"Love Me Like You Mean It" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

singer

Kelsea Ballerini Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American country pop singer. She began songwriting as a child and signed with Black River Entertainment in 2014, releasing her debut studio album the following year, '' The First Time''. ...

. Ballerini co-wrote the song with Josh Kerr, Forest Glen Whitehead and Lance Carpenter. It was released on July 8, 2014, as Ballerini's debut single and the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from her debut studio album, '' The First Time'', released on May 19, 2015, by

Black River Entertainment Black River Entertainment is an independent record label in Nashville, Tennessee, specializing in country music. The company is a partially owned subsidiary of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which otherwise specializes primarily in professiona ...

. The song is about a young woman showing interest in a man. The song was previously released in promotion of Ballerini's 2014 self-titled EP. "Love Me Like You Mean It" peaked at number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart, making Ballerini the first solo female to top that chart with her debut single since

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

's "

Jesus, Take the Wheel "Jesus, Take the Wheel" is a song written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson, and recorded by American country music artist Carrie Underwood. It was released on October 18, 2005 as the first single from Underwood's debut album ' ...

" in 2006 and the first female country music artist to accomplish that on an independent label. It also charted at number five on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart and number 45 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song 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". Platinu ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA), and has sold 596,000 units in the US as of May 2016. It achieved similar chart success in Canada, peaking at number three on the

Canada Country The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart and number 61 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

. It garnered a Gold certification from

Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

, denoting sales of 40,000 units in that country. The accompanying music video for the song, directed by Kristin Barlowe, was shot in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

and features Ballerini playing party games outside with her friends and performing throughout various locations.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo

song that, according to the digital sheet music published by Hal Leonard Music Publishing, is composed in the key of

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

, in

cut time ''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C with a vertical line through it), which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian for "on the breve", originally meaning tha ...

with a primary chord pattern of E–B–Fm74–A2. Ballerini's vocal ranges one

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

, from B to B. Natalie Wiener of ''

'' called "Love Me Like You Mean It" a song "about being a young woman who's openly expressing interest in a man," making the song a subtle message of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She compared the song's opening line, "Oh hey, boy with your hat back/Mmm I kind of like that/if you wanna walk my way," to

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

's 2012 hit, "

Call Me Maybe "Call Me Maybe" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen for her EP ''Curiosity'' (2012) and later appeared on her second studio album and first international album ''Kiss'' (2012). The song was written by Jepsen and T ...

Reception

Critical

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

'' reviewed the single favorably, saying that "Ballerini mixes modern production techniques with a straight-up country message to create an identifiable country-pop blend." In 2017, ''

'' contributor

Chuck Dauphin Charles Frederick Dauphin III (February 17, 1974 – September 18, 2019) was an American sports and country music journalist. He was a radio broadcaster for WDKN in Dickson, Tennessee Dickson is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Located in ...

placed "Love Me Like You Mean It" at number one on his top 10 list of Ballerini's best songs.

Commercial

"Love Me Like You Mean It" debuted at number 60 on the US ''

chart for the week of October 18, 2014, and debuted at number 48 on the US ''Billboard''

chart for the week of December 13, 2014. It reached number one on the Country Airplay chart for the week of July 4, 2015, making Ballerini the first solo female to send her debut single to the top of that chart since

did with "

" in 2006; it also made her the first female country music artist to do so on an independent label. The song was certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on July 14, 2015, and certified Platinum on August 4, 2016. The song has sold 596,000 copies in the US as of May 2016. In Canada, the song reached the top three of the

chart and peaked at number 61 on the

. It was certified Gold by

on September 12, 2016.

Music video

An acoustic music video was directed by Robert Chavers and premiered in November 2014. The official music video, directed by Kristin Barlowe, was filmed in

and premiered in March 2015. In it, Ballerini is seen playing games like

musical chairs Musical chairs, also known as Trip to Jerusalem, is a game of elimination involving players, chairs, and music. It is a staple of many parties worldwide. Gameplay A set of chairs is arranged with one fewer chair than the number of players ...

and

Twister Twister may refer to: Weather * Tornado Aviation * Pipistrel Twister, a Slovenian ultralight trike * Silence Twister, a German homebuilt aircraft design * Wings of Change Twister, an Austrian paraglider design Entertainment * ''Twister'' (198 ...

with her friends outside, while performing the song from various locations inside a trailer and in the doorway of a house.

Reception

The video was nominated at the 2015

CMT Music Awards The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...

in the category of Breakthrough Video of the Year, but lost to

Sam Hunt Sam Lowry Hunt (born December 8, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sports career before signing with MCA ...

's "

Leave the Night On "Leave the Night On" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Sam Hunt. It was released to country radio, by MCA Nashville on June 16, 2014 as the lead single from his debut studio album '' Montevallo'' (2014). The song wa ...

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 songs 2014 debut singles Kelsea Ballerini songs Songs written by Kelsea Ballerini Black River Entertainment singles