Cobra Starship is an American dance-rock band from New York City, New York, formed in 2005 by Gabe Saporta. He recorded the first album as a solo project, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets. Saporta later enlisted guitarist Ryland Blackinton, bassist Alex Suarez, drummer Nate Novarro, and keytarist Victoria Asher, all of whom provide backing vocals.

Over the course of ten years, Cobra Starship produced four albums and two Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles. The group released its debut album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, in 2006, which contained the single "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)". The band released its second album, ¡Viva La Cobra!, on October 23, 2007. Their third album, Hot Mess, was released on August 11, 2009. Their fourth and final album, Night Shades, was released on August 30, 2011, in the United States and October 28, 2011, in the United Kingdom.

Cobra Starship officially announced its dissolution on November 10, 2015. The band "came out of retirement" in 2024, initially performing at the When We Were Young 2024 festival in Las Vegas before announcing 2025 dates at Riot Fest in Chicago and Warped Tour festival in Long Beach.

Cobra Starship was formed in 2005, after Midtown bassist Gabe Saporta took a trip to Arizona. During this time, Saporta went on a "vision quest" in the desert, spending time with Native American tribes and smoking peyote. He began to create his vision for a new band, a melodic style of music heavily influenced by synthpop and hip-hop. Upon returning home, Saporta rented a house in the Catskill Mountains and began writing what would become the band's debut album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets. He posted "Hollaback Boy", a parody response to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", on Myspace. The song gained Saporta notoriety on the internet, and he eventually signed to Decaydance Records, the label of his good friend, Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz.

Midtown's management company soon set Saporta up with an opportunity to record a song for the soundtrack to the 2006 Snakes on a Plane. Along with members of The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes, and The Sounds, Saporta recorded "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", which became a minor hit. During the recording of While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, Saporta began recruiting new members to complete the group's lineup. He first enlisted drummer Nate Novarro, whom he met on tour while Novarro sold merchandise for fellow touring act Hidden in Plain View. After seeing Saporta in Entertainment Weekly, guitarist Ryland Blackinton and bassist Alex Suarez emailed Saporta, asking to join the group. Elisa Jordana was recruited to join as the group's keytar player.

While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets was released October 10, 2006. The album peaked at number 125 on the US Billboard 200, as well as topping the US Heatseekers Albums chart. It featured the single "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)"; the song's music video had been featured during the closing credits of the film Snakes on a Plane earlier that summer. In October 2006, they supported Thirty Seconds to Mars on their Welcome to the Universe Tour. In December 2006, Jordana was replaced by Victoria Asher. Saporta explained this decision as he had enough of Jordana bringing random people onto the tour bus and hosting dance parties while playing Britney Spears music, as well as suspecting her of stealing Suarez's iPod.

With the group's lineup now solidified, Cobra Starship began touring across the United States. The band supported Fall Out Boy on the 2007 Honda Civic Tour along with +44 and The Academy Is... in May. While on the tour, the group began writing music together for the first time. The members recorded their individual parts on their laptops in the band's bus. By the time Cobra Starship entered the studio to work on a new album, much of the material was already written. Recorded in twenty days at Mission Sound Studios in Brooklyn, New York, ¡Viva la Cobra! was released on October 23, 2007. It was produced by Patrick Stump, who was also credited as singing some backup vocals. The album has been described as "11 tracks of unabashed party jams, full of big hooky electropop, super-produced guitar crunch and the occasional T-Pain-style vocoder thrown in for good measure." It also peaked at number 80 on the US Billboard 200. The album has sold 119,000 copies in the US. The band recorded a cover of "Three Times A Lady" by Commodores for an episode of Gilmore Girls. They also recorded the song, "Awww Dip" for the TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack in the spring of 2007. A music video for "The City Is at War" was released on December 31, 2007. The song was later released as a single on May 9, 2008. The group released a music video for the single "Guilty Pleasure" and features a cameo appearance by Patrick Stump.

The group headlined the Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour, with guests Metro Station, The Cab, and We The Kings, from January to March 2008. They also played on Warped Tour 2008 and headlined the SassyBack tour, which toured from October 7 through November 30, 2008, with guests Forever the Sickest Kids, Hit the Lights, and Sing It Loud. "Kiss My Sass" was released as a single on September 29, 2008, and had its music video premiered on December 5, via FNMTV.