"Lover Not a Fighter" is a song by English rapper

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

, featuring additional vocals from

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...

, who also produced the song. It was released on 2 February 2014 as the third single from Tempah's second studio album '' Demonstration'' (2013). The song entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 42 and rose to number 18 prior to independent release. During 2014, an instrumental version of the song was used on ''

Match of the Day 2 ''Match of the Day 2'' is a Premier League football highlights programme. It is a companion show to Match of the Day, usually broadcast on BBC One on Sunday evenings, thus facilitating coverage of the respective week's PL matches that were playe ...

'' as background music to highlights of Saturday's matches.

Background and release

"Lover Not a Fighter" is a feel-good, radio-friendly song about good vibes and 'doing your thing'. "I'm a lover, not a fighter. I've just come to do my thing and enjoy myself so don't try and get on to me about it or try and make me feel bad about everything that's going on in my life", Tinie told

SB.TV SB.TV Global Ltd, also known as SB.TV or SmokeyBarz, is a British music media company founded by Jamal Edwards and a small team of young people who work on web-based content. The platform was created on 2 November 2006, and its origins in urban m ...

. Prior to independent release, the song has been added to

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

's B List playlist, receiving frequent airplay throughout December 2013 and January 2014. The release of the music video caused a surge in popularity and the song entered the

at number 42 on the week ending 18 January 2014. The Paul Woolford remix premiered on Annie Mac's

show on 17 January. The All About She remix premiered on

MistaJam Peter Dalton (born 19 January 1983), known professionally as MistaJam, is a British DJ and radio presenter. He is known for presenting radio shows on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra from 2005 to 2020; since 2020 he has presented on Capital and ...

's BBC Radio 1Xtra show on 20 January 2014, and both are part of the remix package, released on 2 February. On the week ending 1 February, the song climbed the chart to number 18. On 4 February, Tinie appeared in

's ''Live Lounge'' to perform the song alongside covers of

Gorgon City Gorgon City are an English electronic music production duo consisting of two North London producers Kye "Foamo" Gibbon and Matt "RackNRuin" Robson-Scott. Their 2013 debut single " Real" peaked at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart. They are also w ...

and

MNEK Uzoechi Osisioma "Uzo" Emenike (born 9 November 1994), professionally known by his stage name MNEK (, ), is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He has been nominated for a Grammy and a Brit Award, and has received the ASCAP Vangua ...

's " Ready for Your Love" and Meridian Dan's "German Whip".

Music video

The music video for the song was shot from 20–21 November 2013 and released onto Tinie Tempah's YouTube channel on 12 December 2013. The video was directed by

Emil Nava Emil William Capper Nava (born 29 March 1985) is a British music video director. After leaving school at 16, Emil started his career as a chef. He shot to fame after directing Jessie J's song " Do It Like A Dude". He has since directed over 1 ...

and lasts a total length of four minutes and fourteen seconds.

Track listing

Personnel

* Patrick "Tinie Tempah" Okogwu – vocals * Timothy "Labrinth" McKenzie – vocals, producer, instruments * Da Digglar – additional programming * Phil Tan – mixing * Daniela Rivera – engineering * Richard "Richie Montana" Hoey – vocal production, recording

Charts

References

{{authority control 2013 songs 2014 singles Tinie Tempah songs Labrinth songs Parlophone singles Song recordings produced by Labrinth Songs written by Labrinth