"Right Now (Na Na Na)" is a song by Senegalese-American singer-songwriter

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

. It is the lead single from his third studio album, ''

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

.'' The song contains elements from "Remember" by Summer Love. The song was added to the U.S. Mainstream Top 40 radio airing on September 23, 2008, and also became available for digital download on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

that day. The song was intended to have a Euro-club feel.

History

In 2009, Dutch producers Maurice Huismans and Jorrit ter Braak started a lawsuit against Akon and his co-writer Giorgio Tuinfort, claiming that "Right Now" stole from an earlier song of theirs, "Remember" by the act Summer Love which was a hit in Europe in 2001 and later covered by the Underdog Project and Spanish singer David Tavare as the song "Summerlove". In 2010, the Dutch plagiarism committee approved this claim and all parties settled afterwards.

Official versions

Several remixes of the track exist. The official remix of the track features additional vocals by

Kat DeLuna Kathleen Emperatriz DeLuna (born November 26, 1987) is an American singer. DeLuna began pursuing a career as a singer when she was a teenager and later signed with Epic Records. Her debut single, " Whine Up", released in 2007, went on to become ...

. Further remixes include "Mañana (Na Na Na)", featuring vocals from Jayko, and an International Remix, featuring Canadian singer Danny Fernandes.

Music video

The official music video for the track was directed by Anthony Mandler and released on November 6, 2008. It premiered in Germany on the TV show ''Viva Live''. In the video, Akon plays an agent that is on a mission, he has to find a girl (the same from his video " Don't Matter") that has secret information. He remembers the good times that he spent with his ex-girlfriend, played by Jamaican model Cindy Wright, but he sleeps with the girl from "Don't Matter", gets the information and ends the video alone. The actual track begins one minute after the video begins, making the video over 5 minutes in length. As of February 2025, the video has over 1 billion views on

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Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Asking Alexandria cover

British rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

band Asking Alexandria covered the track for the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

Punk Goes Pop 3 ''Punk Goes Pop Volume 03.'' is the tenth compilation album released from the ''Punk Goes...'' series created by Fearless Records and the third installment in the ''Punk Goes Pop'' franchise to feature various post-hardcore, metalcore and alterna ...

'', which was released on November 2, 2010. It was available for digital download on September 29, 2010.

Other versions

A Tagalog parody version, entitled "Banana (Ba Na Na)", was recorded by Filipino rapper Blank Tape. In 2010, Rucka Rucka Ali parodied the song entitled "I Wanna Blow Up China (Na Na)". A Malaysian parody or remake was performed by Kelantanese singers Man Khan and Rosalinda, entitled "Dok Mano" released at the near end of 2012 sung in the Kelantanese dialect of the

Malaysian language Malaysian Malay () or Malaysian ()endonymically known as Standard Malay () or simply Malay (, abbreviated to BM)is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia and also used in Singapore and Brunei (as opposed to the variety u ...

. Olivia O'Brien sampled this song on her single "Now". Released on September 18, 2020. O’Brien’s lyrics juxtaposes Akon’s from the female’s point of view. A UIA cat version of the song, entitled Right Now (UIIAA), posted onto

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

account @Doombreaker03 on December 17, 2024, in which Ethel (OIIAOIIA cat) sings Right Now (Na Na Na), after What's been on my mind, I wanna make , the lyrics replaced "Up right now na na, i wanna make" with UIIAA, UAUI. In 2025,

collaborated with Canadian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist Josh Ross on the song "Drunk Right Now (Na Na Na)", which incorporated elements of "Right Now (Na Na Na)".

References

{{Authority control 2008 songs 2008 singles Akon songs Music videos directed by Anthony Mandler Songs written by Akon Universal Motown Records singles Songs written by Giorgio Tuinfort