Dance Like There's No Tomorrow

"Dance Like There's No Tomorrow"
Single by Paula Abdul
from the album Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1
Released	January 18, 2008 (Radio) January 22, 2008 (Digital download)
Format	Digital download
Genre	Dance-pop, R&B
Length	3:01
Label	Concord Music Group
Writer(s)	Edwin "Lil Eddie" Serrano Shae Patrick Skinner Eritza Laues
Producer(s)	DEEKAY Randy Jackson
Paula Abdul singles chronology
"Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up" (1996) "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" (2008) "I'm Just Here for the Music" (2009)

"Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" is a dance-pop song by American singer Paula Abdul. It is Abdul's first single release in nearly twelve years. The single was produced by DEEKAY and Randy Jackson and appears on his album Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1.

Song information

The song was written by Lil' Eddie, Shae Patrick Skinner and Eritza Laues. The track was produced by DEEKAY and Randy Jackson. Additional vocal production was done by Oliver Leiber. Abdul sings in breathy vocals over an uptempo electronic beat. The song is Paula Abdul's first single since "Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up" in 1996. This song was featured in the musical video game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2.

Release

The song was sent to American radio stations on January 18, 2008. On January 22 the digital single was released to the iTunes Store and other digital download services. It is the first single off Randy Jackson's debut album, Music Club: Volume 1 (2008).^[1] On February 25, 2008, following the showing on American Idol, the song peaked at number 11 on US iTunes.

Super Bowl performance

Paula Abdul pre-taped a performance that aired during the pre-game show for Super Bowl XLII. Abdul performed a dance routine with several back-up dancers while Jackson played bass guitar with the band. Although she lip-synced, the performance still managed to receive some favorable reviews. A reviewer from MTV wrote, "sure, her pre-game performance of 'Dance Like There's No Tomorrow' was pretaped. And yes, it certainly looked like she was lip-syncing Cotillard-style. But I have to admit, I thought she nailed it."^[2] Another MTV review was less kind: "The painfully '80s Janet Jackson rip-off tune and skinny-tie-era backup dancers made Adbul [sic] look like the Mrs. Robinson of dance pop. Judging those kids on 'Idol' just got a lot harder." ^[3]

MTV controversy

Some blogs reported that the video was banned by MTV. However, the MTV Newsroom denied this and reported that they had not seen the video, but that they would be interested in showing it on MTV.^[4]

Music video

The music video was shot on January 21, 2008. Access Hollywood revealed that Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest would make cameos in the video and that Abdul choreographed all her own dance moves. Abdul co-directed the music video with Scott Speer.^[5] On February 3, 2008 during Abdul's Super Bowl XLII performance there were clips of the video being shown in the background. The music video officially premiered on American Idol on February 21, 2008. As of March 6, 2008, the track topped the official iTunes Top 100 Videos chart.

In the video, the start shows Abdul and her dancers intertwined in complex poses. This then leads into scenes of her dancing and singing into a mic stand against a black backdrop with flowing red fabric. She is then seen singing with her band, with Randy Jackson on bass guitar. These scenes cut between Paula and her dancers performing routines and every so often graphics appear on the screen with a camera flash, framing the scene. In the middle there is a breakdown section, which is longer than on the single release version of the song. In the end, Paula is standing with the American Idol cast while glitter falls over the scene.

A second version of the video has been released with one minor edit: the American Idol cast have been removed.

Reviews

Most reviews of the song have been favorable. For example, Billboard stated, "The giddy, beat-intensive track is an ace-on match for Abdul's breathy execution, with rapid-fire verses and a peppy, positive lyric."

Chart performance

Official versions/remixes