I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance

## **I Didn't JustCome Here to Dance***Emotion (Deluxe)*

**I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance** is the fourteenth track on Carly Rae Jepsen's third studio album, Emotion (2015). It was released on June 24th 2015, through School Boy and Interscope Records.

## **Lyrics**

**Chorus**

I didn't just come here to dance

If you know what I mean

Do you know what I mean?

If you'd just give me a chance

You'd see what I see

Do you see what I see?

♪

**Verse 1**

It's your fault

Baby boy, 'cause you're the one that sparked this

Shine a light

With your eyes into me in the darkness

**Pre-Chorus**

Hey, Joe's calling me over

Tino is calling me over

I only came here for you

It's you, boy, you in the corner

Something is taking me over

I only came here for you

**Chorus**

I didn't just come here to dance

If you know what I mean

Do you know what I mean?

If you just give me a chance

You'd see what I see

You'd see what I see

I didn't just come here to dance

If you know what I mean

Do you know what I mean?

If you just give me a chance

You'd see what I see

You'd see what I see

I didn't just come here to dance

**Post-Chorus**

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah

**Verse 2**

Baby, I...

I'm not going anywhere without you

Walk me home

'Cause I like every single thing about you

**Pre-Chorus**

Hey, Joe's calling me over

Tino is calling me over

I only came here for you

It's you, boy, you in the corner

Something is taking me over

I only came here for you

**Chorus**

I didn't just come here to dance

If you know what I mean

Do you know what I mean?

If you'd just give me a chance

You'd see what I see

You'd see what I see

I didn't just come here to dance

If you know what I mean

Do you know what I mean?

If you'd just give me a chance

You'd see what I see

You'd see what I see

I didn't just come here to dance

**Post-Chorus**

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah *(Uh-huh)*

No, nah-nah-nah-nah, no, nah-nah-nah

**Pre-Chorus**

Hey, Joe's calling me over

Tino is calling me over

I only came here for you

It's you, boy, you in the corner

Something is taking me over

I only came here for you

**Outro**

I didn't just come here to dance

If you know what I mean

Do you know what I mean?

If you'd just give me a chance

You'd see what I see

Do you see what I see?

## **Song info**

#### **Writing and production**

* **Written by:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Lukas Loules • Wouter Janssen • Joe Cruz • Tino Zolfo
* **Produced by:** Lukas Loules • Wouter Janssen

#### **Instrumentation**

* **Instrumentation:** Lukas Loules • Wouter Janssen

#### **Additional credits**

* **Engineering:** Lukas Loules
* **Engineering assistance:** Matt Schaeffer • Kyle Gaffney
* **Mixing:** Lukas Loules
* **Mastering:** Wired Masters • Gene Grimaldi
* **Backing vocals:** Katerina Loules

#### **Studio info**

* **Recorded at:** No Excuses Studios (Santa Monica, CA) • MXM Studio (Los Angeles, CA)
* **Mastered at:** Wired Masters (London) • Oasis Mastering (Burbank, CA)

#### **Publishing info**

* **Published by:** Universal Music Corp • Jepsen Music Publishing (ASCAP) • Bassomatto Music • Southern Music Publishing Co Canada Ltd (SOCAN) • Superloaf Music Publishing (SOCAN) • Lukas Loules (GEMA) • Published by MXM • Warner Chappell • Hanseatic • 2Dutch Publishing (Admin by Strengholt Music Publishing)

## **Writing and development**

#### **Original Curiosity version**

Originally titled Came Here To Dance, the song was written during the development of Jepsen's planned second studio album, Curiosity, in 2011. In its earliest form, it was written alongside Canadian songwriters Joe Cruz and Tino Zolfo. Jepsen recollected that the pair had cancelled a studio session the night the song was written, and she had ended up visiting them instead. Together, they wrote the song alongside the first demo of fellow Emotion album track Warm Blood, titled Falling For You.

The song came to be after Jepsen started to drink whiskey that night, something she hadn't done previously. She stated, 'I didn’t drink whiskey at this time in my life so I was just, [Singing] 'Hey, Joe’s calling me over. Tino’s calling me over', which are the names of the writers, and they were laughing, like, 'You’re gonna keep that?' Like, 'It’s awesome! Boys in the club!'

In January 2011, Jepsen was recording vocals for the song with Cruz, and in May 2011 followed this up by posting lyrics of the song to her Twitter feed. By June 2011, Jepsen was reworking the track with Dave Ogilvie, music producer and mixer. This version of the song has never surfaced, and was eventually shelved by Jepsen until meeting with Max Martin in 2012.

#### **Meeting with Max Martin in 2012**

Jepsen and Max Martin were introduced during the creation of her second studio album, Kiss, in July 2012. Jepsen thought very highly of Martin, describing him as a 'Wizard of Oz of producers' and decided that if she were to ever meet him, she would show him her strongest song ideas. Jepsen states that her 'one intention' with meeting Martin for the first time was to show him the original demo of I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance she had written previously.

During their studio session, the pair had written and recorded Tonight I'm Getting Over You, and immediately afterwards Jepsen told him, 'I’ve been wanting to meet you my whole life, all I need you to do is give me your ear for two seconds and that’s it' and played him the original demo of the track. 'I showed it to him, and he was just so encouraging and ended up staying up late with me working on it.'  Jepsen and Martin worked on the track until the early hours of the morning, originally planning to end the session at midnight.

#### **Further development for Emotion**

In their session, Martin would connect Jepsen with a friend of his, producer Lukas Loules, who also worked on Tonight I'm Getting Over You with the pair. Martin had advised Jepsen to work on the track with Loules, although this wouldn't come until a later date, as Kiss was due-in by her label, and the song was shifted towards her next project instead. Jepsen says Loules handled the technical side of production, 'he added those technicals, just to kind of bring it up to almost like a club anthem that you wanna lose yourself in' and described the track as a 'big personality piece for the album', elaborating 'it does stand alone. As much as you want to be cohesive, you want it to have variety and that felt like the right balance.'

## **Themes and lyricism**

Jepsen states the inspiration from I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance came from spending nights out with her friends. She explained, 'I liked the idea of going out with my girlfriends, and they were like, 'I just came here to dance' - [but] you see them in their skimpy-ass outfits, and they spend forever on their hair. I just felt like calling them out and being like, 'No, you didn’t! And that’s fine! But have the balls to f—ing say it!' I was like, 'Somebody needs to be brave and say, 'I did not just come here to dance, if you know what I mean.'

## **Alternative titles**

* Came Here to Dance
* Come Here to Dance

## **Alternate versions**

* **Came Here To Dance** — Curiosity version (2011)
	+ First version of the song written for Curiosity in 2011, produced by Dave Ogilvie

* **Came Here To Dance** — Kiss version (2012)
	+ Version of the song that was reworked by Max Martin for Kiss in 2012

* **I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance** — Emotion version (2015)
	+ Final released version of the song, with production by Lukas Loules

## **References**

1. ↑ *Emotion* (album booklet). Carly Rae Jepsen. 604 Records, School Boy Records and Interscope Records. 2015.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 ACE Repertory - Came Here to Dance ASCAP, Retrieved August 30th 2021
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Gevinson, Tavi "The Next Adventure: An Interview With Carly Rae Jepsen" Rookie Mag. October 16th, 2015. Retrieved May 18th, 2021.
4. ↑ @carlyraejepsen "Recording some vocals with Joe Cruz! " I didn't just come here to Dance."" January 14th, 2011. Retrieved Jun 7th, 2021. - Via Twitter
5. ↑ @carlyraejepsen ""I didn't just come here to dance...if you know what I mean....."" May 15th, 2011. Retrieved Jun 7th, 2021. - Via Twitter
6. ↑ @carlyraejepsen ""I didn't Just Come here to Dance...if you know what I mean" Spending the day perfecting this tune with Rave" June 1st, 2011. Retrieved Jun 7th, 2021. - Via Twitter
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lansky, Sam Carly Rae Jepsen on the Song She Wrote About Mike Tyson That Didn't Make Her New Album Time Magazine, August 19th 2015
8. ↑ Loules, Lukas "CarlyRaeJepsen | Lukas "LULOU" Loules" lukasloules.com. Retrieved June 7th 2021
9. ↑ ACE Repertory - I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance ASCAP