The Black Eyed Peas – ‘I Gotta Feeling’

16 July 2009

Here’s one of the biggest singles in Irish chart history. ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by The Black Eyed Peas spent 12 weeks at number one in Ireland, more than the eleven weeks of ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’, the ten weeks of ‘Maniac 2000’, and every other chart-topper of the ’00s. At the time of writing it’s still fifth in the all-time list of most weeks at number one in Ireland, beaten only by such behemoths as ‘Riverdance’ and ‘Put ‘Em Under Pressure’. It was even knocked off the top spot after six weeks but then went back to number one for a further six weeks. That suggests some wider pop-cultural resonance, some mood it captured, some moment it soundtracked. Either that or everyone in Ireland in the summer of 2009 was a moron. (I was living in France, where it only reached no. 2, so I’m off the hook here.)

For all the times I overheard ‘I Gotta Feeling’ in 2009, since the thing was inescapable, I hadn’t realised it was a collaboration with France’s superstar DJ David Guetta. (I’m not French, so I’m off the hook here too.) It makes sense: this thing is a superpower summit of world leaders in inanity. Everything—beat, music, lyrics—is dumbed down until it’s little more than drunken tourists passive-aggressively shouting “Whassup!” while dancing to the sound of a car alarm. By the time they start naming the days of the week it’s clear that nothing is stupid enough to be off the table for The Black Eyed Peas and Guetta. I suppose there’s some relief that ‘I Gotta Feeling’ takes a break from the overt crassness and sexism of this dreadful group’s other hits. For The Black Eyed Peas, merely moronic is progress of a sort.