"Love Today" is the second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

released by London-based singer

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

, taken from his debut studio album, ''

Life in Cartoon Motion ''Life in Cartoon Motion'' is the debut album released by British recording artist Mika. The album was produced by Greg Wells, mixed by Wells, with co-production on two songs by Jodi Marr and John Merchant. The album was released via Casablanca ...

'' (2007). The song was produced by

Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...

at Rocket Carousel studios and engineered by Drew Pearson. It was released in the United Kingdom on 16 April 2007 as a digital download, with the official physical release appearing on 23 April 2007. It has since peaked at number six. The single was released in Australia on 23 July 2007, peaking at number three on the ARIA Singles Chart, and was used for

Austereo Austereo was an Australian mass media company based in Melbourne. It was founded in 1980 by Paul Thompson, and operated 16 radio stations in metropolitan and regional Australia under the Today Network and Triple M brands. In 2011, the company' ...

radio station network advertising. The song was nominated for a

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for

Best Dance Recording The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording (formerly known as Best Dance Recording) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists f ...

at the

50th Grammy Awards The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonies ...

but lost to

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

's " LoveStoned/I Think She Knows".

Background and composition

Love Today was written by Mika and produced by

. He described the story behind the song in an interview with the Sun Newspaper, on 2 February 2007:

"I was really happy when I wrote this and when I'm in that kind of mood I always hope everyone else feels the same way. Everybody is looking for the same thing - to love someone and be loved back. Or just to get laid. It all depends on how you look for it. 'Love Today' captures that, the euphoric feeling you get when those things go right."

Mika revealed to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', on 20 November 2009 that the song came fully formed "after the first time I had sleepy with somebody and actually loved it."

Critical reception

The song received mixed reviews from music critics. Heather Phares from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that on the song "Mika straddles the line between adorable and annoying." John Murphy from

musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

agreed, writing that his voice is "infuriating" on the track. In the same vein, Graham Griffith from

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...

wrote that the song "finds itself hijacked by Mika's otherwise appealing falsetto, which morphs into an unflattering shriek and transforms the song into something altogether intolerable." Writing for

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

, Nick Levine called the song's chorus a "lost disco classic" and noted that Mika performs the track with similar enthusiasm displayed by the

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) as dr ...

. Christian John Mikane from

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

wrote that the song is "sincere." Mikane further added that "The pop-disco arrangement of 'Love Today' dresses Mika in legwarmers and leotards; it's the kind of song you'd expect the TV cast of '' Fame'' to perform mid-episode. Frankly, it's refreshing to hear an unproven artist take risks with material that, historically, is subject to derision." Lizzie Ennever from

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

wrote a positive review, saying that the song is "another winner - truly funky disco-pop that has you shoulder-shimmying non-stop, and even though you hate yourself for enjoying it, you simply can't stop yourself having a great time whilst you listen." Craig McLean from

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

called it "turbo-funk falsetto fun genetically modified to lay waste to hen nights and Freshers' Balls from Dundee to Dungeness."

In popular culture

"Love Today" was used by Motorola for online and mobile-phone spots in its RED campaign in early 2007. The song could also be heard in an ad for Motorola RED that featured comic Chris Kattan dancing that was shown before movie trailers in theaters at this time. The song was also used as the background music during the National Costume and Opening Presentation of

Miss Universe 2008 Miss Universe 2008 was the 57th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. This was the first time that the Miss Universe pageant was broadcast in 1080i High-definition. At the end of th ...

held in

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hòa District, Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh Distri ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. A portion of this song was used as a background song in a TV commercial for Mizone, an Indonesian isotonic drink, in 2010. "Love Today" has also been featured in a number of films including ''

Get Him to the Greek ''Get Him to the Greek'' is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Russell Brand and Jonah Hill. Released on June 4, 2010, the film is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film '' Forgetting S ...

'', '' Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage'' and ''

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

''.

Track listings

UK CD single # "Love Today" # "The Only Lonely One" (demo) # "Billy Brown" (acoustic) # "Love Today" (Switch Remix) UK 7-inch single :A. "Love Today" (album version) :B. "Stuck in the Middle" (acoustic version) UK 12-inch single # "Love Today" (Switch Remix) # "Love Today" (Rob Mello No Ears Vocal) # "Love Today" (Rob Mello No Ears Dub)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2007 singles 2007 songs Casablanca Records singles Island Records singles Mika (singer) songs Music videos directed by Sophie Muller Song recordings produced by Greg Wells Songs written by Mika (singer) Universal Records singles