"Dancing in the Dark" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

for the soundtrack to the 2015 film ''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

''. It was written by Ester Dean, Maureen Anne McDonald and Rihanna together with its producers

Stargate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...

Development

In June 2012, it was revealed that

would star as the lead role in the film ''Happy Smekday!'', alongside American actor Jim Parsons. In September 2012,

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

and DreamWorks Animation announced that the movie will be released for November 26, 2014. In June 2013, the film was retitled from ''Happy Smekday!'' to ''Home''. In 2014, '' Variety'' magazine reported that, in addition to her voice role,

created a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

for the film was released on March 13, 2015. It was later revealed that the film's soundtrack would also include songs recorded by Charli XCX, Kiesza and

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

. "Dancing in the Dark" was written by

Tor Erik Hermansen Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

, Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, Ester Dean, Maureen Anne McDonald and

. The production was done by Hermansen and Eriksen under their production name

. Dean has previously co-penned a number of songs for

including, " S&M" (2011) and " Rude Boy" (2010), both of which were produced by Stargate. The vocals were recorded by Marcos Tovar and Kuk Harrell, while the later also did their production.

Phil Tan Phil Tan is a Malaysian-American music and audio engineer. Early life and education Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in the U.S., where he attained a degree in Recording Arts in 1990. Afterwards he moved to Atla ...

mixed the song at the Ninja Beat Club in Atlanta, Georgia while Daniela Rivera served as the track's engineer.

Composition

"Dancing in the Dark" is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

song with a length of three minutes and forty-three seconds. The track is an up-tempo "poppy-number" that features "enough backdrop of saccharine

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

and snap beats". According to James Grebey of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' magazine it's also "upbeat and a little funkier — if a tad repetitive." '' Rolling Stones Jon Blistein linked "Dancing in the Darks chorus to the one of Whitney Houston's 1987 single "

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her second studio album, ''Whitney'' (1987). It was released as the lead single from the album on May 2, 1987, by Arista Records. It was produ ...

". He also wrote that the song has a "wubby bass groove" that could feature American actress Courteney Cox dancing to it in its potential music video, a reference to her appearance in the video for

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

's 1984 single with the same name.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Home''. ;Locations *Mixed at Ninja Beat Club, Atlanta, Georgia ;Personnel *Lead and background vocals -

*Songwriting – Tor Erik Hermansen, Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, Ester Dean, Maureen Anne McDonald, Robyn Fenty *Production – Stargate *Engineer – Daniela Rivera *Vocal production – Kuk Harrell *Recording – Marcos Tovar, Kuk Harrell *Mixing – Phil Tan

Charts

References

{{authority control 2015 songs 2015 singles 2010s ballads Rihanna songs Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers) Songs written by Ester Dean Songs written by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen Songs written by Rihanna Songs written by Tor Erik Hermansen Songs written by Mozella Songs written for animated films Songs written for films Songs about dancing