"Love Like Woe" is the debut single by American

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

singer-songwriter

Jordan Witzigreuter Jordan Mark Witzigreuter (born November 14, 1989), known professionally as The Ready Set, is an American singer-songwriter from Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. He is the lead vocalist and sole member of the act, using a backup band while on ...

, also known as The Ready Set, from his major label debut album, ''

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''. It was written by Witzigreuter and

J.R. Rotem Jonathan Reuven Rotem is a South African-born record producer, songwriter and music publisher. Biography Early life Rotem was born in South Africa to Jewish Israeli people, Israeli immigrant parents. He moved to Canada at the age of two an ...

, who also produced the track. The song peaked at number 27 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 30 on the Canada

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. The music video for the song features a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

from

Pete Wentz Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician best known as the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy since 2001. Before Fall Out Boy, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lea ...

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

, and was released on March 31, 2010.

Background and release

"Love Like Woe" was written based off experiences Witzigreuter had seen his friends grappling with. He stated, "It's about a situation where you want to be with someone but they are tough to deal with so you are trying to salvage the relationship." In 2010, Witzigreuter worked with rap duo

New Boyz New Boyz was a hip-hop duo that consisted of rappers Earl "Ben J" Benjamin and Dominic "Legacy" Thomas. They debuted in the spring of 2009 with their viral hit "You're a Jerk" taken from their 2009 debut studio album '' Skinny Jeanz and a Mic''. ...

and released a mash-up version of the song. The song reached number 10 on

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. As of October 2010, "Love Like Woe" sold 46,000 digital downloads in the US. In November 2010, the single won a BDS Certified Spin Award based on the 50,000 spins it received.

Composition

The song was written by

and was produced by

J. R. Rotem Jonathan Reuven Rotem is a South African-born record producer, songwriter and music publisher. Biography Early life Rotem was born in South Africa to Jewish Israeli people, Israeli immigrant parents. He moved to Canada at the age of two an ...

who also co-wrote the song. According to Witzigreuter, the song was written in his mother's basement and that the song was never meant to be released as a single. In a separate interview in 2018, Witzigreuter revealed that he didn't intend on using the song after writing it. He also stated that he wrote the song in 20 minutes.

Critical reception

"Love Like Woe" was received with some mixed reception as Bill Lamb from

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gave the single a 3.5 star rating. He praises the song by having a sing-along pop melody, clever lyrical hook and simple, appealing pop melody. However, he criticized the song for having overworked electronic effects. Overall, he remarked, "it is a bit over-dressed, but you are unlikely to switch the radio station when you hear Love Like Woe."

Music video

The first music video for "Love Like Woe" was released on March 31, 2010. It has received over 20 million hits on

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. It takes place in the middle of the woods where Jordan and a group of people are having a party in a shack. Outside, zombies try to enter to the party with little success. The music video was directed by Isaac Ravishankara. A second version of the music video was released in February 2011. It features Witzigreuter getting ready to impress a girl when he drives up to her mother's house. He gathers a red heart-shaped box of candy, a large bouquet, and several animals, only to find out that his interest wasn't at her mother's house that day. The video also cuts in between him singing the song and his romantic interest getting ready for the day. This version of the music video was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2009 songs 2010 debut singles Song recordings produced by J. R. Rotem Songs written by J. R. Rotem