It was written by Legend, Andre Benjamin, Fin Greenall, James Ho, and Rick Nowels for his third studio album Evolver (2008).

"Green Light" shows a shift in musical style for Legend, opting for a funk and electro sound composed of electronic synths and fast, synthesized beats.

It also stood as his best-selling single, earning a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) until "All of Me" sold 4 million downloads by September 2014.

It features Legend and Benjamin pursuing women at a house party while including visual effects created by Baked FX.

The song can be heard on Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes From Liberty City on The Beat 102.7 radio station.

"Green Light" was written by John Stephens, Andre Benjamin, Fin Greenall, James Ho and Rick Nowels and produced by Malay and KP.

"Initially I was working in the studio with a guy called Rick Knowles, who’s not known for making a buncha dance songs but is a good writer!

He started playing this guitar groove, put a beat to it... And, because it was uptempo and felt good, the melody and lyric came to me pretty quickly."

It seemed like the kind of thing that would grab people’s attention, it sounded like a great record, and it felt like it would be a big hit... And to me it STILL feels like that!”"[1] "Green Light" was released as the first single from Evolver (2008).

Nathan S. of DJ Booth noted that the song still uses the "same smooth vocals and spare melodies" present in his previous ballads.

[6][7] The song utilizes horns,[8] saxophone,[8] trombone,[8] trumpets,[8] double time drum loops,[6] synthesizers, computerized handclaps,[9] and busy hip-hop beats.

[11] Alex Macpherson of The Guardian said that the song's "skittery beats and swooning synths" are reminiscent of Kelis's 2004 single "Millionaire" (Tasty, 2003).

[13] Andy Kellman of AllMusic selected it as one of the album's top tracks, noting that it benefits from Andre 3000's "upstaging, off-the-cuff, don't-give-a-damn appearance" but criticized it for sounding like "increasingly bad fit with each play, full of simpleminded gestures.

[17] Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine wrote that " Andre's near-apathetic wordplay on the former is hardly the way to fulfill the legacy of "Bombs Over Baghdad," nor is Kanye's "kiddies"/"titties" rhyming scheme on the latter going to get him into graduate school, but as guest spots on a John Legend album, they are the sonic equivalent of unclenching buttocks.