalle (1939 – 2018) was a naughty, risqué, unapologetic tune called “Lick It Before You Stick It”.  Exhibit A: “And some men think a little tittie kissing / Is the answer to every woman’s dream / But let me tell yah how to kiss her / If you really want to hear her scream / Lick it, before you stick it.” Damn, Denise! The blues and R&B singer-songwriter is best known for one particular song that is safe for work: “Trapped By A Thing Called Love”.  “Trapped By This Thing Called Love” begins her 1972 album, Trapped By a Thing Called Love, with a surefire bang. It reappears on the 2000 compilation, This Real Woman. LaSalle wrote “Trapped” while Bill Jones produced it. Her only top 40 hit on the pop charts, it peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.  On the R&B charts, it reached the penthouse.  Number one, baby!

“Somebody tell me / What has this man got? / He makes me give / What I don’t want to give.” Oh, snap, Denise! What else does he do to you? “He makes me lie / When I don’t wanna lie.” So, is he a bad influence? Nope, it’s L-O-V-E at its loveliest.  If anything, LaSalle is trying to resist the universal four-letter word throughout her expressive, nuanced vocal performance.  “On solid ground / I feel myself sinkin’ fast / I grab a hold / But I don’t think it’s gonna last,” she asserts, asserting, “I’m slowly losin’ my ground / Slowly sinkin’ down / Trapped by this thing called love / Oh, baby.” Oh, baby, indeed! LaSalle gets a fabulous assist from background vocals when she’s hooked on this thing called love.  Also, the musical backdrop is sweet with its scintillating groove, soulful vibes, and potent, articulated horns.  The songwriting is terrific, from the harmonic progression to the lyrics, where she is being taken by the power of love. Sure, “Lick It Before You Stick It” raises more eyebrows, but the brief but electrifying “Trapped By a Thing Called Love” is the late, great artist’s tour de force – her ace in the hole.