Songfacts®:

• This party anthem is the second single released by British R&B singer-songwriter and producer Taio Cruz, in Canada and the US. It served as the follow-up to his #1 hit, "Break Your Heart." The song is taken from the international edition of Cruz's second album, Rokstarr.
• "Dynamite" was co-written by Taio Cruz with Bonnie McKee and Max Martin, and produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. As a pair, Max Martin and Dr. Luke have been responsible for a succession of global hit records, such as Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" and Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl." Dr. Luke and his frequent collaborator Benny Blanco co-wrote with Kesha her international smash "TiK ToK," which some critics claim share similarities with this song.
• Bonnie McKee, who also came up with the title to Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," wrote the hook lyrics for "Dynamite." She envisioned it with a different theme, which is why Cruz throws his hands up in the air only sometimes.
  
  "When I worte it, I was going through some s--t, and it was actually about surrender," she said in a Songfacts interview. "And for me, ironically, it was about getting sober. The sky was falling, everything was falling apart, and it was one of those things where you just sort of throw up your hands, you know: 'I throw my hands up in the air sometimes saying yaay oohh, gotta let go.' A let go, let God kind of thing, and then it turned into this absolute party anthem, which is really ironic. There is a much deeper meaning behind that song that people don't always know about."
• Cruz explained to MTV News: "The song 'Dynamite' is about when you go to the club and when you go to a party and when you're just going out... you got to feel like, 'I'm just gonna explode.'"
• The song takes place in a club, but it's mostly about dancing and having a good time - there are no specific references to drinking, hooking up, or other club-related activity. This makes the song suitable for all ages and all activities, granting it status as an all-purpose party track. It is extremely popular at weddings.
• The "aaayyy-oh" in the chorus was originally a placeholder. Max Martin would hash out vocal melodies by singing nonsense words that would be replaced later. On "Dynamite," they decided to leave part of it in.
• Benny Blanco first got the idea for the song when he was on a treadmill. The songwriter/producer recalled to Artist Direct that he "recorded it on the little Dictaphone on my brother's cell phone."
• According to Bonnie McKee, this song was intended for Flo Rida.
• Cruz told TV host Piers Morgan that he woke up in the middle of the night with the lyrics to "Dynamite" in his head, raced downstairs in his underpants and wrote it there and then.
• There was some concern that this song wouldn't get airplay because of references to blowing stuff up, but listeners didn't associate the song with terrorist bombings.
• This won Top Hot 100 Song, Top Digital Song and Top Pop Song at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards. The winners were chosen for their popularity, based both on chart performances and internet activity.
• This was used on The Office in the season 8 episode "Christmas Wishes," when the Dunder Mifflin staff is dancing at the holiday party.