Deniece Williams | Let’s Hear It For the Boy

“Deniece Williams’ ‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy,’ … was a last-second addition to the Footloose soundtrack, (Stereogum) … Like Michael Sembello, another relatively anonymous artist who scored a #1 single by soundtracking a dance montage in an early-’80s blockbuster, Williams had gotten her start backing up Stevie Wonder … Williams recorded (the tune) with the producer George Duke, a jazz-fluent polymath who’d made records with Cannonball Adderly and Frank Zappa … (and) gives a whole lot of room to backup singers George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who would go on to form the duo Boy Meets Girl and peak at #5 with ‘Waiting For A Star To Fall.’

As a singer, Williams is pretty great at conveying the idea of pure, overwhelming happiness. She’s the reason why ‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy’ doesn’t carry the immediate threat of doom for this couple. When she sings about this boy, hopeless schlub though he may be, she sounds utterly transported with joy … Putting a gospel singer like Williams on a giddy dance-pop track like this is a smart decision. Whitney Houston, someone who will be in this column a ton of times, first became famous singing songs like that. After ‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy,’ Deniece Williams never came anywhere near the top 10 again. Instead, she pulled a reverse Whitney Houston: After spending years as a successful pop singer, she became a full-time gospel singer. She’s won four Grammys, all in gospel categories, and she seems plenty happy in that world.”

After a start in C major for the intro and the verse, the chorus pivots up to D major for the chorus (0:43). From 1:06 to 1:15, some instrumental connective tissue provides some space for the tune to sidestep back down into C. The pattern continues from there. From 3:07 and onward, Williams seems to have fun effervescing at the very high end of her four-octave range through the extended outro.