Flashdance, What a Feeling

This was the title song to the movie Flashdance, one of the first films not fitting into the "musical" category that was centered around the songs. As more people started watching MTV, it became easier and more acceptable to integrate pop songs into films, which led to movies like Footloose and Dirty Dancing.

Irene Cara wrote the lyrics with the songwriter Keith Forsey; Giorgio Moroder composed the music and produced the track. Moroder and Forsey wrote many songs that became hits when they were used in '80s movies: Moroder wrote "Danger Zone" and "Take My Breath Away" for Top Gun, while Forsey wrote "Shakedown" for Beverly Hills Cop II and "Don't You (Forget About Me)" for The Breakfast Club.

The word "Flashdance" never appears in the lyric, but the song still relates to the movie, as it's specifically about dancing. Irene Cara was an accomplished dancer who not only sang the title song to Fame, but also starred in the film as an aspiring dancer. Said Cara: "'What a feeling' was a metaphor about a dancer, how she's in control of her body when she dances and how she can be in control of her life."