The film's director, Peter Chelsom, felt the movie needed a big dance-number, similar to the "Macarena" (1995) or the "Funky Chicken" (1950s).

According to Chelsom, the collaborators referred to the song by the working title "The Project" "for the longest time" before naming it the "Hoedown Throwdown".

[11] A video starring Cyrus and Hannah Montana: The Movie's choreographer Jamal Simms entitled "How to Do the Hoedown Throwdown", premiered on Disney Channel on February 20, 2009.

[11] The video features Cyrus and Simms, accompanied by several back-up dancers, in a pink room and sporting workout attire.

[11] At the end of the night, Cyrus and Simms put together all of the dance steps at once into a competition entitled "Hoedown Throwdown Showdown".

[12] Reported by MTV News, the "Hoedown Throwdown," caused a sizable younger audience "jumping on the country bandwagon".

Warren Truitt from About.com described the song as Cyrus' "only misstep" in the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack because of its "weird" merge of country and hip-hop "that sound[ed] like Disney's trying a liiittle [sic] bit too hard to cover all genres".

[14] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly described the song as "deep-fried [...] sort of goofy Hee [sic] Haw".

[15] However, Owen Gleiberman, also of Entertainment Weekly, called Cyrus a "professional charmer" and found that "it's hard to resist when she leads a hip-hop hoedown".

[16] The Hollywood Reporter reviewer Michael Rechtshaffen wrote that the song was a "misguided attempt at marrying Hannah's contemporary pop/hip-hop sound with the Grand Ole Opry" and that it was "squirm-inducing".

[20] Due to digital sales, the song debuted at number sixty-eight in the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 21, 2009.

[26] "Hoedown Throwdown" was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for the sales of over 35,000 digital downloads.

[21] The song's music video, directed by Peter Chelsom, is an excerpt from Hannah Montana: The Movie which premiered on February 16, 2009 on Disney Channel.

Cyrus is at a crowded barn, wearing a plaid blouse, jean skirt, and boots, on top of a stage.

Blue printed letters that spell the lyrics then make an appearance, as Cyrus attempts to teach the crowd the dance.

After the crowd learns the dance routine, scenes of Mitchel Musso, Moises Arias, Vanessa Williams, Tyra Banks, Jason Earles, and Emily Osment doing the "Hoedown Throwdown" are played.