N-Dubz ft. Bodyrox–We Dance On

‘We Dance On’, featured on the StreetDance movie.

Released 23rd May 2010.
Billboard: —
UK Chart: Peaked at #6 on May 30th 2010.

Most clearly, the introduction of this song should remind you of an incredibly popular classical piece, the Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel. For me at least, it’s an incredibly impressive composition – and it does seem to have garnered much popular appeal as well, being performed in many diverse arrangements. This was an incredibly interesting sample – the last use of a sample that surprised me as much as this one was the choice of the Dragostea Din Tei sample used in T.I. and Rihanna’s Live Your Life. The selection of such an ambitious sample, especially given the greatness of the original piece definitely pushed my expectations for this song upward. Would the song bastardize the Canon, or would it use it in an effective manner?

Musically, the song is pretty decent; I prefer the classical renditions of Canon in D, but the song’s pretty upbeat (165 BPM) and enjoyable. It’s a warm, fuzzy song and while unimpressive in this respect, I have little complaints too. As a dance tune, it is pretty danceable; I was even convinced to make a DDR step-file of this.

Lyrically, the song is rather interesting too – it strikes me at first as a huge lump of cheese (well, the chorus opens with Cause I know everything’s gonna be alright/Now you’re standing here right by my side). And I guess I cannot deny that the song lyrics are pretty cheesy, using dancing as a rather offbeat metaphor for a universal panacea – honestly, it reminds me a little of the sheer overblownness of Jason Derulo’s dancing in Whatcha Say, where he twirls around and dances off into the sunset when still trying to win his girl back. To be fair to the song, though, many inspirational songs as well as love songs honestly don’t do much better.

The song also does touch on a few other themes – one of extended neighbourliness that perhaps I find a little disturbing (My sisters, brothers from other mothers). As a Christian, the expression “brothers and sisters in Christ” isn’t too far removed from me at all; but for some reason, put in this way I find it a little disconcerting. Perhaps, the juxtaposition of that phrase with this one IS disconcerting in and of itself. I’m not sure about this, really. Also, the work ethic and incredible resilience that is discussed in the song also reminds me of B.o.B, Hayley Williams and Eminem on Airplanes Part II, and it’s a standard message (and also why I would mark Airplanes Part II lower than its predecessor). Considering this, I would say that Canon in D was a well-chosen sample; it supports and enhances the uplifting messages that the song seems to aim to provide.

All in all, as far as I’m concerned, We Dance On is a pretty enjoyable song, and though I have not heard much of N-Dubz’s work (is that even the right way to put it?), other than their single I Need You which struck me as decent, good even, perhaps, but nothing impressive. This was definitely an eye-opener for me though; it was a very solid release.

OVERALL RATING = 7.0 / 10
We Dance On makes good use of a sample of Pachelbel’s Canon in D to put forth an uplifting message, delivered through an upbeat dance track. It’s a solid release.