"This Is Love" is a song by English

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

musician

PJ Harvey Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined loca ...

. It is the tenth track from her fifth studio album, ''

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea ''Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea'' is the fifth studio album by English alternative rock musician PJ Harvey, released on 24 October 2000 by Island Records. Recorded during March to April 2000, it contains themes of love that are tie ...

'' (2000) and was released as a single in 2001 under the title "This Is Love/You Said Something". It charted on

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 ...

, peaking at number 41. The

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

-influenced song was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for works (songs or albums) conta ...

in 2002 but lost to

Lucinda Williams Lucinda Gayle Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums: '' Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and '' Happy Woman Blues'' (1980), in a traditional country and blues style ...

song "Get Right With God".

Musical style and lyrics

The song was described as "

blues punk Punk blues (or blues punk) is a rock music genre that mixes elements of punk rock and blues. Punk Blues Genre AMG Allmusic.com, Retrieved on May 21, 2008 Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as pr ...

" and "one of the blues-tinged numbers" off the record. The guitar riff of the song was interpreted as an homage to

The Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave ...

song "No Fun" and was compared to those of

The Heartbreakers The Heartbreakers, sometimes referred to as Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, were an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1975. The band spearheaded the first wave of punk rock. History Johnny Thunders (vocals/guitar) and Jerry N ...

song "

Chinese Rocks "Chinese Rocks" or "Chinese Rock" is a song written in 1975 by New York punk rock musician Dee Dee Ramone with contributions from Richard Hell. Inspired by Lou Reed's " Heroin", the song openly details the day-to-day ravages of opiate addicti ...

." According to Amy Britton, the author of ''Revolution Rock: The Albums Which Defined Two Ages'', lyrically the song "places sex as a priority over the anomalies of the world." Also on the lyrics of the song, Jason Heller of

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

wrote: "PJ doesn’t bring her love to anyone, nor does she ponder whether her font of conflicted emotions and biological requirements amount to desire. She just states, “This is love / This is love / That I’m feeling.” Period. No searching of the soul needed."

Critical reception

Andrew Mueller of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' stated that the song "flirts with a hitherto uncharacteristic

Liz Phair Elizabeth Clark Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Phair was raised primarily in the Chicago area. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1990, she attempted to start a musical career ...

-ish playfullness" and described it as "exuberant". Christian David Hoard, one of the authors of ''

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' praised the song, writing: "on the bombastic and awesomely raunchy "This Is Love," arguably her best song ever, she says a big fuck-you to psychosis and sadness as guitars crunch and garments hit the floor."

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by

Sophie Muller Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is a British music video director who has directed more than 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 ''Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's son ...

, who also collaborated with Harvey on the music videos of "

Good Fortune Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...

" and "A Place Called Home." It features Harvey, who is wearing a fringe-sleeved white suit and red lipstick, performing the song on the guitar at a studio and whipping her hair around.

Track listing

;CD # «This Is Love» – 3:48 # «You Said Something» – 3:23 # «A Place Called Home (Taken From Lamacq Live)» – 3:41 ;Australia / Asia CD Single # «This Is Love» – 3:48 # «You Said Something» – 3:23 ;7" # «This Is Love» – 3:44 # «Angelene (Taken From Lamacq Live)» – 3:46 ;US VHS Promo # «This Is Love»

Chart positions

References

External links

*
PJ Harvey - This Is Love official music video
{{PJ Harvey 2000s Island Records singles 2001 songs PJ Harvey songs Songs written by PJ Harvey Music videos directed by Sophie Muller