"Wanna Love You Girl" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single " Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, h ...

featuring fellow American musician Pharrell Williams as the lead single from his second album '' The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' (2006). There is also a remix for the song, that features two new verses from American rapper Busta Rhymes.

Conception

Pharrell was at first reluctant to record with Thicke, feeling the then forthcoming album was good enough on its own telling ''Vibe'', "I thought his album was so dope already. I didn't think it was necessary." and stating to MTV, "I felt like it didn't need anything from me, ..he quality, the musicality, it's just upper-echelon." Label executive

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...

advocated the pairing, believing it would be a favorable association for Thicke in the eyes of an audience not yet familiar with his work. With Iovine's support, the two agreed to go forward with the collaboration.

Chart performance

The single was officially released August 9, 2005. While expected to be a big hit, it failed to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and only peaked at No. 65 on ''Billboard'''s

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart.

Remix

Although the connection with Pharrell did not help propel the single to great chart success as anticipated, it did become a minor hit on urban radio and a popular song in clubs. It was at a club in Miami that it first caught the ear of Busta Rhymes, who was impressed by the people's frenzied reaction to it when it was played. Shortly after, Busta acquired the instrumental and recorded his own verses. The remix began appearing on

mixtapes A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

and generated enough interest that Thicke, Busta Rhymes, and

Spliff Star William A. Lewis (born April 18, 1971), professionally known as Spliff Star, is an American rapper and record producer from Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. He's best known for his work with Busta Rhymes. Both ''Vibe'' and ''Complex'' listed Spliff ...

went on to shoot an official music video for the remix which was released in the summer of 2006.

Music video

*Directed by:

Hype Williams Harold Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video director, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens, New York. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adel ...

*Produced by: Tracey Cuesta *Edited by:

*Online Edit by: Gavin Holmes *Director of Photography: Malik Sayeed *Production Company: Santo Domingo Film & Music Video The video was filmed in August 2005 in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. This video was shot with mostly natural lighting using mirrors and bounce boards as the locations were so remote that there were no cables available long enough to connect to the generator. Some of the models were brought from Mexico,

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

, and two were local models from the

. This video was commissioned by Interscope for Star Trak. Pharrell was flown into the area of the location and then brought by boat to the beach as the roads were too dangerous for access after a hard rain the night before his performance shot. Thicke was also brought by boat to the beach locations and had to be driven in by 4WD to the waterfalls.

References

{{Pharrell Williams singles 2005 singles Music videos directed by Hype Williams Pharrell Williams songs Robin Thicke songs Busta Rhymes songs Song recordings produced by the Neptunes Songs written by Pharrell Williams Songs written by Robin Thicke 2005 songs Interscope Records singles