On the Floor

"On The Floor" is the first single released from Jennifer's seventh studio album Love? which features rapper Pitbull.

The song was released to radio on January 18, 2011, but was released on iTunes on February 22, 2011.

"On The Floor" is considered Jennifer's "comeback" song.

The song was written by Bilal Hajji, Kinda Hamid, Gonzalo Hermosa, Ulises Hermosa, Achraf Janussi, Nadir Khayat, Armando Perez (Pitbull), Geraldo Sandell and RedOne (who also produced the song).

The song's release coincided with Jennifer's appointment as a judge on the tenth season of US reality TV show "American Idol" as well as several other product endorsement deals.

"American Idol" also provided a platform to debut the single's music video as well as the stage for Jennifer's first live performance of the song.

"On the Floor" is an up-tempo dance song, with influences of electropop and electro house, set in common time with a tempo of 130 beats per minute.

Other elements of the song are borrowed from Eurodance, Latin American and techno music, including heavy synths and club beats.

Its development was motivated by Jennifer's Latin heritage and pays homage to her career-beginnings as a dancer.

It interpolates recurrent elements of the 1982 composition "Llorando se fue" (written by G. and U. Hermosa), a composition that was subsequently sampled by Kaoma in their 1989 single "Lambada."

She described "On the Floor" as an evolution of her classic sound and as something which sounded very current.

"On the Floor" was met with a positive reception from music critics, with editors from BBC Music and Los Angeles Times drawing comparisons to Jennifer's debut single, "If You Had My Love" and follow-up single "Waiting For Tonight."

Critics complimented the exotic production, referring to the sound as "vintage" Jennifer, but criticized RedOne's lack of originality.

Commercially, "On the Floor" is Jennifer's most successful single to date, topping more than twenty national single charts.

In the United States, it was Jennifer's first single in four years to garner airplay and to date has sold over three million copies, earning a triple platinum certification.

The song was also certified triple Platinum in Australia and reached Platinum status in six other countries.

An accompanying music video was directed by TAJ Stansberry and choreographed by Frank Gatson, Jr. with fans being given the chance to vote for their preferred ending for the video.

The completed clip premiered simultaneously on Vevo and during the March 3, 2011 episode of "American Idol," watched by 25.26 million people.

It depicts a Los Angeles underground club culture where Jennifer portrays a "queen of the nightclub", amongst other characters.

The video received critical acclaim for its lavish production, the styling and choreography that critics felt best highlighted Jennifer's abilities as a dancer.

Song Background

Jennifer's seventh studio album "Love?" was conceived in late 2007 and early 2008.

During that time frame, under contract to Epic Records, she released "Louboutins", a song written and produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart as the project's lead single.

Upon release, the song failed to garner enough airplay to chart, despite topping the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Jennifer subsequently left Epic Records, citing that she had fulfilled her contractual obligations and now wished to release "Love?" under a new label.

Upon signing with The Island Def Jam Music Group, Jennifer continued working with The-Dream and Tricky Stewart in addition to collaborating with new producers such as RedOne.

It wasn't until January of 2011 that Jennifer teased the media about the new lead single for Love?.

In a tweet on her Twitter account, she posted: "I see u @RedOne_Official! We're making BIG things happen 'On the Floor' this new year!!!"

Subsequently on January 16, 2011, an unfinished snippet of "On the Floor" leaked online, labelled as a RedOne production and featuring rap vocals from Pitbull.

It is the second time that Jennifer and Pitbull have collaborated on a song, the first being "Fresh Out the Oven" the 2009 buzz single which reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

According to the Los Angeles Times's Gerrick D. Kennedy, a full length unfinished version of "On the Floor" leaked online over the same weekend in time for Jennifer's new L'Oreal commercial which premiered during the telecast of the 68th Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

The timing of the leak also coincided with Jennifer's debut on judges panel for season ten of American Idol.

Jennifer confirmed the single's title as "On the Floor" during the red carpet ceremony at The Golden Globes, before appearing the following day on the radio show On Air with Ryan Seacrest for the song's US premiere.

The final version of the song was uploaded to Ryanseacrest.com where the site's editor, Sadao Turner revealed that the final master of the song was different from the previously leaked and unfinished version.

On January 28, 2011, "On the Floor" made its debut in the United Kingdom when it was played by DJ Scott Mills on his radio show "Ready for the Weekend."

Benji Eisen from AOL Music stated that Jennifer had used "genius marketing and branding" by synchronising the digital release of "On the Floor" with the premiere of its music video on "American Idol."

On March 16, 2011, it was added to the B-playlist on the UK's biggest mainstream radio station, BBC Radio 1.

When talking about "On the Floor" during an interview with MTV, Jennifer said that she wanted a song that would evolve her sound, "it feels like me today, which I like. It's not something that you hear and you're like, 'That's not her,' but you also go, 'Is that her? I like that. It's new,' and that's what I wanted. I wanted it to be very me, but I wanted it to be me not from my first album or my second album, but for today."

Additionally, Jennifer felt a strong connection to "On the Floor" because it captured both sides of her career, singing and dancing.

According to her:

"The minute RedOne played it for me, I made him play it 20 times in a row, and I just sat there at the board and I kept listening to it and listening to it ... Because I really feel like, emotionally, I connected to it, but also because of how much I love to dance and how much that's always been such a big part of who I am since I started. Since I was a little girl, I just totally connected with the idea of getting out there."

Composition

"On the Floor" is an up-tempo dance song produced by RedOne, influenced by electropop and electro house.

It also contains heavy synths and elements of Eurodance, Latin and techno music.

Latin American artist Pitbull starts the song with a rap introduction while the melody interpolates elements of the Los Kjarkas composition "Llorando se fue" which was popularized by Kaoma's 1989 hit single "Lambada."

"On the Floor" was written by Bilal Hajji, Kinda Hamid, Gonzalo Hermosa, Ulises Hermosa, Achraf Janussi, RedOne, Pitbull and Geraldo Sandell in the key of E♭ minor.

It is written in the time signature of common time, set at a tempo of 130 beats per minute.

Jennifer's vocal range spans from A♭3 to B♭4 while the melody uses a simple chord progression of E♭ minor–B major–F♯ major–C♯ major.

The song was adapted in Spanish as "Ven a Bailar" which was translated by Julio Copello and Jimena Romero.

According to Idolator and Gerrick Kennedy from the Los Angeles Times, "On the Floor" is reminiscent of Jennifer's single "Waiting For Tonight."

About.com's Bill Lamb compared the song to Jennifer's debut single "If You Had My Love," stating that its production also had an "exotic touch" similar to that of Edward Maya's 2009 single "Stereo Love."

The song has also been remixed with "Stereo Love" by DJ Ryson (whose version can be seen on Youtube) showing the astonishing similarities in both sounds owing to the fluid change from one song to the other in the remix.

Kennedy elaborated on the comparisons, stating that "listeners haven’t heard this dance-electro-pop side of Lopez since 1999... much of her back catalog flirts with more gritty urban-pop sounds."

Editors for the New York Daily News made some comparisons between "On the Floor" and another RedOne production, Kat DeLuna's 2010 single "Party O'Clock."

Kat's song contains the lyrics "Party in Ibiza, Party in New York/All the way to Africa/Love in the Caribbean/On my way to Vegas" whereas Jennifer sings the nearly identical line, "Brazil, Morocco/London to Ibiza/Straight to L.A. New York/Vegas to Africa."

Personnel

• Jennifer Lopez: lead vocals
• Alessandro Giulini: accordion
• Josh Gudwin: vocal recording
• Bilal Hajji: songwriter
• Kinda Hamid: songwriter
• Kuk Harrell: vocal arranger, vocal editor, vocal producer & vocal recording
• Gonzalo Hermosa: songwriter
• Ulises Hermosa: songwriter
• Achraf Janussi: songwriter
• Trevor Muzzy: audio mixer & recording engineer
• Nadir "RedOne" Khayat: producer, songwriter, vocal arranger, vocal editor, vocal producer, instruments and programming & recording engineer
• Chris "TEK" O'Ryan: vocal editor & recording engineer
• Armando "Pitbull" Perez: rap vocalist & songwriter
• Geraldo "Teddy Sky" Sandell: songwriter
• Low Sunday (Bart Schoudel & Ron Haney): additional production for remix

Recording

• Recorded at the Cove Studios in New York and Henson Recording in Los Angeles, California
• Contains interpolations of the composition: "Llorando Se Fue", written by Gonzales Hermosa and Ulises Hermosa.

Certifications

The song was certified Gold in Russia and Platinum in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom & the United States.