Spotlight (Madonna song)

Background

By the mid-eighties, post-disco dance music was extremely popular and the concept of remix was widely regarded as a new direction of music. Several artists were remixing their tracks and compiling them to create new albums. Hence Madonna, who was the most popular dance artist of that era, decided to create a similar remix compilation album, later titled You Can Dance, which included seven of her up-tempo songs. Along with the pre-released tracks in remixed form, "Spotlight" was included as an added bonus. Madonna said that she was inspired by the song "Everybody Is a Star" (1970), by American rock band Sly and the Family Stone.

In 1983, Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the group Pure Energy had written the song "Holiday", which Madonna recorded and released as the third single from her self-titled debut album. After the single's commercial success, Hudson wrote a song sounding like "Holiday", in case Warner, Madonna's record company, wanted to release a similar song to it. He named it "Spotlight" and offered it to Madonna, who recorded the song for her 1986 album True Blue. However, Madonna didn't include it in the album because she felt that it was similar in composition and structure to "Holiday".

Composition

When Madonna decided to create You Can Dance, she and Stephen Bray reworked the demo composed by Hudson and Madonna asked Shep Pettibone, who had remixed her songs from True Blue, to remix "Spotlight" and included it on the album. John "Jellybean" Benitez, who had recorded the original demo during the True Blue sessions, assisted Pettibone in remixing the song.

"Spotlight" begins with the sound of drums, bass synths and handclaps, followed by Madonna uttering the words "Spotlight, shine bright". After the first verse, the sound of keyboard is heard during the effect. It continues like this through the second verse, which is followed by an interlude featuring vocal echos, a piano segment and violin phrases. Madonna follows the music played by the piano and utters the words "Pa-da-pa-da-pappa pappa pa pa" in the same melody. The lyrics deal with Madonna making the listener remember that "Everybody is a Star" and that if one wants to be famous and be under the "Spotlight", the person should sing about it and reality may catch up with him or her.

Reception

Mark Bego, author of Madonna: Blonde Ambition wrote that "Spotlight" was a "typical Madonna 'look-at-me' dance routine, that sounds flat besides the heavy remixes in You Can Dance." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic said that the song "sounds dated—this is quite clearly extended mixes from the mid 80's—but that's part of the charm." Dave Barry from The Miami Herald commented that although You Can Dance sounds like "old Madonna", "Spotlight" sounds surprisingly fresh to his ears. Joe Brown from The Washington Post commented that the song should have been a "flat reject". Don McLeese from Chicago Sun-Times called the song "exuberant". Dennis Hunt from Los Angeles Times commented that "[You Can Dance] is an attractive package for dance fans—particularly with the inclusion of a new cut, 'Spotlight'". He went on to add that the "lyrics of 'Spotlight' aren't great, but they're still more interesting than the others. Still, the words, like those of most dance songs, are just window dressing that's secondary to the beat. The big attraction of 'Spotlight' is a long, hard-driving, closing passage that's guaranteed to turn dancers on." Jan DeKnock, while writing for Orlando Sentinel, noted that the song was already receiving airplay from radio stations.

"Spotlight" was not officially released as a single in the United States; therefore it was not eligible at the time to appear on Billboard's Hot 100. Even so, it managed to garner enough airplay to appear on the publication's Hot 100 Airplay survey in early 1988. It debuted on the Airplay chart at 37 on the issue dated January 16, 1988. After three weeks, "Spotlight" reached a peak of 32, but fell to 40 the next week before exiting the chart. It had also reached the Hot Crossover 30 chart beginning on the issue dated December 12, 1987, peaking at 15 for two consecutive weeks beginning January 9, 1988 and spending eight total weeks on the chart. The song was released commercially in Japan on April 25, 1988. "Spotlight" peaked at number 68 on the Oricon weekly singles chart, remaining on the chart for five weeks. It also charted on the Oricon international singles chart, reaching a peak of three on May 19, 1988, staying on the chart for ten weeks.

Media appearance

"Spotlight" was featured in the last of a series of Japanese TV commercials Madonna filmed for electronics company Mitsubishi. The commercial promoted their VCR model F-5.3. In the commercial, Madonna was featured as coming out of a car and sitting down on a sofa, while watching a film on the VCR, as "Spotlight" is played in the background. The song was also used as cross-promotion for the Japanese leg of her 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour under the campaign name of "Dreams Come True".

1. "Spotlight" (Single Edit) – 4:32
2. "Where's The Party" (Remix Single Edit) – 4:13

1. "Where's The Party" (Extended Remix) – 7:11
2. "Where's The Party" (Dub) – 6:22
3. "Spotlight" (Extended Remix) – 6:34
4. "Spotlight" (Dub) – 4:49

Credits and personnel

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