Flashdance (What A Feeling)
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"Flashdance... What a Feeling" is a song from the 1983 film ''
Flashdance ''Flashdance'' is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer, Alex Owens, who aspires to become a professional ballerina, alongside Michael Nouri, who plays her ...
'' with music by
Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...
and lyrics by
Keith Forsey Keith Forsey (born 2 January 1948) is an English pop musician and record producer. Early life Forsey began his career as a percussionist in the mid-late 1960s as the drummer for The Spectrum and as the drummer in Udo Lindenberg's Panik Orche ...
and the song's performer,
Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and for recording the film's title song " Fame", which reach ...
. The song spent six weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and topped the charts around the world. It was awarded Gold certification by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
for sales of one million copies and won the
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
and
Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...
for Best Original Song and earned Cara the
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...
. In 2023, the song was chosen by the
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for inclusion in the
National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation ...
. Moroder had been asked to score the film, and Cara and Forsey wrote most of the lyrics after they were shown the last scene, in which the main character dances at an audition for a group of judges. They felt that the dancer's ambition to succeed could act as a metaphor for achieving any dream a person has and wrote lyrics that described what it feels like when music inspires someone to dance. The song was used for that scene as well as during the opening credits. The song was the first single to be released from the
soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...
and received positive reviews. Because ''Flashdance'' was going to be released in mid-April of that year,
Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label focuses ...
released the single in March to market the film. The unexpected success at the
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resulted in stores across the US selling out of both the single and its parent album just days after ''Flashdance'' was in theaters. The success of the song made it clear to Cara that she was not receiving royalties stipulated in her recording contract, and she took legal action against her label in order to be compensated. The backlash that she claims she suffered in retaliation for filing a lawsuit left her feeling shut out of the entertainment industry as she struggled to find work. Although she began receiving royalties for the recordings she made for them, the label and its owner declared bankruptcy and claimed that they were unable to pay her the $1.5million settlement she was awarded by a Los Angeles Superior Court.


Background and writing

After winning the
Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...
in 1979 for '' Midnight Express'',
Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...
worked with ''Flashdance'' producer
Jerry Bruckheimer Jerome Leonard Bruckheimer (born September 21, 1943) is an American film and television producer. He has been active in the genres of action, drama, comedy, fantasy, horror and science fiction. After working in advertising out of college, Bruck ...
on the 1980 film ''
American Gigolo ''American Gigolo'' is a 1980 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. It tells the story of a high-priced escort in Los Angeles (Gere) who becomes romantically ...
'', and Bruckheimer contacted Moroder in 1982 to see if he would be interested in composing the music for the new film, which told the story of Alex Owens, a young woman who dreams of becoming a ballerina and must overcome her fear of auditioning before a panel of judges. Despite his lack of interest due to other commitments, Moroder came up with some music that was "a very rough sketch". He thought it might fit the project well and sent it in before filming began. The demo was the music for what became "Flashdance... What a Feeling", but Moroder did not agree to composing the score until after seeing a video of a rough cut of the film, which completed shooting on December 30, 1982. He then delegated the writing of the lyrics to his session drummer,
Keith Forsey Keith Forsey (born 2 January 1948) is an English pop musician and record producer. Early life Forsey began his career as a percussionist in the mid-late 1960s as the drummer for The Spectrum and as the drummer in Udo Lindenberg's Panik Orche ...
, who started on the task by himself but later received help from
Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and for recording the film's title song " Fame", which reach ...
. She described Forsey as "very personable, just a sweetheart. He was very funny. We definitely clicked." Cara received her big break in 1980 in the role of Coco Hernandez, a student at the
High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was ...
, in the movie '' Fame''. The soundtrack album included two chart hits that Cara recorded: the
title song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
, which got as high as number 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and " Out Here on My Own", which peaked at number 19.. When the record label for the soundtrack, RSO, went out of business, one of its executives,
Al Coury Albert Eli Coury (October 21, 1934 – August 8, 2013) was an American music record executive and producer who was vice-president of Capitol Records, co-founder of RSO Records, founder of Network Records and general manager of Geffen Records. C ...
, convinced her to join his newly-formed Network Records,: When RSO shut down, Coury decided to launch his own label. Cara could have written her own ticket at any record label in the world. Instead, she signed with Coury. and the title track from her first album there, ''
Anyone Can See ''Anyone Can See'' is Irene Cara's debut album, released in 1982. This album followed up her successful hit singles " Out Here on My Own" and " Fame". The album is solid R&B featuring such standout songs as " Reach Out I'll Be There", "Slow Dow ...
'', reached number 42 on the Hot 100 during a run of 18 weeks that began in November 1981. She was working on an album and looking for a producer in early 1983 when she was contacted by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
to provide lyrics for the new soundtrack song. Although Moroder had shown interest in working with her once she had success with ''Fame'', she was reluctant about being compared to another singer he had produced,
Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...
. "But with 'Flashdance What a Feeling'" Cara explained, "we were thrown together by Paramount." Cara and Forsey were shown the last scene of the film, in which Alex auditions, to have a sense of what the lyrics should be. They were then driven from the screening to Giorgio's studio to record the song and, during the trip, were able to come up with most of the words that Cara would sing. She said, "I had no idea what the movie was about or anything. It did seem to me to have a similar look in regards to ''Fame'', so I figured, well, this is another performing arts film." She told Forsey that she thought the lyrics should describe the feeling of dance and credits him with coming up with the lyric that inspired the working title for the song, "Dancing for Your Life". She explained how the song became "a metaphor about a dancer, how she's in control of her body when she dances and how she can be in control of her life" and how that particular art form could represent any goal someone has. Moroder felt that the lyric "what a feeling" was right for the story but tried persuading them to incorporate the title of the film into the lyrics; the closest they could come to doing that was to use the two words that formed the title in separate lines of the song, such as, "In a flash it takes hold of my heart". It was only after the song was completed with the title "What a Feeling" that "Flashdance…" was added "to get some extra promotional mileage" out of it. The song is in the key of B♭ Major and has a
tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...
of 122 beats per minute. Cara's voice spans from the tonal nodes of F3 to D5.


Recording

Moroder had produced Summer's hit " Heaven Knows", which featured
Brooklyn Dreams ''Brooklyn Dreams'' is an American comic book limited series written by J. M. DeMatteis and illustrated by Glenn Barr. It was published by the DC Comics imprint, Paradox Press in 1994 and later collected into a trade paperback, published by DC un ...
vocalist Joe "Bean" Esposito, and had Esposito record a vocal demo of "Flashdance... What a Feeling". Moroder would have had Esposito do the final recording, but Paramount wanted somebody who was well known. The film's producers also felt the singer of the song should be female. Cara stipulated in her agreement to write the lyrics that she would be the one to sing the song, and Moroder thought "she did absolutely fantastic work." She wanted to do more than one take, and he felt her third crack at it was her best. They completed recording the song in a few days, and the movie studio liked what they heard. On the ''Special Collector's Edition'' DVD release of ''Flashdance'' from 2010, Bruckheimer said, "When you first heard it, you said, 'Its a hit.' It’s one of those things you just heard, and you just couldn’t get it out of your head. And it just got us all so excited. We kept playing it over and over and never got tired of it. To this day, I’m not tired of that song. Cara also had a good feeling about it: "I knew when we were recording it that we had something special with the song. Some things you just feel, you know? You can’t really dissect it or analyze it. It’s a spiritual thing that you sense, and I did sense that I had something special with this song."


Critical reception

"Flashdance…What a Feeling" received predominantly positive reviews at the time of its release and has continued to do so. ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine proclaimed that the song was "the best showcase for Cara's vocal talents since she first came to ' Fame' three years ago. The spirited Giorgio Moroder tune has the same kind of yearning optimism as that initial hit." ''Cash Box'' concurred, "This should be the vehicle Cara has been searching for since her 'Fame' debut. Moroder's hook is powerful, the arrangement well sculpted. Strong stuff." ''
Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...
s Betty Page predicted, "Huge hitsville, USA... Next year's Grammy, Oscar... winner, no doubt." Maureen Rice of '' Number One'' magazine admitted, "I really like this", and described it as "a perfect radio record". ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...
critic
John Rockwell John Sargent Rockwell (born September 16, 1940) is an American music critic, dance critic and arts administrator. According to ''Grove Music Online'', "Rockwell brings two signal attributes to his critical work: a genuine admiration for all ki ...
wrote that the song, "sung by Irene Cara in a manner directly evocative of her big hit, 'Fame,' still possesses a buoyant energy of its own." The editors of ''
Digital Audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital signal (signal processing), digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical sampling (signal processing), ...
s Guide to Compact Discs'' described the song as "a blend of crooning synthesizer background music and a hard disco beat," and concluded, "These effects and Cara's enthusiastic voice make this an impressive song." In their retrospective reviews,
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
labeled the song as one of their Album Picks from the ''Flashdance'' soundtrack, Cara's '' What a Feelin''' album, and the 1994 ''
Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label focuses ...
Story'' compilation.


Release and commercial performance

Since ''Flashdance'' was to be released on April 15, 1983, Cara's recording was made available as a "scout"
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
in March as a way of getting the attention of the target audience for the film, but
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
had doubts that the movie would do well at the box office. Bruckheimer explained that Casablanca's parent company, Polygram, "only shipped 60,000 opies of the soundtrack album so they really had no faith in the record." The May 7 issue of '' Cashbox'' magazine, however, reported on the surprise success of the film, noting that by Tuesday, April 19, retailers were reporting that all ''Flashdance'' merchandise was gone. Paramount planned to have the film's director,
Adrian Lyne Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941) is an English film director. Lyne is known for sexually charged narratives that explore conflicting passions, the power of seduction, moral ambiguity, betrayal, and the indelibility of infidelity. In the mid 197 ...
, take parts of scenes from it to create music videos for songs from the soundtrack, including Cara's contribution, which would also be used in all subsequent radio and television ads for the film as a way for potential ticket buyers to "identify the motion picture". In the April 2, 1983, issue of ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine, "Flashdance…What a Feeling" began a run of 25 weeks on the
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
, which included 14 weeks in the top 10, making it the longest-running top-10 single of 1983. The May 28 ''Billboard'' marked its first of 6 weeks as the most popular song in the US, and it also went to number one in Australia, Canada, Denmark,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland and made the top five in Austria, Finland, Ireland, the UK, and West Germany. It debuted on ''Billboards
Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
chart in the April 30 issue and got as high as number 4 during its 24 weeks there. In the May 7 issue it made its first appearance on their list of the most popular
Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...
in the US and spent 5 of its 22 weeks there at number 2 (behind "
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" by
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, which only reached #45 on the Hot 100). The May 7 issue also began the 18 weeks that the 12-inch remix spent on their
Dance/Disco Top 80 The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...
chart, 3 of which were in the top spot. On ''Billboard'''s Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1983, it came in at number 3. On June 17, the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
awarded the single Gold certification for achieving sales of one million copies, and on July 1, the
British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...
issued Silver certification to it for shipment of 250,000 units. Also on July 1,
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awarded the single both Gold and Platinum awards for reaching the 50,000 and 100,000 thresholds for units shipped, respectively, and the Double Platinum award was issued on January 1, 1984, after reaching the 200,000 mark. Later that month, ''Billboard'' reported that sales in Japan were over 700,000. In France, sales have also reached the one million mark for Platinum certification. (In the box labeled "Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste", type the letter "I". Arrow down the list to "Irene Cara" and click OK.)


Film context

Film scholars who have commented on ''Flashdance'' in essays have highlighted the relationship between the song and Alex's story. "Flashdance... What a Feeling" is heard over the opening credits of the film as a young woman rides her bike through the streets of Pittsburgh just after sunrise and then continues as work goes on in a steel mill. In his dissertation on film musicals about dance, John Trenz explained that the song functions as our way into the story since no other introductory information, such as the bicyclist's identity, is provided on the soundtrack. The mill workers use machinery that represents the "world made of steel, made of stone" that Cara sings about, and we are shown several of them at work while the song continues. As the chorus is heard for the last time to finish presenting the opening credits, the worker that the film keeps cutting back to is wearing a welding helmet with Alex printed on the front. The welder removes the protective gear to reveal that Alex is female, and she shakes her hair loose from the helmet and catches her breath. With the film's unveiling of its main character, Trenz wrote, "The gender revelation seems to punctuate the song's lyrics, 'What a feeling! Being’s believing, I can have it all.'" In the February 1984 issue of ''
Jump Cut A jump cut is a cut (transition), cut in film editing that breaks a single continuous sequential shot of a subject into two parts, with a piece of footage removed to create the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera positioning on the subjec ...
'', Kathryn Kalinak delineated an instance in which the lyrics coincide with Alex's dialogue. Alex is uncomfortable when her boyfriend Nick sees her dancing outside of her work setting, but her job performing onstage to contemporary music in a bar is a different kind of presentation where the audience means nothing to her. When Nick asks why she seems so comfortable in front of the bar patrons, she explains, "I never see them. You go out there, and the music starts, and you begin to feel it. And your body just starts to move. I know it sounds really silly. But something inside you just clicks, and you just take off. You're gone. It's like you're somebody else for a second." This freedom she describes is reflected in the lyrics, "When I hear the music, close my eyes, feel the rhythm wrap around, take ahold of my heart, what a feeling." The song is heard again during Alex's audition at the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory as the recording that she brings to play while she performs, but Trenz pointed out that, instead of functioning as an introduction to the character as it did during the opening credits, the song is now Alex's means of interpreting her story through dance. He averred that "she inhabits the song and reproduces an expression of her story by dancing to it and signifying the music and being the significance of its lyrics at the same time." Since this is an audition to measure her skill as a dancer and not judge an acting performance, the song provides a unique function for the two audiences witnessing the audition. For the judges in the film, she is translating the artistry of the song, which symbolizes this applicant reaching the goal of being considered for admission. The film audience, however, can now interpret the song as her story, making it more than just a soundtrack hit. Trenz wrote, "The narrative allows the film audience to read the sequence as expressive of her story in association with the song while the reactions of the committee seem to signify the resolution expressed by the song – that Alex can make it happen and have it all." In his essay, "Reaganite Cinema: What a Feeling!", Gary Needham, a senior lecturer in film at the
University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
, provided a different interpretation of the ending of ''Flashdance'' because of the way the song is used. In contributing momentum to the audition performance, the tempo of "Flashdance... What a Feeling" combines with the editing and choreography of the scene in such a way to make it clear to the audience that Alex has earned her happy ending. The song continues to play when she bounds down the steps outside of the Conservatory and rounds the sidewalk to find Nick and her dog Grunt waiting to greet her afterward, but the meaning of the song changes. During the audition, it exists in the world created by the film and conveys the success that has been her goal, but because it continues on the soundtrack as her joyous reunion with Nick is presented, Needham argues, "Everything that we feel about Alex's success as a dancer through her performance and the music is hijacked… so that our 'feeling' about success, performance, and dance is conflated with romance, surrender, and the loss of independence." The politics of the film shift from the idea that a woman can thrive on her own to one in which she relies on a relationship to survive, which, "echoed in the lyrics 'What a Feeling', secures her a place in a traditional, appropriately feminine, patriarchal system."


Live performances

Some of Cara's appearances to promote "Flashdance…What a Feeling" included programs where performers would
lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...
to the hit recording of their song, such as ''
American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...
'', where she appeared on the April 30, 1983, broadcast. This sort of performance on the '' Solid Gold'' episode from that same date allowed her to show off some of her own moves alongside the Solid Gold Dancers. When she returned for their 1983 year-end countdown to perform the song again, she only lip synched through the first chorus, after which she sang live to a remix as a group of breakdancers performed. In 2013, she commented, "This ''Solid Gold'' performance of "Flashdance..." was one of the most memorable for me. It included all the great pioneers of breakdancing and I got to perform the long version of the song!" In 1984, she also incorporated her training as a dancer into a lip sync performance of the song at the 11th Annual American Music Awards on January 16. Vocal performances included the '' Fame Looks at Music '83'' television concert that was broadcast on January 28, the
26th Annual Grammy Awards The 26th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1984, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1983. Michael Jackson, who had been recov ...
a month later, on February 28, and the
56th Academy Awards The 56th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1983 and took place on April 9, 1984, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, beginning at 6:00 p.m ...
on April 9, where she was joined onstage by 44 boys and girls from the
National Dance Institute National Dance Institute (NDI) was founded in 1976 by New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d'Amboise (dancer), Jacques d'Amboise. NDI works with mainstream, bilingual, and special education classes. NDI classes are taught by professional ...
. The song became a part of her first concert tour, which began at the end of the following summer.


Awards and accolades

As a single, "Flashdance…What a Feeling" earned Cara the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, and a nomination for
Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...
.. As part of the ''Flashdance'' soundtrack, it gave her and all of the songwriters who contributed to the album the Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special, and she was also nominated alongside all of the other performers on the soundtrack for Album of the Year. "Flashdance…What a Feeling" won the
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
and
Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...
for Best Original Song and was also nominated in that category at the
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
Film Awards. It also contributed as a whole or in part to three
American Music Award The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by Dick Clark Productions since 1974. Nominees are selected on commercial performance such as sales and airplay. Winners are determined by a poll of the public and ...
nominations: Favorite Pop/Rock Album, Favorite Pop/Rock Song, and Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist for Cara. In 1998, "Flashdance... What a Feeling" came in at number nine on ''Billboard'' magazine's list of the top 10 soundtrack songs, and on the
Songs of the Century The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical an ...
list compiled by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
in 2001, the song was listed at number 256. In 2004, it finished at number 55 on AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema, and in 2008, the song was ranked at number 26 on ''Billboard''s All Time Top 100, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. When ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine ranked the 20 Greatest Best Song Oscar Performances in 2016, Cara's appearance at the 1984 Academy Awards was listed at number 20. In 2018,
Insider Insider(s) or The Insider(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * ''Insiders'', a comic series by Mark Millar and Paul Grist, published in ''Crisis'' * The Insiders, a team of DC Comics characters in the Brainiac stories * ''I ...
included the title song on its list of 35 of the most iconic movie songs of all time, generously adding that it "has a special place in pop culture history." That same year, it came in at number 34 on ''Billboards list of the "600 most massive smashes over the ot 100s six decades", and in 2019, the magazine ranked the song at number 11 on its list of the Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs by Women. "Flashdance... What a Feeling" was selected by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
for preservation in the
National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation ...
in 2023, based on its "cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage."


Aftermath

In addition to being available on the
soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...
, "Flashdance... What a Feeling" was included on Cara's follow-up LP, '' What a Feelin''', which was produced by Moroder. As she promoted the new hit singles from that album at the end of 1983 and through the first half of 1984, she was also busy collecting awards for her soundtrack hit, but the good fortune was tainted by the feeling of being cheated by her record company. Even with this recent success, she had only been paid $183 in royalties from Network Records and demanded an explanation from Coury, who "tried to appease her with gifts and promises." By the end of 1984 she still had only received $61,343 and decided to hire entertainment lawyers to get the money that her contract said she was due and also to help her break free from the label. Years later she said, "I never realized that what seemed so logical a decision at the time would cost me so much." In 1985 Cara filed a lawsuit against Al Coury Inc. and Network Records seeking $10million in
punitive Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beha ...
and approximately $2million in
compensatory damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognized at ...
, claiming, among other things, that Coury withheld $2million in composing and recording deals involving "Flashdance... What a Feeling". The treatment she received in the entertainment industry from that point on, however, caused her to suspect that Coury initiated a smear campaign to ruin her career. She claims that they warned the other record labels of her lawsuit so that no one would sign her and that people who once welcomed her—from producers and casting agents to the staff at restaurants and other favorite establishments around
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
—now wanted nothing to do with her. There was even talk that her career had been destroyed by drug addiction. When Network Records folded, Coury went to work for
David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American film producer, record executive, and media proprietor. In music, he co-founded Asylum Records with Elliot Roberts in 1971 before founding Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1 ...
, whom Cara is certain also took part in vilifying her. The original team of lawyers that Cara hired had argued in her lawsuit that Network was not a functioning label instead of simply making a case for fraud, so she tried several other firms when the case was no longer going anywhere before she found Tom Nunziato, an attorney who got things moving again. "She was obviously strung out and upset, but she was very credible," Nunziato recalled. "She was impressive. I'm a contingency lawyer, and ninety percent of a contingency case is the believability of your client, assuming the facts are there." Because the statute of limitations had run out on claiming fraud, he had to focus on it as an accounting matter, but Cara would finally be able to make her case before a jury. In 1993, after concluding that Cara's career was damaged as a result of the treatment she received, a Los Angeles County Superior Court awarded her $1.5million for misaccounted funds. No case was allowed to be made for punitive damages, however, and Nunziato explained how actually getting the money was more complicated: "Because only the corporations l Coury Inc. and Network Recordswere sued back in the beginning and not the individuals, the corporations just declared bankruptcy; supposedly they used all the money to pay attorneys… Irene was vindicated by the jury, but the legal system kind of fell down, and there was no way to compensate her." She did, however, begin earning royalties for her Network recordings almost a decade after her last chart hit in 1984.


Track listings


Credits and personnel

From the liner notes for the 1997 CD release of '' What a Feelin''': * Irene Cara – lead vocals * Joe Esposito – backing vocals * Stephanie Spruill – backing vocals * Maxine Willard Waters – backing vocals *
Richie Zito Richie Zito (born August 21, 1952) is an American songwriter, composer and record producer from Los Angeles. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Zito has experienced success as a prolific session musician, being featured on a wide array of ...
– guitar *
Keith Forsey Keith Forsey (born 2 January 1948) is an English pop musician and record producer. Early life Forsey began his career as a percussionist in the mid-late 1960s as the drummer for The Spectrum and as the drummer in Udo Lindenberg's Panik Orche ...
– drums *
Sylvester Levay Sylvester Levay (originally Lévay Szilveszter, Serbian language, Serbian: Силвестер Леваи, ''Silvester Levai'') is a Hungarian people, Hungarian recording artist and composer, born in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Life and career Levay ...
– keyboards; arranger *Giorgio Moroder – producer *
John "Jellybean" Benitez John Benitez (born November 7, 1957), also known as Jellybean, is an American musician, songwriter, DJ, remixer, and music producer. He has produced and remixed artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and the Pointer Sisters. H ...
– remixing (12-inch single) *Brian Reeves – engineer *Mike Frondelli – engineer *Dave Concors – engineer


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


All-time charts


Certifications


Marcia Hines version

American-Australian singer
Marcia Hines Marcia Elaine Hines AM (born July 20, 1953) is an American-born Australian singer and TV personality. Hines made her debut, at the age of 16, in the Australian production of the stage musical ''Hair'' and followed with the role of Mary Magdalen ...
recorded a version of the song titled "What a Feeling" in 1998. It was released as the lead single from her ninth studio album, '' Time of Our Lives'' (1999).


Track listing

*CD single #"What a Feeling" – 3:25 #"What a Feeling" (12″ Mix) – 5:30 #"What a Feeling" (Discothèque Remix) – 7:07 #"What a Feeling" (Easy Skanking Mix) – 5:57 #"What a Feeling" (Freakazoid Dub Mix) – 6:35 #"What a Feeling" (Extended Mix) – 5:23 #"I Got the Music in Me" – 4:38


Charts


Global Deejays version

In 2005, Austrian
house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
group
Global Deejays Global Deejays, Global Playboyz or Ravers on Dope are an Austrian tech house DJ team composed of DJ Taylor (Konrad Schreyvogl) and FLOw (Florian Schreyvogl). Their first three singles were big hits in Europe. Musical career The group's track " ...
covered "Flashdance... What a Feeling" on their album ''Network'', retitled "What a Feeling (Flashdance)".


Track listings

*Austrian, German and Australian CD maxi single #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Radio Version) – 3:14 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Clubhouse Radio Version) – 3:32 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Pop Radio Version) – 2:46 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Clubhouse Mix) – 6:11 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (G.L.O.W's Feelin' Da Vox Mix) – 6:25 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Mix) – 5:29 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (OSX Version) – 6:02 *French CD maxi single #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (House Radio Edit) – 3:33 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Radio Version) – 3:14 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Pop Radio Version) – 2:46 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Clubhouse Mix) – 6:11 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Mix) – 5:27 *Belgian CD maxi single #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Radio Version) – 3:14 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Clubhouse Radio Version) – 3:32 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Pop Radio Version) – 2:46 #"What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Mix) – 5:29 *German and Italian 12-inch single :A1. "What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Clubhouse Mix) – 6:07 :A2. "What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (G.L.O.W's Feelin' Da Vox Mix) – 6:25 :B1. "What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Mix) – 5:28 :B2. "What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (OSX Version) – 6:02 *French 12-inch single :A. "What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Clubhouse Mix) – 6:11 :B. "What a Feeling (Flashdance)" (Progressive Follow Up Mix) – 5:27


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Other cover versions

*
Björn Again Björn Again is an ABBA-inspired tribute act, tribute band from Australia, consisting of performers from various countries. The name is a reference to ABBA guitarist and vocalist Björn Ulvaeus. The band has performed worldwide since it was fo ...
released a version of the song as a single in 1993, which reached number 65 on the UK Singles Chart. * Swiss singer
DJ BoBo Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as severa ...
released a version as a duet with
Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and for recording the film's title song " Fame", which reach ...
in 2001, which reached number two in Switzerland, number three in Germany, number 10 in Spain, and number 11 in Austria. * French singer
Priscilla Betti Préscillia Cynthia Samantha Betti (born 2 August 1989 in Nice), known professionally as Priscilla or Priscilla Betti, is a French singer and actress. She released her first single at the age of 12, and has released six albums. She played the ma ...
released a French version of the song named "Cette vie nouvelle" as the second single from her debut album ''
Cette vie nouvelle ''Cette vie nouvelle'' is the name of the debut album of the French singer Priscilla Betti. Released in June 2002, it was preceded by the two singles "Quand je serai jeune" and "Cette Vie nouvelle" (a cover version of the famous hit " What a Fee ...
'' (2002). It peaked at number nine in France and number 36 in the Walloon region of Belgium. *
Marie Picasso Marie Picasso (born ''Lilly Marie Pettersson'' on 24 April 1979) is a Swedish singer, host and model who first rose to fame as a housemate on the popular reality television show '' Big Brother'', before going on to win the fourth series of the ...
covered the song in 2007, peaking at number 54 on the Swedish singles chart. * Extensive samples of Cara's version are included in
Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Since the start of his solo recording career in 2009, he has sold over 250 m ...
's 2010 single " The Sky's the Limit". *
Lea Michele Lea Michele Sarfati ( ; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of ''Les Misérables'' (1995–1996), ''Ragtime'' (1997–1999), ''Fid ...
and
Jenna Ushkowitz Jenna Noelle Ushkowitz (; born April 28, 1986), Korean given name Min Ji (), is an American actress, singer, producer and podcast host. She is known for her performances in Broadway musicals such as ''The King and I'' and ''Waitress'' and in th ...
covered the song for the television series ''
Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...
'' in the
season three A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...
episode "
Props A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...
". The single was released May 25, 2012, and charted at number 145 in the United Kingdom. * A 2024 television commercial for
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
Home Internet features
Zach Braff Zachary Israel Braff (born April 6, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He portrayed J.D. (Scrubs), John Michael "J.D." Dorian on the NBC/American Broadcasting Company, ABC television series ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs'' (2001–2010), for ...
,
Donald Faison Donald Adeosun Faison (; born June 22, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his leading role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC/ NBC comedy-drama '' Scrubs'' (2001–2010), and a supporting role as Murray in both the film '' Cluel ...
, and
Jason Momoa Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa (; born August 1, 1979) is an American actor. He made his acting debut as Jason Ioane on the syndicated action drama series '' Baywatch: Hawaii'' (1999–2001), which was followed by portrayals of Ronon Dex on the ...
singing a version of the song with lyrics about wireless broadband Internet access. During the commercial, they dance in a routine reminiscent of "Flashdance" (the full edit of the commercial includes a version of the iconic "water splash" moment and an appearance by
Jennifer Beals Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''My Bodyguard'' (1980), before receiving critical acclaim for her performance as Alexandra Owens in ''Flashdance'' (1983), for which she won NAACP Image ...
), and at the end Faison pulls Braff's shirt down on one shoulder like Beals wore hers in the movie.


See also

*
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s The following lists the number one singles on the Australian Singles Chart, along with other substantial hits, during the 1980s. The source for this decade is the Kent Music Report (retitled as Australian Music Report in 1987), and the ARIA Char ...
* List of RPM number-one singles of 1983 * List of number-one singles in 1983 (New Zealand) *
List of number-one songs in Norway This list shows the songs which have been number one on the official chart list (VG-lista) in Norway. The single list started in 1958, and the albums list in 1967. The show is broadcast every Wednesday by NRK P3, one of Norwegian Broadcasting ...
(
VG-lista 1964 to 1994 This is a summary list of all the top singles in the VG-lista, the official Norwegian hit-chart, from 1964 to 1994. For detailed listings week by week for number-one positions from 1995 onwards, see List of number-one songs in Norway. 1964 # The Be ...
) * List of number-one singles (Sweden) *
List of number-one singles of the 1980s (Switzerland) This is a list of singles that reached number one on the Swiss Hitparade during the 1980s. Number-one singles See also *1980s in music References {{SwissNumber1s Number-one singles Switzerland 1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.P ...
* List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1983 * List of number-one dance singles of 1983 (U.S.)


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flashdance What A Feeling 1983 songs 1983 singles 1998 singles 2001 singles 2005 singles Best Original Song Academy Award–winning songs Best Original Song Golden Globe–winning songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Casablanca Records singles Film theme songs Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Irene Cara songs Björn Again songs Marcia Hines songs Marie Picasso songs DJ BoBo songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Denmark Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in South Africa Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Giorgio Moroder Songs about dancing Songs involved in royalties controversies Songs written by Giorgio Moroder Songs written by Irene Cara Songs written by Keith Forsey Warner Music Group singles United States National Recording Registry recordings