"Tonight" is a single by American recording artist

Jessica Sanchez Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez (born August 4, 1995) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence following her finish as the runner-up on the eleventh season of ''American Idol''. Early life Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez was born in Chula ...

featuring Ne-Yo, taken from Sanchez's debut studio album '' Me, You & the Music''. It was written by Ne-Yo, Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor E. Hermansen and was produced by

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 ...

. "Tonight" was released to digital retailer on March 22, 2013, following her debut live performance of the single on the Top 9 results show on the twelfth season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' on March 21, 2013, as the lead single from ''Me, You & the Music''. The song's accompanying music video was shot in downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on March 1, 2013 with director Justin Francis and made its world premiere on

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

on March 21, 2013.

Background

Following the series finale of the eleventh season of ''

'' Sanchez was signed to

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

19 Entertainment 19 Entertainment is a producer of entertainment properties for television with a focus on music. Founded by Simon Fuller in London in 1985, the company co-produced ''Pop Idol'' in the United Kingdom with Thames Television in 2001. The ''Idol serie ...

to begin work on her debut studio album. Recording for the album began during the American Idols Live Tour in mid July 2012, she worked with producers

Mark J. Feist Mark J. Feist (born in Melbourne) is a multi-platinum producer/songwriter who has contributed to the sale of over 25 million records worldwide. Feist currently resides in Los Angeles. Early age Mark Feist began expressing himself musically at ...

Harvey Mason, Jr. Harvey Jay Mason Jr. (born June 3, 1968) is an American record producer, songwriter, movie producer and current CEO of The Recording Academy. He has written and produced songs for artists including Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Deniece Wil ...

and

Toby Gad Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 28 March 1968) is a Los Angeles-based German music producer/songwriter, best known for co-writing John Legend's biggest hit, " All of Me," the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for co-writing and producin ...

among others for the album and is set to feature ballads but will exhibit "more of an R&B/Pop/Urban kind of feel". In an interview with

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

, Sanchez spoke of the song, saying:

" 'Tonight' is a song about people that are usually stressed out, everybody has problems and everything, and 'Tonight' is a song about going out that night and having the best night of your life."

It's been described as a "club-ready" track.

Critical reception

Grady Smith of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' said that "The song is far better than Jessica's non-starter pop singles '

Change Nothing ''Change Nothing'' (french: Ne change rien) is a 2009 documentary directed by Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa. The documentary focuses on the French singer Jeanne Balibar in rehearsal and concert as seen through Costa's characteristically long, ...

,' which she performed at last year's finale, and 'Fairytale,' which she debuted at a showcase last year. And it's light years ahead of the generic dance tracks released by The Voice's

Jermaine Paul Jeremiah Jermaine Paul (born July 26, 1979) is an American R&B singer-songwriter. He is the winner of season 2 of American talent competition ''The Voice''. Prior to his ''The Voice'' stint, he was co-nominated at the 48th Grammy Awards for Bes ...

and The X-Factor's

Melanie Amaro Melanie Ann Amaro (born June 26, 1992) is an American singer who won the first season of ''The X Factor USA'' in 2011, securing a $5 million recording contract with Syco Music and Epic Records. Amaro was also the youngest contestant to win the c ...

. 'Tonight' actually sounds like it could fit right in on pop radio or blaring out of the speakers in a club. Here's the thing, though. I'm just not buying it — and that's because I still remember the Jessica Sanchez I got to know on Idol."

Music video

Filming for the music video began on March 1, 2013 in downtown

with director Justin Francis. The video premiered on

on March 21, 2013.

Live performances

Sanchez made her TV debut performance of "Tonight" with Ne-Yo on the Top 9 results show on the twelfth season of ''American Idol'' on March 21, 2013. On March 22, 2013, just after the performance she made on ''Idol'', she gave her first online performance and an acoustic version. Sanchez later performed "Tonight" for both

Young Hollywood Young Hollywood is a privately held multimedia entertainment company founded in Los Angeles, California, by R. J. Williams. The company licenses the “Young Hollywood” trademark domestically and internationally for a range of consumer pr ...

and CleverTV.

Chart performance

"Tonight" debuted with 14,000 digital copies sold within the first week of its release. The single has sold 39,000 copies as of May 2013 and 85,000 copies by the end of 2013.

Release history

References

External links

{{Ne-Yo 2013 singles 2013 songs Ne-Yo songs 19 Recordings singles Interscope Records singles Music videos directed by Justin Francis Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers) Songs written by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen Songs written by Tor Erik Hermansen Songs written by Ne-Yo