By incorporating R&B elements in its music and not including Madonna's image on the cover artwork, marketing for the song gave the impression that she was a black artist.

That misconception was cleared with the song's music video, which was directed by Ed Steinberg; it shows the singer and two backup dancers performing at New York's Paradise Garage.

She will do anything to be a star, and that's exactly what I look for in an artist: total co-operation... With Madonna, I knew I had someone hot and co-operative, so I planned to build her career with singles, rather than just put an album right away and run the risk of disaster."

[3] In 1981, after attending one of Emmy's gigs at Max's Kansas City, Adam Alter and Camille Barbone from Gotham Records signed a contract with Madonna.

[3] However, the association was short-lived and dissolved the following year due to creative differences between the label and singer: Gotham was interested in rock and roll whereas Madonna wanted to pursue disco.

[1] As he was also an A&R scout for Island Records, Kamins took the tape to his boss Chris Blackwell, but he wasn't impressed nor interested in signing Madonna.

[6] Kamins then approached Sire Records president Seymour Stein, who at the time was at Lenox Hill Hospital recovering from a heart surgery.

[6] Sire A&E executive Michael Rosenblatt, who oversaw the entire process, wanted to release a double-sided single with "Ain't No Big Deal" as A-side and "Everybody" as B-side.

"Ain't No Big Deal", however, "did not come out well", so Roseneblatt decided to put "Everybody" on both sides of the record: One version lasted 5:56, while the other was a dub form with a duration of 9:23.

[8][5][1] Since he had recorded the demo, Bray argued that he should be the producer for the single, but Stein decided to appoint Kamins, "for the sheer interest of seeing where it would go".

[11] Barry Eastmond had been hired as arranger, but left the project after getting into an argument with Madonna; she felt his work was "too slick", and lacked the "edge of the club-land grooves she was hankering after".

[16] "Everybody" is written in the key of A minor, with the melody beginning in G and rising to the second scale degree on the syllable bo of Everybody, thus highlighting the refrain which follows in the chord progression of G–A–B–A.

[31][32][33] "[W]ith that unearthly keyboard chime and those warped synths that seem to fade in and out like they’re coming from a dirtier dancefloor in the club’s backroom, ['Everybody'] drops the bright, buoyant vibes that characterized the rest of the album and closes it on a dark, sensuous note".

Billboard's Brian Chin referred to it as a "spare, bright cut [that] has a relaxing quality at home listening levels, but sounds much harder-edged in the club".

[35] On his biography of the singer, J. Randy Taraborrelli described it as a "rhythmic call-to-party", while Matthew Rettenmund —author of Encyclopedia Madonnica— deemed it "one of her enduring chestnuts" that "immediately established [her] as a Disco Queen".

[38] Mark Lore from the Portland Mercury referred to "Everybody" and "Burning Up" as "true gems, gritty New York anthems", that were overshadowed by the more known "Holiday" (1983) and "Borderline" (1984).

[41] Also mixed was Marcus Wratten from PinkNews, who said the song is "not bad by any means", but it's not among the singer's best, and its message has been replaced by "far greater singles" such as "Music" and "Into the Groove" (1985).

Club, Stephen Thomas Erlewine named it the singer's 17th best song; "all these years later, ['Everybody'] still sounds simultaneously tentative and vibrant [...] [It] does seem like a relic of the early 1980s, yet it hasn’t lost its potency".

[49] It was named one of the greatest debut singles of all time by Rolling Stone: "[Madonna'd] quickly go on to bigger things, and sharper material, but this song patterned the ebullient electro-pop sound of her early classic hits".

[50] Ed Steinberg directed the music video for "Everybody", which was filmed on December of 1982 at New York's Paradise Garage, and shows Madonna performing onstage with dancers Erika Belle and Bags Rilez.

[19][52] Madonna had previously invited some Sire executives ―including Stein and Rosenblatt― to watch one of her performances at Danceteria; the video was approved after they realized "what a visual knockout" she was in person.

[51] Rosenblatt contacted Steinberg, who ran the Rock America video company, and gave him a $1,500 budget to work on the "strictly in-house production".

On the first one, Madonna played tambourine and was joined by two male dancers; her outfit consisted of matching fringed micro-top and skirt, a trilby hat, and multiple sized crucifixes.

[61] On November 15, 2005, while promoting her tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna sang the single at a concert on London's Koko Club; dressed in velvet culottes, leather jacket and boots, with her hair done in a Farrah Fawcett-style, she "held nothing back" during the performance, according to The Daily Telegraph's David Cheal.

The number sees Madonna and her troupe, who are dressed as "punk rock clubgoers of [her] early NYC days", dancing under a New York City skyline.