“Dance the Night” by Dua Lipa

Another reason to put on a glitter jumpsuit and strut around that Dream House.

With apologies to Ryan Gosling and his delightful performance of “I’m Just Ken” at the 2024 Oscars ceremony, the film’s most lasting contribution to popular music (and perhaps pop culture more generally) is Dua Lipa’s killer disco single, “Dance the Night.”

It topped the charts in the UK, peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100, and cracked the Top 10 in a dozen other countries, cementing Dua Lipa’s status as a global superstar. However, to hear her and co-creator Mark Ronson tell it, the song was created under odd circumstances. The film’s director, Greta Gerwig, was already using a bare-bones version of the instrumental to film the corresponding dance sequence, so the duo had to come up with lyrics and other embellishments without changing its fundamental structure. With Post-It notes covering the walls and flashes of inspiration feverishly put into practice, Dua Lipa likened it to a “fun jigsaw” that became a phenomenon.

It’s not hard to hear why. It takes classic disco aesthetics, layering cello and violin over the core groove, to immediately put you in a feel-good mindset. It sounds like a more sophisticated sequel to Dua Lipa’s breakout record, Future Nostalgia. Her voice, equal parts airy and deeply seductive, can hang with disco’s best-known divas, albeit packaged in a way that tones down the overt sexuality for an audience consisting of tweens and teens. I think it works better that way since it’s in keeping with the breezy confidence of the movie’s titular heroine. About six months after Barbie debuted in theaters, I was at a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s house, and as the stroke of twelve gave way to the party playlist, a DJ-by-committee must have played this one four or five times in a row before the energy started to flag. If I were still getting on the decks with any regularity, this would be a song I’d be throwing into DJ sets until I croak.