How I wrote Tiësto’s ‘God Is A Dancer’ by Violet Skies

Violet Skies: “I wanted God to be a woman, because I’d spent so long watching ‘Drag Race’”

A modern disco classic inspired by a sign seen from a bus and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’, with Mabel’s star quality

Back in June, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer Violet Skies dropped her long-awaited debut album, If I Saw You Again. Skies’ journey in the music industry kicked off with the 2013 release of first single, How The Mighty, and her path has continued to ascend with follow-up recordings and writing songs for fellow artists. LÉON and Diana Ross are just a couple of performers Skies has co-written tracks for, and one of her biggest successes to date is the Tiësto and Mabel song God Is A Dancer.

Since its release in 2019, the rhythmic modern disco track continues to put listeners in the mood to celebrate and hit the dance floor. Violet Skies co-wrote the song with Josh Wilkinson, who then produced it with Tiësto (Tijs Verwest). R&B star Mabel was brought in to provide lead vocals, with Skies’ background vocals kept on the recording. The song was then included amongst the singles on Mabel’s debut studio album, High Expectations, and later was featured on Tiësto’s 2020 album, The London Sessions. God Is A Dancer reached No 1 on the Billboard US Dance Club Songs chart, sparked a surge of social media dance trends and has received over 69 million views on YouTube…

First published in Songwriting Magazine Autumn 2022

Released: 20 September 2019
Artist: Tiësto & Mabel
Label: Musical Freedom/PM:AM/Universal
Songwriters: Violet Skies, Tijs Verwest, Josh Wilkinson
Producers: Tiësto, Josh Wilkinson
UK Chart Position: 15
US Chart Position: –

“Josh and I had our first session after Christmas. We had two days. We’d never met, and we talked for about four or five hours and got absolutely nothing done because we love talking, as we found out. Then he played a bassline. I wrote the chorus in about a minute. I wrote all the melodies and then came back to it the next day.

“That night I was staying in London by myself, I think. I was in between Wales and London during that time, and I binge-watched an entire season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Then, on the way into the studio, on the bus, I saw a sign saying, ‘God is coffee.’ I was like, ‘Hmm, that’s a funny line.’ And then when I got to the studio, I started the lyric with ‘God is a dancer.’ But I wanted God to be a woman, because I’d spent so long watching Drag Race, and also that’s how I feel.

“We wrote the song, and then our manager sent it to Tiësto. That’s literally what happened. It happened in about two weeks, and Mabel was on it after a few months… [The song] stayed pretty much the same. Mabel did an amazing vocal on it. She added a lot of her own personality and run towards the end of the song, but I think they kept my backing vocals in it, and they matched the vibe pretty much. Josh was involved in the production. I think he did most of the production, and Tiësto came in to oversee and co-produce.

Violet Skies: “if you’re thinking about the audience whilst you’re writing, I guarantee the song will be shittier.”

“So yeah, the writing didn’t change at all. Nothing changed really, other than Mabel’s vocal, which was crazy. I think that she played it at Wembley Stadium, so it still does the thing. I actually never heard it once on radio, but I was informed that it was on radio a lot, so that’s cool. I wish I’d heard it.

“My intuition is only whether a song is good or not. I don’t necessarily know what everyone else is going to think about it. I think I know if it’s good, and you get better at listening to what reacts. But… my manager and Josh’s manager were like, ‘This is really good, guys.’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, I guess it’s fun.’ But we had no concept. We just had a really great time making it

“I think also, ‘hit’ is such a horrible word because a hit is so unquantifiable. It’s either like Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You or Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. Do you know what I mean? A hit is a million different things, but it also could be Barbie Girl. That’s why it’s so unquantifiable, even as a person in the room. Also, if you’re thinking about the audience whilst you’re writing, I guarantee the song will
be shittier.

“It feels crazy that the God Is A Dancer lyric felt, not so throwaway for me, but it wasn’t the chorus for me. Originally, it was called Step By Step, which is after the chorus, but Tiësto renamed it God Is a Dancer, which I think is genius, really, because I wouldn’t have thought of that if I’m honest.

“It’s just the way people react to the lyrics or … to see a lot of dances to it. There were a lot of dances made to it, and that’s crazy because it’s just not something you think about. I’ve seen it happen since with people making TikToks. Most recently, I wrote a song for Lexi Jayde called Cruel Intentions, which was a pleasure to write with her. She’s a very talented artist. I’ve been seeing all these TikToks where they’re quoting lyrics that we wrote. It is pretty strange because, as a writer, you’re so detached from the fact that someone else might also feel the same.

“The whole thing is just really odd because songwriting or songs in general, they’re ideas, really. They’re just ideas, and then they get released into the world, and then they become other people’s ideas. I find the whole thing so bizarre. I guess, like most listeners these days, everybody’s top 10 most listened to is probably incredibly varied. There are probably only a few people who are really like, ‘Oh yeah, I just listen to this genre.’ I think as a writer, I’m the same. I grew up on the Spice Girls and Britney and Justin, but I also grew up on Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel and Carole King and Joni Mitchell. Everything is as varied as the music I listen to.

“For me, it’s all still about capturing something; capturing a feeling. That doesn’t need to be the world’s happiest feeling. It also doesn’t need to be a sad, depressing song about a breakup. It really just does depend on the mood. Also, when I write for or with – I don’t do a lot of writing for, but when I write with another artist, I’m just feeding off them. It’s just about, I think, energy, and how you can shape it into different forms. But it’s also energy. It’s still a song.”

To learn more about Violet Skies, visit her website violetskies.komi.io

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