I Just Wanna Dance is the debut extended play by South Korea-based American singer Tiffany. It was released by S.M. Entertainment on May 11, 2016. Lee Soo-man, former president of S.M. Entertainment, served as executive producer on the EP. The EP marked the official solo debut of Tiffany after having been known as a member of South Korean girl group Girls' Generation for nearly nine years. Musically, the record is a primarily synthpop album with elements of trap and R&B that draws heavy influence from American female artists of the 1990s.
Tiffany promoted the EP in South Korea by holding a debut showcase at SMTown COEX Artium in Seoul on May 10, 2016 and through a six-leg concert titled Weekend-Tiffany in June 2016. She also appeared on several music shows including M Countdown and Show Champion. The title track "I Just Wanna Dance" was released as the lead single from the EP. Upon its release, I Just Wanna Dance received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who praised Tiffany's vocals while comparing its styles to those of works by Carly Rae Jepsen, Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey. The EP was also well received commercially, peaking at numbers three on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart and US Billboard World Albums Chart.
Background and development
Since 2007, South Korea-based American singer Stephanie Young Hwang (better known by her stage name Tiffany) has been known to be a member of the popular girl group Girls' Generation. During the early part of her career, her solo work mostly involved songs recorded for side projects and original soundtracks. In May 2016, Tiffany became the second Girls' Generation member, after fellow member Taeyeon, to officially debut as a solo artist, releasing her debut album, titled I Just Wanna Dance.
Tiffany began working on her solo record during the summer of 2015, having the mindset of it being the "transition into the next chapter of [her] music career." She recalled having long meetings with her label, S.M. Entertainment, to figure out the music concepts for the project. Her label initially expected Tiffany to put together an album that reflects a bubbly image. However, the singer had a different idea, stating that she wanted "something much more chill". According to Tiffany, the "real exciting part" for her being a solo artist is the ability to decide her own new "sound" and "message", while still being a part of Girls' Generation.
Heavily influenced by the American female artists of the 90's, Tiffany has described the album to embrace a throw-back American pop sound. She further described it as having "chill" and "natural" vibes and cited the most difficult part in putting the album together was her efforts in "work[ing] out of [her] comfort zone" and "learning how to push limits". She credited her 9-year experience being a member of girl group Girls' Generation as the force that helped making it easier for her to transition into a solo artist. She also hailed Girls' Generation member Taeyeon as "a big part" who had supported her throughout the entire process of the album preparation.
Speaking of her titular title track, Tiffany expressed "Most girls my age, when they are stressed or want to kind of get away, they dance the night away. I think it should be everybody's theme song." Since 2014, Tiffany started writing music, calling it "nerve-wrecking [sic] to put out music [she’s] written on [her] own." One of her songs, "What Do I Do", made it to the final track list. Although Tiffany participated in both music writing and English lyrics for the track, Girls' Generation member Sooyoung helped write the Korean lyrics. Tiffany also named "Talk" as her favorite track of the album, recalling she was having a "fan girl moment" after finding out its music was written by Girls Aloud's Nicola Roberts.
Known to be taking part in the artwork and visuals for previous Girls’ Generation and TTS's releases, Tiffany purposely avoided it and only wanted to focus on the music for her solo album. She, however, took a directorial role for her follow-up single "Heartbreak Hotel". The track, featuring Simon Dominic, was supposed to be a part of the album, but was pushed back and released under the SM Station digital music platform in June 2016. She explained the song was meant to be a prequel to "I Just Wanna Dance", where the woman goes through the "falling for the bad boy" stage; being heartbroken, she forgets about her stress and dances the night away.