When Dua Lipa started working on her Barbie movie hit “Dance the Night,” Mark Ronson had already composed the disco-infused music track. But she says getting the song just right for the movie wasn’t a simple matter of writing some lyrics to go with it. As she tells The Wrap, “The song took blood, sweat and tears. We rewrote it so many times.”

“[This is] a character who has to be perfect all the time, even when things aren’t going her way,” Dua said, referring to Margot Robbie’s portrayal of the iconic doll in the movie. “How [do we] show strength and resilience, even through the bad days?”

Director Greta Gerwig showed Dua, Mark and the other co-writers clips from the film, told them the entire plot and also let them sit in on rehearsals for the big dance scene where the song would be used.

“It was kind of a jigsaw puzzle, in a way,” Dua said. “Every little thing had to be matched to the movement, what was happening, what was going on in [Barbie’s] mind.” Gerwig listened to every version of the song they came up with, as well.

Finally, Dua said, they came up with “12 different options that maybe, one day, will see the light of day.”

“I went to the studio six or seven times just to get it right on one lyric. We were looking at it with a magnifying glass,” she added. “It had to be a bit glittery. I couldn’t see this being a dark, sad song. It had to be dance. It had to be fun.”

So far, “Dance the Night” has been nominated for two Grammys: Song Written for Visual Media and Song of the Year.  Some insiders believe it may get an Oscar nomination, as well.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.