Guetta’s a master of smoothing things over for pop consumption.Īs with any song that seems divinely predestined for chart success, “I Gotta Feeling” has had its detractors since day one. “I Gotta Feeling” itself was inspired by melodies from U2’s “I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” (at least according to Jimmy Iovine, BEP’s label head at the time), but came out more closely resembling a 2006 song by another anthemic Irish rock band.
Less than two months prior, Guetta dropped the Kelly Rowland-assisted “When Love Takes Over,” which is based around a piano melody that’s very reminiscent of Coldplay’s “Clocks.” His other contribution to The E.N.D., the BEP album that contains “I Gotta Feeling,” is “Rock That Body,” a song that’ll sound very familiar to fans of the Justice and MSTRKRFT-style bloghaus genre that was just waning at the time. Most of that’s due to Guetta, who in this era of his career had his ear to the ground, taking existing sounds from the indie, alternative, and dance music universes and optimizing them for mass appeal.
A collaboration with French house DJ (and eventual pop-dance mainstay) David Guetta, “I Gotta Feeling” gives off the distinct air of a song you’ve heard before, even upon first listen.