“Green Light” was released as the lead single for John Legend’s third studio album Evolver. Known for his soulful piano ballads, Legend opted for an electro-funk sound this time around, a style familiar to the semi-retired guest rapper André 3000 of OutKast.

John Legend talked about “Green Light” with MTV News:

The song is simple. It’s just me trying to pick up a girl at a club and convince her to come have some fun with me. [The video] definitely has that story line in it, but we just take it kind of different places to do some unexpected visual things. […] We wanted to mix a current, modern feel with an old-school, classic Hollywood feel because the song has kind of a big-band quality to it as well as a more modern dance-song quality.

André obviously blessed it. The tempo and the feel of the song are really perfect for André’s style. So I felt like it was a perfect match, and then he came and gave a great verse. He really loved the song, and he really wanted to do it.

“Green Light” achieved double platinum status while the single peaked at #4 on Billboard’s US Dance Club Songs chart, #6 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and #24 on the Billboard Hot 100, which ties with “Ordinary People” as John Legend’s highest-charting single on the pop chart.