Disco Icon Gloria Gaynor Releases Response to “I Will Survive” Over Four Decades Later

In October 1978, Gloria Gaynor released “I Will Survive,” an iconic disco track that would go down in history as one of the greatest breakup songs in history. In fact, the song is so powerful and the performance so moving, that some have used the song as a testament to surviving any significant challenge, be it romantic, professional, or health-related. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 when it first came out in the late 1970s. Just over twenty years later, VH1 named it the greatest dance song of all time. It’s a bop.

Videos by American Songwriter

Over four decades later, Gloria Gaynor is still, well, surviving. And in a deliciously full-circle moment, her June 2025 EP, “Happy Tears,” features a word-for-word continuation of the 1978 track that would ultimately define her career and disco music as a whole.

Gloria Gaynor Responds To “I Will Survive” 40 Years Later

Disco icon Gloria Gaynor was 35 years old when she released “I Will Survive.” Her performance reflects the mindset of a grown woman who is absolutely sure of herself. Indeed, it takes an emotionally mature and confident person to say the lines, Weren’t you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye. You think I’d crumble? You think I’d lay down and die? Oh, no, not I—I will survive, with such ferocious believability. But her 35 years seem downright juvenile compared to the 81 years under her belt when she released her early June 2025 EP, “Happy Tears.” The five-song collection includes “Fida Known,” which is a direct response to her late 1970s hit.

For some context, in “I Will Survive,” Gaynor sings, Now you’re back from outer space. I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face. I should have changed that stupid lock, I should have made you leave your key if I’d have known for just one second you’d be back to bother me. (What a queen, honestly.)

In her 2025 track, “Fida Known,” she sings, The kind of crazy that made me see stars. Days and nights became hazy. I got lost in your midnight arms, yeah. ‘Fida known that you never would’ve loved me forever, I’d have found someone better who could hold me tight.

The Disco Icon Wove Emotional Maturation Into A Dance Anthem

In an interview with 1A’s Jen White, Gaynor described the experience of coming up with the basis for “Fida Known” while rehearsing her earlier track, “I Will Survive,” with her vocal coach. The disco icon said the song was “a look back. It’s a look back to what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve come through, what you have survived, and moving towards thriving. Looking back and saying, ‘You know, I could’ve saved so much time and energy ‘fida known.’ I was rehearsing with my vocal coach, and we were doing “I Will Survive,” and I got to the part that says, if I’d have known for just one second.”

“The words just became illuminated in my mind,” Gaynor continued. “I said to her, ‘I have to write a song about that. If I had said no.’ We Americans don’t say that, especially not when we’re upset or excited or trying to get across a point. We say, ‘fida known.’ That’s what we say. ‘Fida known you were stupid, I wouldn’t have wasted my time. You know, if ‘fida known you weren’t gonna be on time for dinner, I would not bother to cook.’ You know? Things like that.”

In a world when so much of music is consumed as quickly as it’s forgotten, to live at a time when artists can go back and revisit and respond to their work decades later is incredibly special. 35-year-old Gloria Gaynor gave us the power to survive. 81-year-old Gloria Gaynor gives us the freedom to thrive.

Photo by Soul Brother/Soul B Photos/Shutterstock