#ThrowbackThursday: “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga Featuring Colby O’Donis

by Sean Smith

This Sunday evening Super Bowl LI will be played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game should be pretty entertaining. The Atlanta Falcons are a very talented team, but will play the underdog role against the favored New England Patriots. However, the Matt Ryan led Falcons offense has shown the ability to put up a bunch of points quick and could very plausibly pull off the victory. Though coming out on top against Tom Brady and his Patriots has not historically been an easy thing to do. Nonetheless, I think the Falcons will ultimately come out on top at the end of the night.

If you are not a big football fan, of course there is plenty of other things to get excited about Sunday night. There are the commercials, which companies are paying an average of $5 million for a 30 second spot. There is also the Pepsi sponsored halftime show which will feature Lady Gaga performing in this year’s edition of the show.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show has evolved a whole lot over the years. If you are interested in reading more about the history of the show you can check out this article I wrote about it prior to the big game in 2015.

Pop superstar Lady Gaga is more than ready to hit the field to perform for the millions of people who will be watching the Super Bowl around the world Sunday evening. She has said that she has been looking forward and planning to play the Super Bowl since she was 4 years old. She has been holding rehearsals for the performance over the course of the last few weeks in a big tent that she has had erected in the backyard of her home. There are also some rumors swirling around that she may perform some of the show from the roof of  Houston’s NRG Stadium. It is also rumored that unlike recent years, there may not be any special guest spots by any other artists, meaning Lady Gaga will have the spotlight squarely on her for the duration of her show.

Lady Gaga first gained her popular musical notoriety as a performer with the success of her 2008 single “Just Dance.” First getting her start in the business by writing songs for other artists like the Pussycat Dolls, Gaga got her own recording contract when R&B singer Akon realized how great a voice she had when she was recording a demo song for him. She was quickly signed to her own recording contract with Interscope Records and Akon’s KonLive Distribution.

The song “Just Dance” was written by Lady Gaga, Akon and producer Red One. In a 2009 interview with The Guardian, Lady Gaga talked about how the success of that song changed her life:

“That record saved my life. I was in such a dark space in New York. I was so depressed, always in a bar. I got on a plane to LA to do my music and was given one shot to write the song that would change my life and I did. I never went back. I left behind my boyfriend, my apartment. I still haven’t been back. My mother went in and cleared it for me.”

The feel good track did extremely well on the charts for Gaga. It started out as a Top 5 hit on the dance charts in the summer of 2008, before ultimately going mainstream and reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in January of 2009. It also reached the top of the charts in Australia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Canada.

“Just Dance” was the lead single to Lady Gaga’s groundbreaking debut album The Fame. That album also featured the popular singles “Poker Face,” “LoveGame,” and “Paparazzi.”

So with Lady Gaga set to perform at the Pepsi Halftime Show this Sunday during Super Bowl LI, this week we remember Gaga’s breakthrough 2008 single “Just Dance.” Enjoy.

Lady Gaga Featuring Colby O’Donis 

“Just Dance”

From: The Fame

Kon Live/Streamline/Cherrytree/Interscope Records

Related Media:

Lady Gaga

“Poker Face”

From: The Fame

Kon Live/Streamline/Cherrytree/Interscope Records

Lady Gaga 

“Love Game”

From: The Fame

Kon Live/Streamline/Cherrytree/Interscope Records

Lady Gaga 

“Paparazzi”

From: The Fame

Kon Live/Streamline/Cherrytree/Interscope Records