Jump to content

Just Dance (song)

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Just Dance"
Single by Lady Gaga featuring Colby O'Donis
from the album The Fame
ReleasedApril 8, 2008
Recorded2008
Genre
Length4:02
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • RedOne
  • Akon
Lady Gaga singles chronology
"Just Dance"
(2008)		 "Poker Face"
(2008)

"Just Dance" is a 2008 song by American singer Lady Gaga, from her debut album, The Fame. Gaga sang this song with Colby O'Donis. The song was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 2009 Grammy Awards.[1] It reached #1 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

On April 12, 2023, the Recording Industry Association of America announced the the song had been certified 11× Platinum (Diamond + Platinum) for shipments and streams of 11 million copies in the US alone. This made Gaga only the third female artist to have three Diamond- or higher-certified songs, after Katy Perry and Cardi B.[2]

Writing and inspiration

[change | change source]
Singer Akon co-wrote "Just Dance" with Gaga and the song's producer RedOne.

"Just Dance" was written by Lady Gaga and Akon with co-writing by RedOne, who also produced the track.[3] Gaga wrote "Just Dance" during 2008 and according to her it was "hard work and a lot of people didn't believe in it at first".[4] Gaga also explained that "Just Dance" is a happy record.[5]

In a 2025 interview about her album Mayhem, Gaga said that she feels anxious about her "super pop" songs, saying that she nearly cut "How Bad Do U Want Me" from the album—just as she almost left off "Just Dance" from The Fame for the same reason.[6]

Composition

[change | change source]

"Just Dance" is an uptempo electropop,[7][8] synth-pop[9][10] and dance-pop[11][12] song. It is written in the key of C♯ minor and is set at a moderate dance tempo of 119 beats per minute. Gaga's vocal spans from the low note of G♯3 to the high note of C♯5.[13] The lyrics show with being completely intoxicated at a party.[14] The opening lyric "RedOne" has often been misinterpreted as "red wine", but in actuality is a reference to music producer RedOne.[15]

Chart performance

[change | change source]
Gaga performing "Just Dance" on the ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour (2014)

In the United States, "Just Dance" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 76 on August 16, 2008. After five months, it slowly rose to number 2 on the Hot 100, after selling 419,000 downloads on January 10, 2009.[16] The next week, the song reached number 1 on the Hot 100. The song took a total of twenty-two weeks to hit the top spot, which has the longest climb to number 1 since Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" in 2000.[17] "Just Dance" spent a total of forty-nine weeks on the Hot 100. In Canada, the song debuted at number 97 on the Canadian Hot 100 for the issue dated June 7, 2008.[18]

In the United Kingdom, "Just Dance" debuted at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart on January 4, 2009. It rose to number 1 the next week with total sales of 65,764 copies, and remained at the top for three weeks.[19]

Music video

[change | change source]

Released on April 25, 2008, the video was directed by music video director Melina Matsoukas, and filmed in March 2008 is based on the song being at a party.[20] She wears a blue, lightning-bolt-shaped sticker under her right eye like that on the song cover, which paid tribute to the album cover of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane, as he is one of her musical idols.[21] O'Donis appears in the video in front of several girls during the "when I come through on the dance floor" interlude.[20]

The official video on Lady Gaga's Vevo channel, LadyGagaVevo, was a favorite among fans on and around December 8, 2009, the day Vevo was launched.[22]

In other media

[change | change source]

"Just Dance" was in an episode of The Office by the name of "Michael Scott Paper Company", in which Steve Carell's character mistakes it for a Britney Spears song.[23]

The song shares the title with the rhythm game series Just Dance. The track eventually made an appearance in the series in Just Dance 2014.[24] Other music-based video games that feature the song include Rock Band (2010),[25] Dance Central (2010),[26] and the virtual reality game Beat Saber (2021).[27]

Awards

[change | change source]

At the 51st Grammy Awards, "Just Dance" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, but it lost to electronic duo Daft Punk for their song "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Alive 2007)".[28] It became Gaga's first Grammy nomination.[29]


Certifications

[change | change source]
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[30] Diamond + Platinum 11,000,000double-dagger

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ FB, Dr (2009-02-10). "Exclusive! Just Dance; Prince's Grammy After-Jam With Whitney Houston". Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  2. ↑ ".@ladygaga now ties @iamcardib and @katyperry as the female artists with the most Diamond singles in @RIAA history (3 each)". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  3. ↑ "Just Dance ASCAP writer credits". Broadcast Music Incorporated. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
  4. ↑ Madsen, Ben (January 15, 2009). "Lady GaGa Interview". MTV. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  5. ↑ Press, Contactmusic (April 17, 2009). "I wrote hit in 10 minutes". Contactmusic.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  6. ↑ Tate, Sarah (March 13, 2025). "Lady Gaga Reveals Which Song Was Almost Cut From 'Mayhem'". iHeartRadio. Archived from the original on March 13, 2025. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  7. ↑ Levine, Nick (May 26, 2020). "Can Lady Gaga become the world's biggest pop star once more?". BBC. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020. ...the bombastic electro-pop hit Just Dance...
  8. ↑ Lipshutz, Jason (November 5, 2013). "Lady Gaga, 'ARTPOP': Track-By-Track Review". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020. Her first major hit, "Just Dance" [...] posed as an enduring electro-pop jam...
  9. ↑ Rutherford, Kevin (January 17, 2019). "Rewinding the Charts: In 2009, Lady Gaga 'Just Dance'-d Her Way to No. 1 on the Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  10. ↑ Given, Kellie (March 2, 2020). "Our Top 10 Favourite Lady Gaga Tracks". umusic NZ. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  11. ↑ Elliott, Mark (March 28, 2019). "Best Lady Gaga Songs: 20 Essential Tracks". uDiscoverMusic. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020. ...'Just Dance' is simply a great dance-pop hybrid...
  12. ↑ Levine, Lisa (October 12, 2018). "Lady Gaga Albums, Ranked". SPY. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020. ..."Just Dance" and "Poker Face" being those dance-pop songs...
  13. ↑ "Digital Sheet Music: Lady Gaga 'Just Dance'". Music Notes.com. Alfred Publishing. December 8, 2008. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Just Dance by Lady Gaga Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
  15. ↑ Mullally, Una (May 17, 2009). "Gaga by name..." The Express Tribune. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  16. ↑ Cohen, Jonathan (January 1, 2009). "Beyonce Starts 2009 Atop The Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 1, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  17. ↑ Cohen, Jonathan (January 8, 2009). "Lady GaGa Dances To The Top Of Hot 100". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  18. ↑ "Canadian Hot 100: Week Ending June 7, 2008". Billboard. June 7, 2008. Archived from the original on July 11, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  19. ↑ "A better class of artists rise to the top". Music Week. January 12, 2009. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Lady Gaga – Just Dance Music Video". Interscope Records. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  21. ↑ "Lady Gaga – Transmission Gaga-vision: Episode 31". Interscope Records. LadyGaga.com. January 27, 2009. Archived from the original on May 24, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  22. ↑ Eordogh, Fruzsina (January 28, 2013). "Did YouTube Buy Fake VEVO Video Views? - ReadWrite". readwrite.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  23. ↑ Vena, Jocelyn (April 10, 2009). "Michael Scott Joins The Lady Gaga Bandwagon On 'The Office'". MTV News. Archived from the original on April 12, 2009. Retrieved April 10, 2009.
  24. ↑ "Song List - Just Dance 2014 Wiki Guide - IGN". IGN. March 31, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  25. ↑ "Lady GAGA Makes Her Debut On Rock Band With A Hot Four Pack!". RockBand.com. March 10, 2010. Archived from the original on March 11, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  26. ↑ "Dance Central review". 2010-11-09. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  27. ↑ "Beat Saber Unveils Lady Gaga Music Pack at the Game Awards". Oculus. December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  28. ↑ "2008 Grammy Winners". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  29. ↑ "All Grammy Awards and Nominations for Lady Gaga". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  30. ↑ "RIAA on Twitter: "#JustDance is officially #RIAATopCertified #Diamond . Congratulations @ladygaga and the @Interscope team!". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Just_Dance_(song)&oldid=10860600"