Initially rejected during her True Blue album recording sessions, the song was written by Madonna, Stephen Bray and Curtis Hudson who had presented the original to the singer.

"Spotlight" features instrumentation from drums, bass synths and handclaps, accompanied by vocal echos, a piano segment and violin phrases in the musical interlude.

In 1983, Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the group Pure Energy had written the song "Holiday", which Madonna recorded and released as the third single from her self-titled debut album.

"Spotlight was originally produced by Stephen Bray and was remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez for the You Can Dance compilation.

[3] The lyrics deal with Madonna making the listener remember that "Everybody is a Star" and that if one wants to be famous and be under the "Spotlight", the person should sing about it and reality may catch up with him or her.

[12] In March 2023, Billboard ranked the song as Madonna's 94th greatest ever, as Joe Lynch called it a "lyrically simplistic affair that’s elevated by a pounding opener, sparkling keys and a charmingly earnest vocal that makes even the silliest sentiment sound like a viable philosophy for conquering the world".

It was released promotionally, paired with "Where's The Party", and debuted on the publication's Hot 100 Airplay survey at 37 on the issue dated January 16, 1988.

[23] In the commercial, Madonna was featured as coming out of a car and sitting down on a sofa, while watching a film on the VCR, as "Spotlight" is played in the background.

The song was also used as cross-promotion for the Japanese leg of her 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour under the campaign name of "Dreams Come True".