"Love" is a song by
American R&B recording artist
Keyshia Cole
Keyshia Myeshia Cole Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born and raised in Oakland, California, Cole began her career as a backing vocalist for MC Hammer. After signing with A&M Records ...
. It was written by Greg Curtis and Keyshia Cole and produced the former for her debut album, ''
The Way It Is The Way It Is may refer to:
Music
* ''The Way It Is'' (Bruce Hornsby album), by Bruce Hornsby and the Range
** "The Way It Is" (Bruce Hornsby song), the title song
* ''The Way It Is'' (Glenn Hughes album), or the title song
* ''The Way It Is' ...
'' (2005). "Love" was released on January 6, 2006, as the album's fourth and final single and emerged as the most successful single from the album. It peaked at number 19 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number three on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
chart, going on to become her breakthrough record after a string of modestly successful singles. "Love" was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
by the
RIAA.
Background
"Love" was written by Cole along with producer
Greg Curtis.
When she moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in pursuit of a record deal, "Love" was the track that she thought stood the best chance of getting her signed to a label. When she met with A&M Records President
Ron Fair
Ronald Fair is an American A&R executive, record producer, record executive, musical arranger, recording engineer and conductor. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several ar ...
, she performed the song, and Fair signed Cole on the spot.
The track tells the story of a girl who is always trying to do her best for her boyfriend, even though she believes that she is never good enough. The lyrics read: "I used to think that I wasn't fine enough and I used to think I wasn't wild enough but I won't waste my time tryin' to figure out why you are playin' games what's this all about?" The song describes the boyfriend's infidelity and Cole's struggle to believe it because she is madly in love with him.
Chart performance
"Love" debuted on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 82 and rose to number 49 in its second week, becoming the chart's "Greatest Gainer."
It slowly moved up the charts with minor setbacks, and eventually reached position 19, becoming Cole's most successful solo charting single up to then until her 2007 song "
Let It Go
"Let It Go" is a song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert L ...
" reached position seven.
"Love" also pekaed at number three on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
chart.
''Billboard'' ranked 18th on its 2006 R&B/Hip-Hop Songs year-end chart.
"Love" was eventually certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Music video
An accompanying
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "Love" was directed by
Benny Boom.
R&B singer
Tyrese
Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American actor and singer. He released his self-titled debut album in 1998, which featured the single " Sweet Lady", peaking at number twelve on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His second ...
appears as Cole's boyfriend in the video which was largely shot in various
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
locations. The clip starts as two policemen pull over Cole and Tyrese after she allegedly ran a red light though she denies the accusation. Tyrese appears to be living a double life. Although Cole suspects that he is a criminal, she never confronts him since he gives the impression of being a loving boyfriend. As Cole is watching television, a video of her boyfriend and some other men robbing a bank appears on the screen. After she arrives home from a day of lavish shopping, Cole is confronted by the authorities who ask her if she knows the whereabouts of her boyfriend. Her boyfriend then picks her up, she gets into the driver's seat of the car, and we are taken back to the scene shown at the beginning of the video. In this take, however, the policeman recognizes that it is Cole and calmly calls the whole thing off by asking for her
autograph
An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...
. Cole confronts her boyfriend about his criminality and decides to stay with him when he pledges to give up his life of crime to be with her. Frequently aired on
BET
Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...
's countdown show, ''
106 and Park
''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...
,'' the video made the countdown for 65 days before it was retired on April 19, 2006.
O.T. Genasis version
In December 2019, rapper
O.T. Genasis released a reworked version of "Love" titled "Never Knew." The song caused controversy when Cole expressed disapproval of the track, saying, "I would like my classics to be left alone."
She also questioned how she would get paid when O.T. Genasis made "new lyrics and you ain't sent me out a check or anything like that."
Genasis went on to
troll
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...
Cole on his
Instagram, and after his version was removed from YouTube, he uploaded the song to
Pornhub
Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by MindGeek. , Pornhub is the 10th-most-trafficked website in the world and the second-most-trafficked adult website aft ...
. Genasis's version was re-uploaded to YouTube at a later date.
Other covers
"Love" has also been covered by various other artists including
Avery Wilson
Avery Wilson (born July 18, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Wilson gained notice in 2012 as a contestant on season 3 of ''The Voice''. Since then, he has been making duets with his fans on Smule Sing! as @AveryWilson. Prior t ...
,
Bruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical ...
,
Dondria
Dondria Nicole Fields (born January 6, 1987), better known by her stage name Dondria Nicole, is an American R&B singer, currently signed to So So Def Recordings. Before getting signed, Dondria was known to post YouTube videos singing cover songs. ...
,
Coco Jones
Courtney "Coco" Jones (born January 4, 1998) is an American singer and actress. She rose to prominence starring in the Disney Channel film '' Let It Shine'' (2012) and was featured on ''Radio Disney's Next Big Thing'' from 2010 to 2011. Jones wa ...
,
H.E.R,
Kehlani
Kehlani Ashley Parrish (born April 24, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Kehlani is originally from Oakland, California, and achieved initial fame as a member of the teen group Poplyfe in 2011.
In 2014, Kehlani released the ...
and
Queen Naija
Queen Naija Bulls (; born October 17, 1995) is an American R&B singer and media personality. Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, though she was raised majorly in Detroit, Michigan, she started out her career as a vlogger on YouTube and then partici ...
.
Track listings
Notes
*
signifies an additional producer
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''The Way It Is''.
*J.D. Andrew – engineer
*Ariel Choraz – assistant engineer
*
Keyshia Cole
Keyshia Myeshia Cole Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born and raised in Oakland, California, Cole began her career as a backing vocalist for MC Hammer. After signing with A&M Records ...
– writer
*
Greg Curtis – engineer, producer, writer
*D. Elliott – additional producer
*
Ron Fair
Ronald Fair is an American A&R executive, record producer, record executive, musical arranger, recording engineer and conductor. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several ar ...
– additional producer, engineer
*Tal Herzberg – additional producer, engineer
*
Dave Pensado
Dave Pensado is a Grammy Award-winning mix engineer. His career began in Atlanta in the 1970s and 1980s doing live and studio sound engineering. He has lived in Los Angeles since 1990.
He mixes between 200 and 250 songs a year at Larrabee Studios ...
– engineer
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love (Keyshia Cole Song)
2006 singles
Keyshia Cole songs
Music videos directed by Benny Boom
Contemporary R&B ballads
Song recordings produced by Ron Fair
Soul ballads
2005 songs
Songs written by Kanye West
Songs written by Keyshia Cole
A&M Records singles
2000s ballads