About The Song
“I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her second studio album, Whitney (1987). It was released as the lead single from the album on April 28, 1987, by Arista Records. It was produced by Narada Michael Walden, and written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, of the band Boy Meets Girl, who had previously collaborated with Houston on “How Will I Know”. At the 30th Annual Grammy Awards, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, marking Houston’s second win in the category.
“I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” received mixed reviews from music critics, who praised Houston’s vocal performance but critiqued its musical arrangement, comparing it to “How Will I Know” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”. Despite the mixed critical response, the song became a worldwide success, topping the charts in eighteen countries including Australia, Italy, Germany and the UK. In the US, it became Houston’s fourth consecutive chart topper and is certified seven times platinum with sales of over seven million equivalent copies.
“I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who wrote Houston’s 1985 song “How Will I Know,” which became successful, and as a result, they were asked to come up with another song for Houston’s then-new album. Originally the song that gave Merrill and Rubicam their US/UK top ten success as Boy Meets Girl, “Waiting for a Star to Fall” was intended by the duo to be a song for Houston. The duo sent it to Arista Records, but they passed on it, believing it was not suitable for Houston. Undeterred by this minor setback, the pair continued working on finding a song that would be ideal for Houston and was inspired to come up with “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” Later on, Rubicam explained the idea behind the song:
I pictured somebody single wishing that they could find that special person for themselves. It wasn’t, ‘I wanna go down the disco and dance,’ really. It was, ‘I wanna do that dance of life with somebody.’ That was the thought behind the song. So we sent our demo version off to Clive Davis and he loved it.
The song failed to impress producer Narada Michael Walden, who had produced “How Will I Know.” He took a little more persuading with regard to the song’s potential, and at first was not too keen on having Houston record it, as he felt it was too “country and western sounding.” He said of it,
[It] reminded me of a rodeo song with Olivia Newton-John singing. I love Olivia Newton-John, but for Whitney Houston, it didn’t seem right. I felt the song needed a much funkier feel. I slept, dreaming about it, woke up in the morning thinking about it, wondering what am I gonna do with this dance song. So, we just jumped in the water and lo and behold a magic record was born, Houston just knocked it out and then I knew we had a good record.
Video
Lyrics
Aah
Yeah
Woo
Hey yeah
Haa
Ooh yeah
Ah-ha
Yeah
I wanna dance
Clock strikes upon the hour
And the sun begins to fade
Still enough time to figure out
How to chase my blues away
I’ve done alright up ’till now
It’s the light of day that shows me how
And when the night falls, loneliness calls
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
I’ve been in love and lost my senses
Spinning through the town
Sooner or later, the fever ends
And I wind up feeling down
I need a man who’ll take the chance
On a love that burns hot enough to last
So when the night falls
My lonely heart calls
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Somebody who, somebody who
Somebody who loves me yeah
Somebody who, somebody who
To hold me in his arms oh
I need a man who’ll take the chance
On a love that burns hot enough to last
So when the night falls
My lonely heart calls
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Ooh ooh (dance)
Come on baby (dance)
Ooh, yeah (dance)
Now get with this
Whoah!
Don’tcha wanna dance with me baby?
Don’tcha wanna dance with me boy?
Hey don’tcha wanna dance with me baby?
With somebody who loves me?
Don’tcha wanna dance, say you wanna dance, don’tcha wanna dance
Don’tcha wanna dance, say you wanna dance, don’tcha wanna dance
Don’tcha wanna dance, say you wanna dance, ah-ha
With somebody who loves me
Dance, dance, dance (hey baby!)