"Dirty Dancer" is a song by Spanish singer

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...

and American singer Usher, recorded for Iglesias' sixth studio album, ''

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

'', and included on Usher's EP ''

Versus Versus (Latin, 'against') may refer to: Film and television * ''Versus'' (2000 film), a Japanese zombie film * ''Versus'' (2016 film), a Russian sports drama film * ''Versus'' (2019 film), a French thriller film * Versus (TV channel), form ...

''. A

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of the song, which features American rapper

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

and American singer

Nayer Nayer Regalado, known mononymously as Nayer, is an American singer. She gained recognition in 2011 after being featured on Pitbull's hit single "Give Me Everything", and releasing her single " Suave (Kiss Me)" featuring Pitbull and Mohombi whi ...

, was released on 9 May 2011 by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

as the sixth

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from ''Euphoria''. Written by the two singers with

Evan Bogart Evan Kidd Bogart (born January 23, 1978) is an American songwriter, music publisher, record executive and television producer. He is the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart and former KISS manager Joyce Bogart Trabulus. Bogart has won a ...

, Erika Nuri and David Quiñones and producer

RedOne Nadir Khayat (, Latn, ar, Nādir Ḵayyāṭ; born 9 April 1972), also known as RedOne, is a Moroccan-Swedish record producer, record executive, singer and songwriter. He has worked in production for high-profile recording artists including La ...

, "Dirty Dancer" is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music 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 ra ...

song. The album version of "Dirty Dancer" appeared on the UK Singles Chart, the Dutch

Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

and the Slovakian Radio Top 100 Oficiálna, while the single version entered the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

, the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, formerly the Official New Zealand Music Chart (), is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The M ...

and the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. An Ethan Lader-directed

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Dirty Dancer" has the three artists watching holographic dancers in nightclubs. The single has already been certified Gold in Australia and USA. It was covered by the Dutch

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band

Within Temptation Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. They have been classified by critics as gothic metal and symphonic metal, although each album contains other infl ...

as part of their weekly radio covers in promotion for their upcoming event, ''Elements'' and was included on their April 2013 cover album The Q-Music Sessions. The song samples parts of the 1995 song "

Salva Mea "Salva Mea" (faux Latin for "save me") is a song by British electronic band Faithless, written by members Rollo, Sister Bliss, and Maxi Jazz. The female vocals on all versions are performed by Rollo's sister Dido. "Salva Mea" was released in ...

" by

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

Background

"Dirty Dancer" was written by

, Erika Nuri and David Quiñones, and was produced by RedOne. It was recorded at South Point Studios,

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. "Dirty Dancer" is a

song with some influences of electropop and

rave music A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

. According to Adam Graham of

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

, "Dirty Dancer" is about "a comely-yet-dangerous female"; its hook features the lyrics "She's a dirty, dirty dancer/ Dirty, dirty dancer/ Never ever lonely". At the beginning on the song, Usher dedicates it to "the dirty girls all around the world". Iglesias and Usher exchange verses before, on the single

, Wayne gives his rap verse, which makes a reference to actor

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...

. "Dirty Dancer" was included on Iglesias' sixth studio album, ''

'', and Usher's EP ''

''. "Dirty Dancer" was sent to Australian

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

(CHR) and nights radio on 9 May, while the single remix was sent to US CHR 10 May. The single was released as a

music download A music download is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. This term encompasses both legal downloads ...

in North America on 12 June 2011, and was released in Europe and Oceania on 19 June.

Critical reception

Robert Copsey from ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

'' and Allison Stewart from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' chose "Dirty Dancer" as one of the best tracks on ''Euphoria'', with Stewart calling it "steamy". ''Prefix Magazine''s Wilson McBee criticized Wayne's appearance on the track, and wrote that the line "Ain't no money like young money" was his "weakest last line ever".

Chart performance

The album version of "Dirty Dancer" debuted at number 194 on the UK Singles Chart on 17 July 2010, and at number fifty-one on the Dutch

, where it later peaked at number thirty-nine. The album version also entered the Slovakian Radio Top 100 Oficiálna at number ninety-four in May 2011, as well as appearing on the Belgian

Ultratip Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created in 1995 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organiza ...

charts of Flanders and Wallonia at numbers nine and thirty-six, respectively. On 16 May 2011, the single version debuted on the

at number thirty-six, and on the Australian Dance Chart at number thirteen. It has since peaked at numbers twenty-four and nine, respectively. On the issue dated 28 May 2011, "Dirty Dancer" debuted at number nine on the U.S.

Hot Digital Songs The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking so ...

chart with 126,000 copies sold, and subsequently appeared at number eighteen on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The same day it entered the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

at number eighteen. On 4 June 2011, "Dirty Dancer" debuted at number thirty-three on the

Pop Songs Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

chart, and later peaked at number seventeen. "Dirty Dancer" entered the

at number twenty-two on 30 May 2011. On the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

, the song debuted at number thirty-one and peaked at number twenty-five, while on the UK Singles Chart, the single version of "Dirty Dancer" has reached number twenty-one. It entered the

French Singles Chart SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in ...

at number ninety-nine on 11 June 2011. On 12 August 2011, the song charted at #1 on the Billboard

Hot Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set list ...

making it his ninth #1 single on the chart. He is the only male artist in the chart's history to achieve this milestone, beating previous record-holder

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. It is his third consecutive #1 on this chart from his album ''Euphoria'', following " I Like It" and " Tonight (I'm Fuckin' You)".

Live performances

Enrique Iglesias first premiered "Dirty Dancer" live as part of a medley with " I Like It" that he performed on the tenth season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' on 12 May 2011. For the performance, he wore blue jeans and a black leather jacket, which featured Usher and Lil Wayne appearing on video screens behind

backing vocal A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

ists and a band. Initially, Iglesias was under a lone spotlight, before several green lasers beams lit the stage.

Music video

The

for "Dirty Dancer" was directed by

Yasha Malekzad Yasha Malekzad (born 1 October 1984) is an English music video director and producer from Beccles, Suffolk, England, who has worked with international artists including Enrique Iglesias, Will Smith, Pitbull, Usher, Lil Wayne, Sharon Stone, Nic ...

, Jeff Dotson & Ethan Lader and premiered on 22 June 2011. It opens by showing a city during the night, and Iglesias making his way to a futuristic

strip club A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...

, who then watches a holographic

pole dance Pole dance combines dance and acrobatics centered around a vertical pole. This performance art form takes place not only in gentleman's clubs as a form of erotic dance, but also as a mainstream form of fitness, practiced in gyms and dedicated ...

r performing a gymnastic routine while wearing a black latex outfit. Usher is shown donning black clothing and sings alone in a dark room. Throughout the video he alternates between reality and a holographic. Iglesias is shown in similar scenes, and at one point lowers his jacket to expose his blue luminous heart. Iglesias presses buttons on a remote control and the dancer is replaced by another, dressed in silver, who is in turn replaced by a gold bikini-clad dancer. Wayne begins his verse while being projected onto a building, while other shots show him in a dark room, similar to those of Usher. The dancer whom Iglesias watches leans in to kiss him but is replaced by a holographic message reading "credit expired". Sabrina Cognata of

WNOW-FM WHHH (100.9 FM, "Hot 100.9") is a radio station licensed to Speedway, Indiana. Owned by Urban One, it broadcasts an mainstream urban format serving the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Its studios are co-located with its sister stations at Mer ...

wrote, "This video has everything. And I mean everything worth having." MTV Buzzworthy's Jenna Hally Rubenstein wrote, "If you want to be a baller, this video is how you do it." The video has been viewed over 137 million times.

Track listing

*;U.S. digital download # "Dirty Dancer" (Single Version) (with Usher featuring

) – 4:05 # "Dirty Dancer" (Music Video) # "Dirty Dancer" (Remix) (with Usher featuring Lil Wayne and

) - 4:04 *;German CD single / UK digital download # "Dirty Dancer" (Single Version) (with Usher featuring Lil Wayne) – 4:05 # "Dirty Dancer" (with Usher) – 3:35

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of "Dirty Dancer". ;Recording *Recorded at South Point Studios,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. ;Personnel *

– songwriter, vocals * Nadir Khayat (RedOne) – songwriter, producer, instrumentation, programming, vocal editing *

– songwriter *Erika Nuri – songwriter *David Quiñones – songwriter *Carlos Paucar – vocal editing, recording, engineering *Johnny "Sev" Severin – vocal editing * Usher – vocals *

– vocals

Charts and certifications

Album version

Single remix

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 singles Dance-pop songs Enrique Iglesias songs Lil Wayne songs Song recordings produced by RedOne Songs written by Enrique Iglesias Songs written by E. Kidd Bogart Songs written by RedOne Universal Republic Records singles Usher (musician) songs Songs written by Erika Nuri Songs written by David Quinones Songs about dancing Remix singles