Shut Up and Dance (Walk the Moon song)

Background

The song originated between vocalist Nicholas Petricca and guitarist Eli Maiman, who first developed the verse and found something infectious about it. The following weekend, Petricca went to a party named Funky Soul Saturday at The Echo in Echo Park, Los Angeles while feeling frustrated with the writing process. The song is largely based on that night: "We were at the bar, and it was taking forever to get a drink. I was frustrated because there was great music playing and I wanted to be out there," he remembered. His girlfriend, in "a backless dress and some beat up sneaks", abruptly invited him to dance with her, inspiring the song's title. Petricca later went home to work on the song, and incorporated his experiences into the song's lyrics. After creating the song's main refrain, he began picturing himself in high school: an "incredibly uncomfortable, awkward adolescent dude," he imagined the song as "an anthem for the dork who is 100 percent me." In an interview with American Songwriter, he summarized the song's theme as "Encouraging people to let go of whatever it is that’s bothering you and get into your body and out of your head."

In terms of the song's music, Petricca highlighted three songs that were instrumental in its creation: "Just What I Needed" (1978) by The Cars, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" (1980) by Pat Benatar, and "Jessie's Girl" (1981) by Rick Springfield, which he deemed "simple and beautiful and in-your-face rock songs" that captured the sound the band desired. The song is inspired by the music of the 1980s, which the group felt was a time in which "weird" was celebrated, in both music and fashion.

Composition

The song is composed in the key of D♭ major at a tempo of 128 beats per minute, and the melody spans a tonal range of D♭₄ to F₆.

Critical reception

Ryan Seed of Billboard gave "Shut Up and Dance" a four and a half stars out of five, stating that the song "goes full-blown yacht rock" and that frontman Nicholas Petricca "flaunts his emotive yelp over grumbling disco bass and new-wave synth glitter, tossing off vocal runs catchier than most bands' choruses."

North America

"Shut Up and Dance" premiered on the radio station 101 WKQX in Chicago on June 22, 2014. It was released digitally as the lead single from Talking Is Hard on September 10, 2014. It was released in the United States as a free single on iTunes on November 11, 2014.

It began topping streaming service Spotify's viral top 50 chart in November 2014. The song peaked at number one on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart (it is the band's second top ten hit on the chart after "Anna Sun") in the issue dated February 18, 2015, where it made RCA Records only the second label to receive three consecutive number one hits on the chart (and first in two decades). It also concurrently hit number one on the Rock Airplay chart. The song debuted on the all-genre Hot 100 on November 22, 2014 at position 98, where it stayed there for two weeks before leaving the chart the next week. "Shut Up and Dance" re-entered the charts the following week at number 88, later moving to the top 40 during the week of March 13, 2015. It jumped to number 15 on the chart on March 27, 2015, and advanced the following week to number 12. As of the Billboard issue of May 23, 2015, "Shut Up and Dance" has peaked at number 4 on the chart, becoming Walk the Moon's first top-10 single in the United States, and has spent 18 non-consecutive weeks in the top-10, as well as 53 total weeks inside the chart. As of January 21, 2016, it has sold 3,231,080 copies domestically. The song had also broken the record for the longest reign atop Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart at 27 consecutive weeks, previously held by both Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" and Hozier's "Take Me to Church" at 23 weeks, but the record has been broken, as the Twenty One Pilots song "Heathens" now holds the record for longest amount of time at the number-one spot. "Shut Up and Dance" also entered the Canadian Hot 100 at position 99 on the week ending February 28, 2015. The song peaked at number four and remained in that position for seven consecutive weeks from May 30, 2015 to July 11, 2015. As of August 11, 2015, "Shut Up and Dance" has been certified triple platinum by Music Canada and has sold over 321,000 copies.

Europe and Oceania

"Shut Up and Dance" made its first chart appearance internationally in the Netherlands on the Singles Top 100 chart at number sixty-five. The song peaked at number 28 on January 7, 2015 and remained there for two non-consecutive weeks. "Shut Up and Dance" proved to be a bigger success in Sweden, entering at position 58 on the Swedish Singles Chart on January 16, 2015. The song reached number 24 on February 27, 2015, before beginning to descend down the chart for the next few weeks. The song began to gain in performance again and entered the top 20 at number 18 on April 27, 2015. "Shut Up and Dance" peaked at number 12 on May 8, 2015, a position it held for two non-consecutive weeks, and has been certified quadruple platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Sweden as of September 23, 2015.

In Ireland, "Shut Up and Dance" debuted at number 91 on the Irish Singles Chart. On July 24, 2015, the song peaked at number two and stayed there for four non-consecutive weeks. In Poland, the song reached number one on the Polish Airplay Chart for one week on August 7, 2015. According to the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry, "Shut Up and Dance" was the most played song in Poland.

In Australia, "Shut Up and Dance" made its first appearance on the Australian Hitseekers chart at number eight on March 30, 2015. The song made its official debut on the Australian Singles Chart a week later at number 58 on April 6, 2015. On its second week, "Shut Up and Dance" rose to number 41 on April 13, 2015. On April 20, 2015, the song entered the top 20, moving up 24 positions to number 17. "Shut Up and Dance" leaped 12 positions to number five on April 27, 2015, its highest charted position in any region at the time. On May 11, 2015, the song peaked at number three for two consecutive weeks. The song dropped to number 11 on August 3, 2015 after spending three months within the top 10. As of August 22, 2015, "Shut Up and Dance" has been certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 210,000 copies.

In the UK, the single entered at number 75 for the week ending 13 June 2015. The following week, it flew 67 places to number 8. The next week, it climbed 3 places to 5. On its fourth week on the chart, it climbed to number 4. It stayed there the next week as well. It spent 13 weeks in the top 10, which were all consecutive. It fell out of the top 10 on the week ending 17 September 2015, having spent just under 3 months in the top 10. It re-entered the top 40 at number 27 for the week ending 7 January 2016. It fell to 31 the following week, before dropping out again. It has re-entered on two different occasions since, spending 70 total weeks in the top 100.

Live performances

Walk the Moon has performed "Shut Up and Dance" on late-night talk shows The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and on The Paul O'Grady Show in the United Kingdom.

Since the band hails from Cincinnati, "Shut Up and Dance" was performed in front of a hometown audience at the 2015 Home Run Derby at Great American Ball Park prior to the start of the exhibition contest on July 14, 2015.

The band also made a guest appearance at Taylor Swift's 1989 World Tour on July 24 in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Walk the Moon performed the song at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show on August 30, 2015, where the band had played on a circular, multicolored stage prior to the show's start.

The band also performed the song at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game on February 13, 2016 in Toronto, Canada.

Music video

The music video, a 1980s club-themed movie-style music video, was released on YouTube on October 23, 2014. It stars professional dancer Lauren Taft alongside Petricca.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Talking Is Hard.

Covers and usage in media

In 2015, the song was covered by the Country and Irish singer Derek Ryan in his studio album One Good Night coupled with a music video with footage of live performances by Ryan.

The song was covered as the opening number to a movie-themed episode of Strictly Come Dancing.

The Maccabeats, a Jewish a capella group at Yeshiva University, did a cover-parody of the song for a Hanukkah music video release called "Latke Recipe" in November 2015.

The song was performed by Grae Fernandez, Ataska Mercado, Bailey May and Ylona Garcia during the opening number of the 29th PMPC Star Awards for Television at the Kia Theatre on December 3, 2015.

The song is also featured in the 2016 films Norm of the North and Bad Moms. The usage of the former (where it was used in a scenes where the population of New York is dancing) has been criticized for not fitting with the scene considering the lyrics in the song.

In KalyeSerye concert from Philippine Arena titled Sa Tamang Panahon. Danced by Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza on October 24, 2015.

The song was performed by Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon during the opening number of Eat Bulaga! for their 37th Anniversary Special on July 30, 2016.

The song is featured in Guitar Hero Live's GHTV mode and in Just Dance 2016 as part of Just Dance Unlimited.

In March 2017, Ashley Tisdale and her husband Christopher French performed an acoustic version of the song on her YouTube channel.