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Can't Stop the Feeling!

"Can't Stop the Feeling!" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. It was released on May 6, 2016, as the lead single of the soundtrack to the film Trolls (2016), in which Timberlake voiced the character "Branch" and served as the executive music producer. It was written and produced by Timberlake, Max Martin, and Karl Schuster. Musically, "Can't Stop the Feeling!" is an uptempo disco-pop and soul-pop number with funk influences.

Background and composition
In the early stages of recording his fifth studio album, Timberlake also served as the executive music producer for the soundtrack to the film Trolls. The uptempo disco-pop track was written and produced by Timberlake, Max Martin and Shellback. Entertainment Weekly described the song as a "funky mix of disco and pop," and The A.V. Club called it "a soul-pop sugar rush tweaked for maximum dance grooves." The track features a "jazzy", uptempo beat and a falsetto chorus. "This movie feels like one big, trippy disco experience. But we didn't have a disco song," said Timberlake of the Trolls soundtrack. "We had 'September' [by Earth, Wind & Fire], but we thought this was a great opportunity to do a modern disco song. I think that disco is a really underappreciated genre." "Can't Stop the Feeling!" appears in the denouement of the movie, and is inspired by the final scene. == Critical reception ==
Critical reception
The song received positive reviews from music critics. Writers from Billboard, highlighted its attractiveness for the summer season. Adelle Platon from Billboard called it "delightful" and a "feel-good jam". Jon Niles from Music Times wrote, "The song gives off a feeling of pure joy that only a talent as great as Timberlake could bring to the table." For Lisa Respers France of CNN Entertainment, "If Friday had a sound, it would be Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!"." Ed Masley wrote in AZCentral, "the lyrics sound like they were custom-made to be the soundtrack to your favorite summer memories." For The A.V. Club, Annie Zaleski wrote, "a perfect summer song is one I can blast while driving in the car with the windows down. The tune doesn't have to be meaningful—in fact, the more lightweight, the better—and it should offer a few minutes of unadulterated escapism. This year, I can already tell that "Can't Stop The Feeling!" is my hot-weather jam." The A.V. Club included it among the 40 best songs of the first half of 2016. Billboard critics ranked "Can't Stop the Feeling!" at number 33 on their "100 Best Pop Songs of 2016" list, adding, "the rhythm is eventually gonna get you to dance." Digital Spy considered it the 19th-best pop song of the year, while Idolator named it the 20th-best song of the year, for "feel-good" and "infectious." Aversely, contributors for Time and Spin gave it unfavorable reviews, with the former naming it the worst song of 2016 and the latter stating, "There are certain songs notable not only for their popularity, but for an insufferable repetition." == Accolades ==
Accolades
"Can't Stop the Feeling!" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Timberlake received the Hollywood Song Award for "Can't Stop the Feeling!" at the 2016 Hollywood Film Awards and won the award for Best Song Written for an Animated Film at the 2016 Hollywood Music in Media Awards. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Critics' Choice Award for Best Song, Satellite Award for Best Original Song, and by the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards for Best Song/Recording Created for a Film. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" won the award for Song of the Year at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards and Favorite Song at the 43rd People's Choice Awards, where it was also nominated for Best Song from a Movie. At the 2016 Teen Choice Awards, it received nominations for Choice Summer Song, Choice Party Song and Choice Song from a Movie or TV Show. It received nominations for Song of the Summer at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, for International Song of the Year at the 2016 NRJ Music Awards, and for Favorite Song at the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards. Among other international awards, it was nominated at the Australian APRA Music Awards in the category International Work of the Year, at the Hungarian Music Awards in Modern Pop-Rock Album/Record of the Year, and at the Mexican Telehit Awards in Song of the Year. "Can't Stop The Feeling!" was also nominated for the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards in the categories Song of the Year and Song to Dance to, and at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards for Best Musical Moment. At the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, it won the awards for Top Selling Song and Top Radio Song, and was also nominated for Top Hot 100 Song. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) recognized it as one of the most performed songs of 2016 and 2017. It was also nominated for the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film. Grammy category At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the film version of the song was submitted over Timberlake's solo version. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" was submitted to the general field and visual media categories, receiving a nomination in (and later winning) the latter. The Recording Academy changed some rules for the next awards. Grammy SVP Bill Freimuth explained to Variety: == Commercial performance ==
Commercial performance
North America Counting its first three days of airplay, "Can't Stop the Feeling!" debuted at number 24 on the US Mainstream Top 40 and started at a personal-best number 19 on the Adult Top 40, both for the May 21, 2016 charts. It became the first song in the history of the Mediabase Top 40 to close the entire Top 40 radio station panel in the first week, being the "most added" song in all 186 of them. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" became the 26th song to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the chart issue dated May 28, 2016, and 62 weeks on the Digital Songs chart. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" reached number one on Radio Songs in its fifth week, marking the quickest sprint to the top since Adele's "Hello" just four weeks in November 2015. Among male artists, the single made the fastest rise to number one on Radio Songs in nearly 25 years, since Michael Jackson's "Black or White" set the record with a three-week climb in 1991. Mariah Carey's "I'll Be There" tied the mark in 1992. The single also tied Adele's "Hello" for the fastest-ever rise to the top of the Adult Top 40. Among males, "Can't Stop the Feeling!" bested Pharrell Williams' eight-week trip to the top with "Happy", which reached number one in April 2014 for the quickest climb to the top spot by a solo male artist. "Can't Stop the Feeling!" also reached the top of the Mainstream Top 40, where Timberlake passed Bruno Mars for the most number ones among males. In the US, it was the best-selling song of the summer, listed at 2 on the Billboard seasonal ranking. Spotify named it the fifth most-streamed song of the summer globally. , it has sold 2.495 million downloads in the United States and is the best-selling song of the year, according to Nielsen Music. It was also the number three most-heard song on US radio in 2016, with 3.422 billion audience impressions for the year. It was the number two most-played song in terms of total number of plays, with 587,000. It reached the top position of the Canadian Hot 100 in its fifth week, after spending its first four weeks at number 2. By September 2016, it has been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) In 2016, "Can't Stop the Feeling!" was ranked as the 9th most popular song of the year on the Billboard Hot 100. One year after its release, "Can't Stop the Feeling!" finished as the 49th most popular song of the year on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017. Europe and Oceania "Can't Stop the Feeling!" reached the top spot in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the top 5 in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It spent four weeks atop the Euro Digital Songs chart. The song debuted at number three on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the number 2 position for four weeks, later reaching the top spot of the UK Singles Sales Chart and spending two weeks at the top position. The Official Charts Company from the UK named it Timberlake's biggest song in the country with over 1 million units sold, surpassing 2013's "Mirrors". It was ranked 10 on UK year-end chart, while being the 3rd-best-selling song of the year in the territory. By September 2022, it has been certified diamond by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie, Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique septuple platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF), quintuple platinum by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) and British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and 8× platinum by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ). == Music video ==
Music video
The first video released, titled "First Listen", featured cast members from the DreamWorks Animation's Trolls, among them Anna Kendrick, Gwen Stefani, James Corden, Zooey Deschanel, Ron Funches, Caroline Hjelt, Aino Jawo, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Kunal Nayyar. '' The song's official music video was released on May 16, 2016. Helmed by director Mark Romanek, it follows Timberlake on a tour to everyday places in Los Angeles like a laundromat, diner, barbershop, and a donut shop, with an individual dancing along to the single at every stop. All the revelers eventually end up congregating with Timberlake below a highway underpass, where they dance together. As described by Time editor Cady Lang, Timberlake "dances through what a typical day might be: breakfast at the diner and grocery shopping." Talking to Entertainment Weekly, director Mark Romanek described the concept as "just the overall feeling of unironic and sincere humanism. It's not trying to be cool or slick or ironic. It's just fun. Most of the time, people are excellent. It's just a big sugar cookie. It makes people smile for four minutes." He stated the brief dance-off between Timberlake and an inflatable arm-waving tube man was inspired by Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry the mouse in Anchors Aweigh. Bustle writer Amy Mackelden highlighted the scene as the best moment of the video. Esquire editor Jonathan Evans addressed Timberlake's monochromatic outfit, writing "the singer nails it by playing with shades of the color [white], plus throwing some pattern and texture in the mix." The video received nominations for Best Male Video International at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Best Music Video at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards, As of June 2025, the YouTube music video had received more than 1.8 billion views. == Live performances ==
Live performances
On May 9, 2016, it was announced that Timberlake would perform his song during the interval act of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 grand final, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 14, 2016. Timberlake opened the performance singing "Rock Your Body", soon switching over to "Can't Stop the Feeling!". He was joined by a group of backup singers/dancers and a horn section for the song's televised debut. The performance was not aired in the US due to copyright issues. The day before the main show, Timberlake made his first appearance before an audience on night rehearsal to perform both songs. On February 26, 2017, Timberlake opened the 89th Academy Awards with a performance of "Can't Stop the Feeling!", which included an R&B breakdown and a cover of Bill Withers' "Lovely Day". Timberlake began the performance in the front corridor of the Dolby Theatre, dancing his way to the stage with his backup dancers. The song was also the closing number of his Super Bowl LII halftime show performance. The song is featured on Timberlake's The Man of the Woods Tour (2018/19) and The Forget Tomorrow World Tour (2024/25). == Usage in other media ==
Usage in other media
In June 2016, Billboard named "Can't Stop the Feeling!" the wedding DJs' fourth most popular party song in the US. Numerous fan-made videos followed the video's release, including from the Memphis Grizzlies, the United States Olympic Committee, citizens of Memphis and Gilbert, and graduates of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, On May 26, 2016, Victoria's Secret Angels released a video in which they lip-synced to the song. Choreographers Celia Rowlson-Hall and Crishon Landers, with the help of film producer Mia Lidofsky, created a flash mob dance video on October 2, 2016, in support of the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign set to the music of "Can't Stop the Feeling!" — with all of the dancers wearing pantsuits in reference to Hillary Clinton's outfit of choice. The video was covered in news media including The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Vogue, and garnered over 2 million views on Facebook. From New York City, the Pantsuit Power movement then spread to Raleigh, North Carolina on October 23, 2016, with another flash mob. The song was also used for an opening video for the 2017 Western Conservative Summit, featuring Republican politicians from Colorado. The song was featured in an episode of the American Broadcasting Company series Speechless called "P-R-PROM". The song is the encore number in the Broadway musical & Juliet, which is composed of hit pop songs written by Max Martin. The musical received critical acclaim on the West End in London, and in New York on Broadway. The song is also part of the main storyline of rhythm video game Just Dance 2023 Edition. == Other versions and covers ==
Other versions and covers
covering the song in a live performance The film version featured in the soundtrack album includes additional vocals from Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Zooey Deschanel and Gwen Stefani. In June 2016, American country music group Lady A covered the song in a live performance in Columbus, Ohio. Jon Freeman of Rolling Stone commented it "evoked the loose spirit of a jam band unwinding at a summer festival." Country performer Hunter Hayes covered the song when he headlined The Paramount in Huntington, New York in June 2017. An editor from Digital Journal opined it was "in a clever fashion, which was great deal of fun, both for him and the audience." == Credits and personnel ==
Credits and personnel
Locations • Engineered at MXM Studios and Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, and MXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden • Recorded (horns) at Studio Willow-Valley in Gothenburg, Sweden • Mixed at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia • Mastered at Sterling Sound Studios in New York City Personnel • Justin Timberlake – lead vocals, writing, production, percussion • Max Martin – writing, production, background vocals, keyboards, programming, • Shellback – writing, production, drums, bass, background vocals, keyboards, programming, percussion • Elliot Ives – guitars • Wojtek Goral – saxophone, horns arrangement • Janne Bjerger – trumpet • Peter "Noos" Johansson – trombone • Mattias Bylund – horns, horns arrangement, horns recording and editing • Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy – engineering • Samuel Holland – engineering • Serban Ghenea – mixing • John Hanes – engineering for mix • Tom Coyne – mastering Credits adapted from the liner notes of the CD single of "Can't Stop the Feeling" (RCA Records). == Charts ==
Charts
Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts == Certifications ==
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