He knew immediately the song was "the one." The team, though, took some convincing. Then I came home and wrote the chorus, and the rest is history." "So I went out to take a break, and at this club - at the Echo in Los Angeles - there was this girl in this backless dress and beat-up red sneakers and she actually told me to shut up and dance with her.
It kind of sounds like it was written about 30 years ago, but, again, that’s not a bad thing."It had this awesome vibe, but no chorus," Petricca said. The song has lots of ebullient synths and oooh-e-oooh-e-ooohs. “‘Shut Up and Dance’ kind of carries this torch of our dorky spirit,” says Maiman, “but ‘Different Colors’ is a chance for us to speak to something that’s really important to us, which is diversity and sort of empowering people, especially kids, to have the courage to be themselves and to stand out and celebrate differences.” (So sort of a United Colors of Benetton thing.) Walk the Moon released a new video for it earlier this month. They’re not sick of playing “Shut Up and Dance” just yet, they say, but they would like to remind people that they do actually have other songs - surprise, surprise. Eli and Nick know that the song may have peaked too late to claim true summer dominance, but in order to keep the momentum going, the band is pounding the pavement on a massive tour. Talking Is Hard was released in December, but “Shut Up and Dance” only found its way to the top of the charts in the last couple of months. “We’re out here playing gigs! C’mon, man!” Related StoriesĮd Sheeran Says ‘Shut Up and Dance’ Is This Year’s Song of Summer The possibility of possibility.” Since this is a competition, though, Eli points out that Jason Derulo is probably “too busy judging So You Think You Can Dance ” to win this year’s Song of Summer race. And that’s such a feeling that’s associated with spring and summertime. “Like the possibility of love, or of sex, or whatever. “Both songs are kind of about possibilities,” adds Petricca. There’s something about it that really puts me in a good mood. The music video is a retelling of those events - except that it looks like it was filmed in a laser-tag arena instead of a nightclub.īut what about fellow ’80s homage-payer Jason Derulo’s “Want to Want Me”? “I’m pretty partial to that track,” says guitarist Eli Maiman. “It was one of the last songs we wrote for the record, and it sort of came together, in a way, by that chance happening,” says Nick.
That dance night also inspired a lyrical scenario: Boy meets girl in backless dress and some beat-up sneaks. called the Echo, and they have this great throwback dance night,” says lead singer Nick Petricca. Speaking over the phone, the band members were open about their love of the old-school and how it influenced their runaway single. “Shut Up and Dance” - Ed Sheeran’s personal Song of Summer selection - opens with a shimmery arpeggio that reminds me of a guitar sequence from U2’s 1987 track “Where the Streets Have No Name.” This is not a bad thing, and after one listen to Walk the Moon’s recent album, Talking Is Hard, it’s very clear that the Ohio-based band really, really likes the ’80s, too. Is that a good thing? It depends on how honest you are about your addiction to John Hughes movies and big hair. If you’re really honest about it, you know you’ll be listening to Walk the Moon a lot this summer. Two of this year’s Song of Summer contenders sound like bonus tracks plucked from a “Now That’s What I Call ‘80s Dance” compilation: “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon, and “ Want to Want Me” by Jason Derulo. Left to right: Eli Maiman, Nicholas Petricca, Kevin Ray and Sean Waugaman.