Homecoming Dance

It’s the first big dance of the year, and like Katy Perry belts, it’s time for your very own “Teenage Dream.” Now’s your prime opportunity to take over the gym, scope out the hotties, and show everyone what you’ve got. The tunes have got to connect, so hit Homecoming Basics to score the latest and greatest tracks for all your dancing-machine needs. We’ve got Taio Cruz to blow the party wide open with the bam-pow beats of “Dynamite,” while 3OH!3 lays down some strategy for what they’re hopin’ is “My First Kiss (feat. Ke$ha),” and the go-for-it message of P!nk’s “Glitter In the Air” inspires even the wallflowers to stand tall and ask for that fantasy slow dance.

Now’s not the time to let it end, so hit Next Steps for more homecoming greats.

We know the type — like Hey Monday (“I Don’t Wanna Dance”), you’d rather do anything than shake it in front of the whole school (stand up in the cafeteria and sing, spend the night at home with your parents). Well, consider this your homecoming intervention. You can’t be too shy to try, not when you’ve got the pop-rock blast of Neon Trees and “Animal” awakening the beast within. Not when homecoming pep squad Usher, Lil’ Jon & Ludacris are cheering you on with a righteous, hip-swingin’ chant of “Yeah!” And definitely not if you’ve got dance-floor commandoes the Black Eyed Peas at your back, giving you the go-ahead with their dance-till-you-drop anthem “Rock That Body.”

Now that you’ve got it, keep the homecoming hits flowin’ in Next Steps.

Alright, things are gettin’ good and loose now — Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On it)” just came over the PA, and all of a sudden even that mousy tuba girl from marching band is tossin’ her hips and flippin’ that hand. After all, homecoming is the time to forget who’s popular and who’s not-ular and come together in one big party — so while Kanye West is doin’ what he does, grabbin’ the mic and payin’ his own tribute to “Homecoming,” Cobra Starship (with Leighton Meester) are doing their best to make well-behaved ladies less-so in “Good Girls Go Bad,” and Fall Out Boy is listening to its own emo-tional advice to “Dance, Dance.”

Sure, you’ve picked a homecoming king and queen, but this kickoff party is for everyone from dreamboats to dweebs (gotta give the dweebs some love!), and it needs the tunes to prove it. That’s why we’ve invited everyone from sexy texter Usher and a 2 good 2 B true “OMG (feat. will.i.am),” to rap rebel Eminem and the mad-love beats of “Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna),” to teen dreams Selena Gomez & The Scene and their head-spinning mover “Round & Round.” The Pussycat Dolls might be thinking about “When I Grow Up,” but this is your here and now, so shout it out to the top of the gym with Miley Cyrus’ “Can’t Be Tamed,” and know that, like Bruno Mars says, right now you and your crew are perfect “Just the Way You Are.”