Can't Stop the Feeling!

Background and composition

In the early stages of recording his fifth studio album, Timberlake also served as the executive music producer for the soundtrack to the film Trolls. The uptempo disco-pop track was written and produced by Timberlake, Max Martin and Shellback. Entertainment Weekly described the song as a "funky mix of disco and pop." For The A.V. Club it is a "a soul-pop sugar rush tweaked for maximum dance grooves." "Can't Stop the Feeling!" is written in the key of C major with a tempo of 113 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of C – Am7 – Fmaj9 – Am7, and Timberlake's vocals span two octaves, from E₄ to E₆.

[Fatherhood] changes everything. I don't know that [the song] was directly inspired to be something that my son could listen to of mine — because there’s a lot of music he can’t listen to of mine, at least not yet.

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" appears in the denouement of the movie, conceived with the idea of covering the disco genre inspired by the situation of the final scene.

What’s different about this is that it’s not even like writing just a song for a movie, it’s writing a song for characters who are going to sing it in the movie.That’s the part that made it a task that none of us had ever done. This is a modern animated musical, and we wanted to push ourselves to do something that worked in that way. I’m glad we did it, but none of it came easily.

Critical

Critical reception to the song has been mostly positive. Writers from Billboard, Rolling Stone, Fuse and USA Today highlighted its attractiveness for the summer season. Adelle Platon from Billboard called it "delightful" and a "feel-good jam". Nate Chinen from The New York Times wrote "Timberlake is on firm footing here, gliding over a disco-pop beat and urging all comers to catch the spirit." Jon Niles from Music Times wrote: "The song gives off a feeling of pure joy that only a talent as great as Timberlake could bring to the table." For Lisa Respers France of CNN Entertainment, "If Friday had a sound, it would be Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!"." Ed Masley wrote in AZCentral "the lyrics sound like they were custom-made to be the soundtrack to your favorite summer memories." For The A.V. Club, Annie Zaleski wrote "a perfect summer song is one I can blast while driving in the car with the windows down. The tune doesn’t have to be meaningful—in fact, the more lightweight, the better—and it should offer a few minutes of unadulterated escapism. This year, I can already tell that “Can’t Stop The Feeling!” is my hot-weather jam."

The A.V. Club included it among the 40 best songs of 2016 (first half). Billboard ranked "Can't Stop the Feeling!" at number 33 on their on their "100 Best Pop Songs of 2016" list, adding "the rhythm is eventually gonna get you to dance". Digital Spy considered it the 19th best pop song of the year. Idolator named it the 20th best song of the year.

Accolades

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Timberlake received the Hollywood Song Award for "Can't Stop the Feeling!" at the 2016 Hollywood Film Awards and won the award for Song in Animated Film at the 2016 Hollywood Music in Media Awards. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Critics' Choice Award for Best Song, Satellite Award for Best Original Song, the Denver Film Critics Society for Best Original Song and by the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards.

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" won the award for Song of the Year at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards and Favorite Song at the 43rd People's Choice Awards. At the former it was also nominated for Best Song from a Movie. For the 2016 Teen Choice Awards, it received nominations for Choice Summer Song, Choice Party Song and Choice Song from a Movie or TV Show. It received a nomination for Song of the Summer at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, and International Song of the Year at the 2016 NRJ Music Awards. The 2016 BBC Music Awards shortlisted it for Song of the Year nominee. "Can't Stop The Feeling" is also nominated for the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards for the Favorite Song category, and for the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards in the categories Song of the Year and Song to Dance to.

Media

In June 2016, Billboard named it the wedding DJs' 4th most popular party song in the US. The release of the song was followed by numerous fan-made videos, which also includes The Memphis Grizzlies, the United States Olympic Committee, citizens of Memphis, Gilbert, graduates of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, among others. On May 26, 2016, the Victoria's Secret Angels released a video in which they lip-synced to "Can't Stop the Feeling!"

Choreographers Celia Rowlson-Hall and Crishon Landers with the help of film producer Mia Lidofsky created a flash mob dance video on October 2, 2016 in support of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016 set to the music of "Can't Stop the Feeling!" — with all of the dancers wearing pantsuits in reference to Hillary Clinton's outfit of choice. They called the event #Pantsuitpower Flashmob for Hillary. The video was covered in news media including The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Vogue, — and garnered over 2 million views on Facebook. From New York City, the Pantsuit Power movement then spread to Raleigh, North Carolina on October 23, 2016 with another flash mob.

Music video

The first video released, titled "First Listen", features cast members from the DreamWorks Animation's Trolls, among them Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Icona Pop, Gwen Stefani, Ron Funches and Kunal Nayyar.

The song's official music video was released on May 16, 2016. Helmed by director Mark Romanek, the "Can't Stop the Feeling!" video follows Timberlake on a tour to everyday places like a laundromat, diner, barbershop and a donut shop, with an individual dancing along to the single at every stop. All the revelers eventually end up congregating with Timberlake below a highway underpass where they dance together to the song. As described by Time editor Cady Lang, Timberlake "dances through what a typical day might be: breakfast at the diner and grocery shopping." Talking to Entertainment Weekly, director Mark Romanek described the concept as "just the overall feeling of unironic and sincere humanism. It’s not trying to be cool or slick or ironic. It’s just fun. Most of the time, people are excellent. It’s just a big sugar cookie. It makes people smile for four minutes." He stated the brief dance-off between Timberlake and an inflatable arm waving tube man was inspired by Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry the mouse in Anchors Aweigh. Bustle writer Amy Mackelden highlighted the scene as the best moment of the video. Esquire editor Jonathan Evans addressed Timberlake's monochromatic outfit, writing "the singer nails it by playing with shades of the color [white], plus throwing some pattern and texture in the mix."

The video received a nomination for Best Male Video International at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards, and is currently nominated for Favorite Music Video at the 2017 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

Live performances

On May 9, 2016, it was announced that Timberlake would be performing his song during the interval act of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 finale, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden on May 14, 2016. This was the first time in the contest's history whereby a celebrated artist who had never participated in the contest performed. Timberlake opened the performance singing "Rock Your Body", soon switching over to "Can't Stop the Feeling!". He was joined by a group of backup singers/dancers and a horn section for the song's televised debut. The performance wasn't aired in the US due to rights issues. The day before the main show, Timberlake made his first appearance before an audience on night rehearsal to perform both songs.

On February 26, 2017, Timberlake opened the 89th Academy Awards with a performance of "Can't Stop the Feeling!", which included a cover of Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" at the end. A Billboard editor described the performance:

Starting the performance in the front corridor of the Dolby Theatre and dancing his way down the stairs to the stage, Timberlake continued the grooving with a hoard of backup dancers behind him. He even put a new spin on the chart-topping tune, adding in slight variations in his vocals as well as an R&B breakdown -- including a little Bill Withers "Lovely Day" excerpt.

North America

Counting its first three days of airplay, "Can't Stop the Feeling!" debuted at No. 24 on the US Mainstream Top 40 and started at a personal-best No. 19 on Adult Top 40, both for the charts dated May 21, 2016. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" became the first song in the history of Mediabase Top 40 to close the entire Top 40 radio station panel in the first week, being the "most added" song in all 186 of them.

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" became the 26th song to debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the chart issue dated May 28, 2016, marking Justin Timberlake's fifth chart-topping single in the country. The song started at the Hot 100's summit powered most heavily by its No. 1 debut on the Digital Songs sales chart (where it's Timberlake's sixth leader), having sold 379,000 downloads in its first week (ending May 12), according to Nielsen Music. Timberlake scored his highest weekly sales total for a song, besting the 315,000-unit start for "Suit & Tie" in 2013. It entered Streaming Songs at No. 6 with 15.6 million US streams in its first full week. On Radio Songs, it ascended 27-9 following its first full week of airplay (83 million in audience), becoming the first song to reach the Radio Songs top 10 in just two chart weeks since Adele's "Hello" (November 14, 2015). With "Give It to Me" having last led the Hot 100 dated April 28, 2007, Timberlake returned to No. 1 after nine years and one month, the longest span between leaders since Christina Aguilera waited 10 years, two months and one week between "Lady Marmalade" in 2001 and her featured turn on Maroon 5's "Moves like Jagger" in 2011. Among males, it saw Timberlake end the longest break between Hot 100 No. 1s since Dr. Dre went 12 years, two months and three weeks between "No Diggity" (by Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre) and "Crack a Bottle", his collaboration with Eminem and 50 Cent.

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" reached No. 1 on Radio Songs in just its fifth week, marking the quickest sprint to the top since Adele's "Hello" needed just four weeks in November 2015. Among male artists, the single made the fastest rise to No. 1 on Radio Songs in nearly 25 years, since Michael Jackson's "Black or White" set the record with a three-week climb in 1991. Mariah Carey's "I'll Be There" tied the mark in 1992. The single also tied Adele's "Hello" for the fastest-ever rise to the top of the Adult Top 40. Among males, "Feeling" bested Pharrell Williams' eight-week trip to the top with "Happy", which reached No. 1 in April 2014, for the quickest climb to the top spot by a solo male artist. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" also reached the top of the Mainstream Top 40, where Timberlake passed Bruno Mars for the most No. 1s among males.

With "Can't Stop the Feeling!" spending a sixth week atop Digital Songs, it became Timberlake's longest lead atop the chart, passing "SexyBack". Additionally, it marked Timberlake's best weekly audience for a song with 163 million, passing the 159 million that "Mirrors" drew at its peak. The following week, it became Timberlake's first solo No. 1 on Adult Contemporary. Reaching the AC summit in just its eighth week, "Feeling" completed the fastest run to No. 1 for a (non-holiday) song by a male artist in 17 years, since Phil Collins' "You'll Be in My Heart" needed only six frames in 1999. Among all songs, "Feeling" made the fastest trip to No. 1 on AC since Adele's "Hello": four weeks, in November 2015. Timberlake also earned his sixth number-one on Dance Club Songs with "Can't Stop the Feeling!". He reached the top of the chart without the aid of officially commissioned remixes. However, versions from Barry Harris, Fenix and Erick Decks, among others, have helped bring the song to club crowds. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" became the eighth song to top Digital Songs for at least 10 weeks and the first since Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" led for a record-tying 13 weeks in 2015; Flo Rida's "Low" first set the mark with 13 weeks at No. 1 on Digital Songs in 2007–08. "Feeling" is the second song to spend its first 10 weeks on Digital Songs at No. 1, joining The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow", which logged its first 10 weeks on the chart at the summit in 2009.

In the US it was the best selling song of the summer, while being listed at 2 on the Billboard seasonal ranking. Spotify named it the fifth most-streamed song of the summer globally. As of December 2016, it has sold 2.495 million downloads in the country, thus being the best selling song of the year according to Nielsen Music. It was also the No. 3 most-heard song on US radio in 2016, with 3.422 billion audience impressions for the year. It was the No. 2 most-played song in terms of total number of plays, with 587,000 detections.

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" is among the top 20 longest-leading number-one singles on the Adult Contemporary chart. It is also one of only eight singles in the Billboard Hot 100's 58-year history to spend its first 40 weeks or more in the top 40.

It reached the top position of the Canadian Hot 100 in its fifth week, after spending its first four weeks at number 2.

By September 2016, it has been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and sextuple platinum by Music Canada.

Europe and Oceania

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" reached the top spot in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the top 5 in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It spent four weeks atop the Euro Digital Songs chart.

The song debuted at number three on the UK Singles Chart, and remained in the number 2 position for four weeks, it later reached the top spot of the UK Singles Sales Chart and spent two weeks as well at the top position. The Official Charts Company from the UK named it Timberlake's biggest song in the country with over 1 million units sold, surpassing 2013's "Mirrors". It was ranked 10 on UK year-end chart, while being the 3rd best selling song of the year in the territory.

By March 2017, it has been certified diamond by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique and the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZVAP), septuple platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF), quintuple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), triple platinum by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI), and the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Recorded Music New Zealand (RMNZ), and Denmark's IFPI.

Other versions

The film version featured in the soundtrack album includes additional vocals from Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Zooey Deschanel and Gwen Stefani.

In June 2016, American country music group Lady Antebellum covered the song in a live performance in Columbus, Ohio. Jon Freeman of Rolling Stone commented it "evoked the loose spirit of a jam band unwinding at a summer festival."