I Gotta Feeling

Label

Interscope Records

Genre

Dance-pop

Media Type

AC

Duration

5:00

Composer(s)

William Adams;Stacy Ferguson;Jaime Gomez;David Guetta;Allan Pineda;Frédéric Riesterer

Entered Chart

Jun 27, 2009

Peak Date

Jul 11, 2009

Released

June 15, 2009

Recorded

Studio Square Prod (Paris)Metropolis (London)

Catalog #

Atlantic Digital

Black Eyed Pea member Apl.de.ap described this song to Billboard magazine as a, "college anthem for people looking forward to escaping life's pressures by going out and having a ball." This samples the David Guetta song "Love Is Gone," which was an international hit for the French dance producer in 2007. Guetta also co-produced this track. This club-inspired number is one of a number of songs on The E.N.D. that reflected Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am's newly discovered love for dance music. While he was in Australia filming the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Will spent his time off-set in Sydney's clubs where the electro grooves being spun by visiting DJs such as Italian production duo The Crookers turned the Black Eyed Pea musician on. He told MTV News: "It was hard, and it felt like hip-hop, only faster." Back home in the States, Will told his Black Eyed Peas bandmates, that dance music, not hip hop – was the stuff inspiring him now. The E.N.D. takes its name from an acronym for "The Energy Never Dies." Will.i.am explained to MTV News that The E.N.D. "is our version of embracing change and celebrating the new." Taboo of the Black Eyes Peas told Marie Clare: "This is the first time we actually had all four of us on a song simultaneously with the verses, which is something different for us. Usually we break up the verses and everybody has their parts. It was a good opportunity for us to show the world what would come of it." This song debuted at #2 on the Hot 100, directly below "Boom Boom Pow." The Black Eyed Peas thus became the first duo or group to hold the top two positions on the singles chart, since Outkast reigned with "Hey Ya" and "The Way You Move" over an eight week period in 2003-04. This song replaced "Boom Boom Pow" at #1 on the Hot 100. The Black Eyed Peas thus became the ninth act in the history of the chart to succeed itself at the summit. The previous time this feat was achieved was on the chart dated Oct. 18, 2008 when T.I.'s "Live Your Life" dislodged "Whatever You Like." When this song logged on for its eighth straight week on top of the Hot 100, The Black Eyed Peas broke the record for most consecutive weeks at #1 in the rock era. "Boom Boom Pow" led for 12 weeks and was immediately succeeded by this song making 20 weeks in pole position. The group thus passed the 19 consecutive weeks that Usher spent at #1 with "Yeah!" and "Burn" from Feb. 28 through July 3, 2004. When the song achieved its 13th week at #1, The Peas overtook Glenn Miller's record in the pre-rock era. The band leader was #1 for 24 weeks in 1940 with six consecutive chart-toppers. The song finally was toppled from the top position after 14 weeks at #1. The Black Eyed Peas, therefore totaled 26 consecutive weeks in charge of the Hot 100 and become just the second act ever to spend at least half a calendar year at the summit. Usher spent 28 non-consecutive weeks at #1 with four titles in 2004. Another record broken by The Peas' was the record for most weeks in a row spent at #1 on the Hot 100 for a record label. The quartet's parent label, Interscope, overtook the previous milestone mark of 21 weeks by Australian music mogul Robert Stigwood's RSO label, which topped the Hot 100 with six consecutive songs from Dec. 24, 1977 through May 13, 1978. The song's 14 weeks at #1 tied with Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" for the longest stay at #1 in the 21st century. Guetta told the story of the song to Clayton Perry in an interview featured in Blogcritics Magazine: "Will, at the time, was embracing the electronic music from Europe. Other artists have taken sounds from us and incorporated it a little bit. But what I respect a lot about him and the band is that he fully immersed himself in the culture. He called me, and he was like, 'Okay. I love that sound and I want to experiment with it a bit.' So I sent him some tracks, and he selected a few. Then, I went to Los Angeles and we worked together. When the song started coming together, I got a crazy feeling and I was screaming: 'this is huge, this is a monster, this is crazy.' Will came up with a hook of a hook! It has such a positive vibe. And I think a lot of success with the song is because of that really positive message, especially at the time when things are difficult for everybody. So it was just an amazing experience, and the deal was I was going to help him with the Black Eyed Peas album, [The E.N.D.], and he was going to help me with my album, [One Love] in return. We ended up recording 'I Gotta Feeling' and 'Rock That Body' for The E.N.D. and we also made two other songs: 'On the Dancefloor' and 'I Wanna Go Crazy.' Our music is the bridge between electronic culture from Europe and hip-hop culture from America. This is the music of the future. It's not electro. It's not hip-hop. It's electrohop." This won for Best International Song of the Year at the 2010 French NRJ Awards. The Black Eyed Peas were also the Best International Group… for a few hours. In a major screw-up, the Peas were incorrectly awarded the best non-French group prize. Later in the evening, the real winners, German pop-rockers Tokio Hotel, were presented the award via a special erratum section of the show. This song appeared in promos as the theme for the CBS summer prime-time lineup months before it was officially released. This helped build awareness of the song, leading to its spectacular run on the charts. In 2010, Will.i.am told Rolling Stone: "What is the easiest emotion to act? Anger. What is the hardest? Joy. That's 'cause joy is complex. It's somber, sad, happy, heartbroken, hopeful - it's all these emotions in one. What you hear in 'I Got A Feeling'? To me, that's joy. You're in pain, but tonight's going to be a good night. You can't feel happy when you've been pissed off the whole week. You have to go straight to joy." Will went on to explain that he wrote the song within an hour after standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the inauguration of President Obama. Said Will: "Nobody asked me to write 'I Gotta Feeling.' It just came." It was announced by Nielsen SoundScan on May 3, 2010 that this celebratory song had reached 5,561,000 downloads. This meant it became the best-selling digital song of all time, surpassing Flo Rida's "Low." The song was the first ever single to be downloaded more than one million times in the UK. Said Fergie: "It's exhilarating to know we are so connected to our Peabodies. Hopefully the good vibes from that song will continue to brighten people's lives." The song was the Black Eyed Peas' most successful single of their career, topping over 25 charts internationally including the ones in Australia, Canada, Ireland Italy, New Zealand, UK and US. There is a bit of Yiddish in this song, as will.i.am sings, "Fill my cup... Mazel Tov." When he repeats it a second time, Fergie replies, "L'chaim." "Mazel Tov" is a Hebrew expression of good cheer often used as a kind of toast to congratulate someone or wish them well. This phrase has entered the secular lexicon, but "L'chaim" is more esoteric: meaning "to life," it is also a traditional Hebrew toast. The Peas may have picked up the phrases in their travels to Israel - they played in Tel Aviv in 2006 and in Jerusalem in 2007. On July 30, 2010 it was announced that this had become the first song to reach the 6 million mark in digital downloads. Will.i.am told Nekesa Moody of the Associated Press that the reason the tune was so successful was because it gave people hope in a downward time. "It's a positive, feel-good song at the time where there's question marks and uncertainty. People want to be reminded that it's going to be all right," he said. This song prompted more legal shenanigans involving the Peas (earlier in 2010 the outfit were sued by Chicago musician Phoenix Phenom, who alleged that the rhythm and lyrics from her 2008 jam "Boom Dynamite" were copied on their global hit, "Boom Boom Pow"). This time a Texas-based songwriter called Bryan Pringle claimed this song plagiarises their track "Take A Dive," a demo tape of which, he sent to the Peas' label Interscope. "If you listen to the two songs they are nearly identical," said Pringle's lawyer, Dean Dickie. The same legal firm were behind both claims. According to Will.I.am, he literally dreamt up this tune. Said the Black Eyed Pea: "I've written songs right from a sleep. Have you ever had a dream where there's a melody in your dream? I'll wake up out of my sleep and record that! 'I Gotta Feeling' was one of those songs." This topped a poll published in April 2012 from music service Spotify of the most-played songs at weddings in the UK. The Kings of Leon's hit "Sex on Fire" was runner up, whilst The Killers' "Mr. Brightside" came in third place. Until this song's success, there had been the occasional dance hit song, but in the main radio programmers fought shy of dance music. Speaking to Billboard magazine in 2014, David Guetta explained how "Got A Feelin'" was a turning point. "For so long, I couldn't understand why it wasn't on the radio like it is now," he recalled. "I was playing every weekend to thousands of kids who were going crazy for this music, and I could feel that everyone wanted to hear it. The demand was there." "'I Got A Feelin' was when radio seem to say, wow, okay, this is actually working, this is marketable," he continued. "And then everybody changed their format. Now, of course, we're way beyond that and onto something completely different." This was the official support song for the Portuguese National Team in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The band members filmed a video in which they showed their support to Portugal and its players.

I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good, good night

A feeling, woohoo, that tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good, good night

Tonight's the night, let's live it up
I got my money, let's spend it up
Go out and smash it like oh my God
Jump off that sofa, let's get, get off

I know that we'll have a ball
If we get down and go out and just lose it all
I feel stressed out, I wanna let it go
Let's go way out spaced out and losing all control

Fill up my cup, Mazel Tov
Look at her dancing, just take it off
Let's paint the town, we'll shut it down
Let's burn the roof, and then we'll do it again

Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it
And do it and do it, let's live it up
And do it and do it and do it, do it, do it
Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it

'Cause I gotta feeling, woohoo
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good, good night

A feeling, woohoo, that tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good, good night

Tonight's the night (Hey!)
Let's live it up (Let's live it up)
I got my money (My pay)
Let's spend it up (Let's spend it up)

Go out and smash it (Smash it)
Like oh my God (Like oh my God)
Jump off that sofa (Come on!)
Let's get, get off (Crunk)

Fill up my cup (Drink)
Mazel Tov (L'chaim)
Look at her dancing (Move it, move it)
Just take it off

Let's paint the town (Paint the town)
We'll shut it down (Let's shut it down)
Let's burn the roof
And then we'll do it again

Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it
And do it and do it, let's live it up
And do it and do it and do it, do it, do it
Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, do it, do it, do it

Here we come, here we go, we gotta rock (Rock rock rock rock rock)
Easy come, easy go, now we on top (Top top top top top)
Feel the shot, body rock, rock it, don't stop (Stop stop stop stop stop)
Round and round, up and down, around the clock (Rock rock rock rock rock)

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
Friday, Saturday, Saturday to Sunday
Get, get, get, get, get with us, you know what we say, say
Party every day, p-p-p-party every day

And I'm feelin', woohoo, that tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good, good night

A feelin', woohoo, that tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good, good night, woohoo