"What About Love" is a song originally recorded by Canadian rock group

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, re-released in 1985 by the American rock group

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

. The song was Heart's "comeback" single. It was the first Heart track to reach the top 40 in three years, and their first top 10 hit in five. It was released as the first single from the band's self-titled 1985 album, ''

'', as well as their first hit single on their new record label,

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and painter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, s ...

and Mickey Thomas, co-lead vocalists of

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...

at the time, provide additional background vocals on the song.

Background

The song was originally recorded in 1983 by Canadian rock group

, of which songwriters Sheron Alton and Brian Allen were members. (The other songwriter,

Jim Vallance James Douglas Vallance (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian songwriter, arranger and producer. He is best known as the songwriting partner of Canadian musician Bryan Adams. Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main song ...

, was not a member of Toronto, though he played drums on Toronto's recording of the song.) However, the rest of the band elected not to release the song, and the frustration Allen and Alton faced in being unable to convince their bandmates to feature this and other material on Toronto's albums led to their departure from the group. Later, Michael McCarty at ATV Music Publishing was reviewing his song catalogue when he came across "What About Love". He offered the song to Heart, who turned it into a worldwide hit. Toronto's original version remained commercially unreleased until 2002, when it appeared as a bonus cut on the CDs '' Get It On Credit'' and ''Toronto: The

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

''.

Reception

The song's sound marked a considerable change in the musical direction for Heart, moving from the hard rock and folk rock of their earlier work to a more polished,

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

sound. "What About Love" received extensive airplay on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and returned Heart to the top-10 of the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the first time in five years, peaking at No. 10. The song peaked at No. 14 on 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 ...

upon its re-release in 1988. Exclusively in its UK release, "What About Love" was also featured in an extended version on 12" and CD single versions. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said of the single that it "retains the punch of eart'shard rock tinged mid-’70s successes with a new vocal and melodic pliability," also saying that it has "less emphasis on guitar solos and more songwriting focus." The song's chorus was featured in a series of Swiffer WetJet TV commercials from late 2010 into the following year. The campaign followed a series of previous Swiffer commercials using popular songs of the 1970s and 1980s.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions and samples

Mari Hamada is a Japanese heavy metal and pop rock singer. Since her debut in 1983, Hamada has been known as the "Heavy Metal Queen" of Japan. Throughout her career, she has released 25 singles and 23 studio albums. Biography Early history Mari Hama ...

covered the song in her 1985 album '' Blue Revolution''. *On the compilation album of the 2006 season of ''American Idol'', the song was performed by finalist

Melissa McGhee The fifth season of reality television singing competition ''American Idol'' began on January 17, 2006, and concluded on May 24, 2006. Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell returned to judge, and Ryan Seacrest returned to host. It is th ...

. Janell Wheeler performed the song in

Season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of the series. Season 11 Erika Van Pelt sang the song in the top 12 Girls night. In Season 12, Amber Holcomb sang it during the Top 7's Rock week. *

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Sean Combs, D ...

samples "What About Love" in his song "Shot to the Heart." *

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

samples "What About Love" in his song "Something You Forgot." *On the TV show '' Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious'', finalist Chrystina performs this song in the series finale, which eventually leads to her making the final group. *

Rytmus Patrik Vrbovský (born 3 January 1977), better known by his stage name Rytmus, is a Slovak rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and television personality. Born in Kroměříž of Romani descent, raised in Pieštany, Rytmus co-founded the Slovak ...

samples "What About Love" in his song "Na Toto Som Cakal." *

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

covered the song during as part of her 2012 Stronger Tour, performing the song during a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts appearance. *

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah (; born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maint ...

once covered this song in Cantonese language, titled 永遠愛你 (Forever Loving You) which was taken on his second solo album (''情感的禁區/Forbidden Emotional'')

References

{{Authority control Heart (band) songs 1982 songs 1985 singles Hard rock ballads Songs written by Jim Vallance Song recordings produced by Ron Nevison Capitol Records singles 1980s ballads