Dance With Me Tonight (Olly Murs song)
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"Dance with Me Tonight" is a single by English singer-songwriter Olly Murs, taken from his second studio album, '' In Case You Didn't Know''. It was released as the album's second single on 18 November 2011 and was written by Murs, Claude Kelly and Steve Robson. The song stayed at number two in the UK for two consecutive weeks before finally giving Murs his third UK number-one single in December 2011. The track was released as the album's third single across Europe in November 2012, and as with his previous European single "
Oh My Goodness "Oh My Goodness" is a song by English singer-songwriter Olly Murs, from his second studio album, ''In Case You Didn't Know'' (2011). Written by Murs, Adam Argyle and Martin Brammer, it was released by Epic Records as the album's third and final ...
" will receive a CD release that was absent in the UK. In August 2013 a new version of the song was released as the third single from the US version of '' Right Place, Right Time''.


Background and composition

Murs wrote the song with Claude Kelly and Steve Robson in the spring of 2011, following their successful collaborations on the first album including his debut number one, " Please Don't Let Me Go". Lyrically, Murs has said that the song was inspired by his frustration with modern-day dating, in particular the incessant use of
social networking websites A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, act ...
: "I'm sick of Twitter and Facebook, you know, I want to meet a girl in a club or in a bar. Everytime I meet a girl they're like 'Just add me on Facebook, or Tweet me', and it's like why don't we go out on a proper date like we used to back in the early 2000s, go for a proper drink and get to know her? So I went into the studio and just went, 'OK, I wanna write a really old, classic song about seeing a really fit girl in a club and taking her out on a date.'" In an interview with '' Music Week'' in September 2011, he also added that it was the soulful, Motown feel of the song that was to influence the direction of the ''In Case You Didn't Know'' album as a whole, and that he was keen to reinvent his sound from his previous album: "We had to change slightly and I looked at myself. The ska/reggae vibe put me in a place but I don’t want to be the same artist over and over and over again because people get bored. You have to keep it fresh. We decided the ‘white boy soul’ sound was really me and we wrote 'Dance With Me Tonight', which solidified where we'd go. When we wrote that song we knew that was the direction." The brass section was provided by the Blackjack Horns :-
Nik Carter Nik is a unisex given name and a short form of most names starting with ''Nik'', derived from Ancient Greek νικη (nike) meaning "victory". It may refer to: People: *Nik Bärtsch (born 1971), Swiss pianist, composer and producer *Nik Bonitto (b ...
– Sax / Jack Birchwood – Trumpet and Steven Fuller – Trombone. In 2013, the song was nominated for a Ivor Novello award for Most Performed Work.


Critical reception

The single received mixed reviews from critics upon its release. Hit the Floor magazine awarded it five out of five, calling it a "great do-wop 50s style number that will no doubt reach the uppermost rankings of the chart." Robert Copsey of
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, however, gave the song three out of five stars. He was most critical of the sound of the song and its lyrics, stating that "the swinging '60s funk-pop sound of his latest effort might not be the most original, and the lyrics are cheesier than a tube of Primula", but praised it for being "unashamedly fun." In 2015, Twitter exploded with tweets saying Meghan Trainor's "
Dear Future Husband "Dear Future Husband" is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. It was included on ''Title (EP), Title'', her 2014 extended play, and later on her 2015 Title (album), studio album of the same name. Trainor wrote the song with it ...
" sounds strangely similar to Olly Murs' "Dance with Me Tonight".


Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Dance with Me Tonight" was directed by Marcus Lundin. It was first released onto YouTube on 14 October 2011 at a total length of three minutes and twenty-six seconds. The video starts with Olly going through a police station and pulling funny poses at a mug shot camera, after being arrested with his friends and another girl. Five hours before the incident, he drives around London in a Peugeot 504 Cabriolet, picking up his best friend and supplies for a street party along the way. In the process of getting the supplies, Olly also invites two young clerks to come along with him. Together they set up the street party with the aim of Olly wooing the girl who was with him in the police station called "Jamie Winter" (played by actress and model Katja Zwara). They dance as a display of fireworks goes off behind them, whilst a more senior female citizen looks out disturbed by the noise, and calls the police. As the video ends Olly and Jamie are arrested by the police revealing what they were arrested for was obviously disturbing the peace. Filming took place over one day in late August 2011 in Putney, South West London. The iconic Putney Wharf Tower, Putney Bridge, along with parts of
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
, Fulham Palace Road, Lysia Street and Bishops Park Road are shown as "snapshots" during the course of the video. Mortlake and New Cross were other filming locations. For the American release Murs released a lyric video which featured clips from his time in America and fans dancing.


Live performances

On 27 November 2011, Murs performed "Dance with Me Tonight" for the first time on '' The X Factor'' results show. He performed with The Muppets, and the studio version of this performance was featured as a bonus track on the UK version of the soundtrack for the new ''The Muppets'' that was released in UK cinemas in February 2012. Murs also performed the song for his special for Channel 4's ''
The Album Chart Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' on 4 December 2011, ''
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Live Sessions'' on 11 December 2011, and on RTÉ One's '' The Late Late Toy Show'' on 2 December 2011, and acoustically for T4 show '' Sunday Brunch'' on 18 December 2011. The track was also performed in April 2012 on the Channel 4 show ''Hit the Road Jack'', hosted by comedian
Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. He is known for starring as JP in the series ''Fresh Meat (TV series), Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and Alfie Wickers in the series ''Bad Educat ...
. Murs' first American TV performance of the song was on ''
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'' on 28 September 2012, where he also performed " Heart Skips a Beat". On 18 January 2020, Murs performed the song on '' The Voice UK'' during a surprise performance with fellow judge Meghan Trainor, alongside Trainor's notably similar song "
Dear Future Husband "Dear Future Husband" is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. It was included on ''Title (EP), Title'', her 2014 extended play, and later on her 2015 Title (album), studio album of the same name. Trainor wrote the song with it ...
".


Chart performance

"Dance with Me Tonight" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number two on 27 November 2011, behind
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and
Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'', was released in June ...
' collaborative single " We Found Love", which spent a sixth non-consecutive week at number one. The following week saw the single remain at number two, this time behind ''The X Factor'' finalists with " Wishing on a Star" featuring
JLS JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing) are an English boyband, which consists of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill, originally formed by Williams. They initially signed to Tracklacers production company Ne ...
and One Direction. On its third charting week, 11 December, the single climbed to number-one, marking Murs' third number-one single after "Please Don't Let Me Go" (2010) and "Heart Skips a Beat" (2011). It had by this point sold over 200,000 copies before reaching the top of the UK chart – more than any other number one single that year. It spent 8 weeks inside the UK top 10, and a total of 20 weeks inside the UK top 40, making it one of his most successful singles in the UK to date. It also topped the UK radio airplay chart for six weeks between December 2011 and January 2012, and became his highest charting solo single to date in Ireland, peaking at number two.


Popular culture

In August 2013, the song was used as the theme tune to ITV dancing show '' Stepping Out'' and was sung by the show's house band. As of May 2014 the song has been used in an advert for Kinder Chocolate bars. It is also featured on Disney's Have a Laugh!'s Re-Micks episode. During the months of November and December 2021, the song began to trend on the social media platform TikTok with users doing a particular dance routine to the song.


Track listing


Charts and certifications


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Release history


References

{{Authority control 2011 singles Olly Murs songs Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Olly Murs Songs written by Steve Robson Songs written by Claude Kelly Songs about dancing