"Spotlight" is a song by American singer Madonna from her first remix album You Can Dance (1987). It was released as a single in Japan on April 25, 1988 by Sire Records and Warner-Pioneer Japan. Initially rejected during her True Blue album recording sessions, the song was written by Madonna, Stephen Bray and Curtis Hudson who had presented the original to the singer. It was inspired by the song "Everybody Is a Star" (1970), by American rock band Sly and the Family Stone. The song was remixed by Shep Pettibone, with additional mixing done by John "Jellybean" Benitez. "Spotlight" features instrumentation from drums, bass synths and handclaps, accompanied by vocal echos, a piano segment and violin phrases in the musical interlude. The lyrics talk about how one can be famous if one sings about it. The song received mixed reviews from critics. After its release, it reached number 68 on the Japanese Oricon weekly singles chart, as well as number three on its international singles chart. Although not released in the United States, the song managed to chart on Billboards Airplay chart in early 1988. The song was used in a Mitsubishi VCR commercial, in which she appeared. Background By the mid-eighties, post-disco dance music was extremely popular and the concept of remix was widely regarded as a new direction of music. Several artists were remixing their tracks and compiling them to create new albums. Hence Madonna, who was the most popular dance artist of that era, decided to create a similar remix compilation album, later titled You Can Dance, which included seven of her up-tempo songs. Along with the pre-released tracks in remixed form, "Spotlight" was included as a new track. Madonna said that she was inspired by the song "Everybody Is a Star" (1970), by American rock band Sly and the Family Stone. In 1983, Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the group Pure Energy had written the song "Holiday", which Madonna recorded and released as the third single from her self-titled debut album. After the single's commercial success, Hudson wrote a song sounding like "Holiday", in case Warner Bros., Madonna's record company, wanted to release a similar sounding single. He named it "Spotlight" and offered it to Madonna, who recorded the song for her 1986 album True Blue but did not include it because of its similarity to "Holiday". Composition When Madonna decided to create You Can