[1] Jackson first put down a sketch of the lyrics in 1999, then he began working out the music with longtime friend and collaborator, Brad Buxer, who co-wrote the song.

In October 2008, when Jackson lived in Los Angeles, he asked recording engineer Michael Prince to put the latest mix of the song on CD so he could listen to it and see what might be improved, but he never got around to working on it again.

The song begins with a haunting Gothic church choir, before transforming into an energetic dance stomper", and that the track "features Michael in a notably deeper voice, and concludes with military-style whistling.

"[10] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said the song "feels leaner and more urgent, crackling with Jackson's trademark percussive shuffle and pop.

"[11] Dan Martin of NME called the album Michael "not as terrible as you may think", and "the worst thing you can say about 'Hollywood Tonight' is that its catchy signature gets annoying after a while.

"[12] Jason Lipshutz, Gail Mitchell and Gary Graff from Billboard thought the song "sounds like Britney Spears' 'Lucky' crossed with Justin Timberlake's 'LoveStoned'.

"[9] Neil McCormick of Daily Telegraph said, "it has the extraordinary confidence of a pop classic and presages an album that may well be Jackson's best work since his Eighties glory days.

Music Magazine stated that "while this single doesn't quite touch on the greatness of classic Jackson tracks, it does recall that infectious disco groove that used to be his trademark.

[28] It also includes images of Jackson from the music videos for "Black or White", "Billie Jean", "Jam", "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "In the Closet".