Your Love (Nicki Minaj song)

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"Your Love"
Updated artwork
Single by Nicki Minaj
from the album Pink Friday
ReleasedJune 1, 2010
Recorded2008–2010
Length4:04
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Pop & Oak
Nicki Minaj singles chronology
"Woohoo"
(2010)
"Your Love"
(2010)
"Bottoms Up"
(2010)
Music video
"Your Love" on
YouTube

"Your Love" is a song by rapper

Universal Motown as the lead single from her debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010). It replaced the previously-released "Massive Attack" featuring Sean Garrett
as the lead single of the album, after its underwhelming commercial performance a month earlier.

"Your Love" was written by Minaj,

No More I Love You's" (1986) by the Lover Speaks, using its background vocals with additional bass, hip-hop backbeats and drum loops added. The song peaked at numbers 14 and four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
charts, respectively. As of June 2016 the song has sold 1.5 million digital downloads.

Background

"Your Love" features a sample by Scottish recording artist Annie Lennox (pictured).

The first version of "Your Love" appeared on Nicki Minaj's unofficial mixtape Barbie World (2010), with different lyrics included in the pre-chorus along with a faster pace.

Hot 93.7 radio, Minaj spoke about the leak of the song, saying "That was a leak and I was so upset they put it out 'cause I recorded that song like two years ago. Next thing you know, people started falling in love with it."[2] Whilst on set on the music video for "Your Love", Minaj further explain about the song's theft and leak, saying,

"I was not planning on putting the song out at all. But then I heard it one day, somebody told me it was online. And I was like, 'No way, no way in the world that song is out.' I went and listened to it and was really upset. It wasn't mixed, it wasn't finished, it wasn't anything — I wasn't gonna use it at all. But then radio started playing it."[3]

Rap-Up posted cover art featuring a close up of Minaj smirking to her right, however for unknown reasons the art work was changed.[4] The new cover features a cartoon version of Minaj, made by illustrator Asia Kendrick-Horton who posted it for Minaj on Twitter.[5]

Composition

"Your Love" is a mid-tempo song with the heavy use of

beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E major with Minaj's vocal range spanning from the low-note of B3 to the high-note of C5.[7]

The concept of “Your Love” was created after a series of accidents; Pop had made the beat in his mother's basement. Pop’s sister, Jackie, was a big fan of Annie Lennox and recommended sampling “No More I Love You's”. Despite his disdain for the song, one day, while Jackie was cleaning house, Pop heard the song being played again and the idea for “Your Love” was born. He went back to the basement and looped the sample, adding a kick and snap. While sending Minaj some beats over email, Pop accidentally attached the track’s instrumental version. He texted her right after, saying it was an accident but, to his surprise, she liked the vibe and wrote her verses for it. After recording with the newly created beat, the song went into limbo for two years, until an anonymous hacker at Hot Beats Studio in Atlanta leaked it online. Nicki was horrified at how the public might have reacted to her Auto-Tune quality, hoping the leak would be forgotten; instead, it went on to surpass the initial single “Massive Attack”, which had been a commercial flop. The leaked unmastered demo started to gain listeners and would enter the charts. Along with Pop's partner Oak, they replayed the sample (Annie Lennox would not allow the sample to be cleared) and then re-recorded Nicki's vocals for the new version of the beat, which replaced the demo on the charts. [8]

The official remix (featuring Cash Money labelmate

Chris Brown.[12][13]

Critical reception

Sara D. Anderson of

AOL Radio Blog described the song as a "rap/singing mash-up".[1] Coined as a "new brand of hood majesty", the song is accompanied by a simple beat, which includes finger snaps and "xylophone clings".[14] Lean Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly commented: "Rap's spitfire explores her softer side, sampling Annie Lennox on her honey-tongued ode to a good man." Greenblatt went on to compare the song to Beyoncé's "kindred" "Check on It".[15] Minaj makes several references in her lines to well known people, which includes Bruce Willis in Die Hard, as well as Adam and Eve. Minaj makes several connections to Superman including in the pre-chorus, "'S' on my chest, let me get my cape on."[1][14]

Idolator gave the song a positive review, while complimented Minaj's dual rapping and singing, as well as the use of the sample.[16] Backy Bain also of Idolator additionally gave the song a positive review stating "We were a bit worried that Harujuku Barbie would forever be the garnish on other people's tracks instead of the main dish, but this sweet song proves otherwise."[17] Mariel Concepcion of Billboard commented on Minaj toning it down stating, "the Young Money rap princess puts the sleazy talk aside and finds herself smitten with a young man... Minaj proves that even the wildest ones can be tamed."[14] While reviewing the music video, Brad Wete also of Entertainment Weekly reviewed the song positively, stating that Minaj was "slicing the competition to pieces with her second try".[18] David Jeffries of AllMusic deemed the song an album highlight, additionally adding that the song, "waltzes out of the speakers".[19] In 2014, Pitchfork named it the best Nicki Minaj single.[20]

Alexis Petridis of The Guardian discussed the song's position on the album, stating that as the album progresses, Minaj turns into "devoted girlfriend material".[21] Margaret Wappler of the Los Angeles Times gave a mixed review of the song, stating, "It's just another fantasy clattering around the head of this Queens-bred imagineer of urban music whose sense of identity is so whimsically schizoid that she makes Lady Gaga seem as fixed as Barbara Bush."[22] Allison Stewart of The Washington Post complimented Minaj's singing on the track, stating that the song was "so shamelessly sweet it's as if replaced Minaj with Rachel McAdams, but it's a great song, and another example of Minaj trying on and ultimately discarding various personas the way Lady Gaga does platform shoes. She tries on voices, too, taking a scenic tour of Queens, London and Trinidad before settling on a Jamaican patois." Stewart went on to name the song a recommended download from the album.[23]

Chart performance

"Your Love" debuted on the US

UK R&B Chart.[28][29] The song peaked at number 32 on the Australian Urban Singles chart.[30]

Music video

Minaj is dressed in Japanese-styled fashions throughout the "Your Love" video.

Background

A music video for the song was directed by

Director X on the weekend of July 4, 2010 in Los Angeles.[31] Minaj took to her Twitter, asking fans who they would like to see portray her love interest in the video.[32] Minaj was interviewed on the set of "Your Love" by MTV News while wearing a pink and purple kimono as a geisha for the video.[3] In the interview, Minaj said, "We wanted to have geisha themes, samurai themes, stuff like that. I wanted to tell a love story. It's just kinda liking a guy, where he's not really for you to like—the forbidden fruit—and me and this other girl happen to like him and we go to war."[31] The video premiered July 21, 2010 on MTV.com.[31] Actor Michael Jai White portrays Minaj's love interest in the video.[31]

Synopsis

The video is set to tell the story of a samurai-in-training, who falls in love with her master while a jealous peer fights for his affection.

Kill Bill.[31] Minaj loses and her rival walks away as Minaj bleeds a red fabric and White walks up and grieves over her body.[31]

Critical reception

Robbie Daw of Idolator appreciated the plot twist of the video, commenting, "We really expected Nicki to waste that other warrior-in-training hater. The fact that she dies—and does so in such a beautiful way here—kind of makes us love her all the more."[34] Daw also inferred that the fancy attire from the "No More I Love You's" video inspired Minaj's in the "Your Love" video.[34] Nicole Sia of MTV Buzzworthy stated that the video resembles Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in its fight scene. Sia also commented on Minaj's appearance stating "the camera cuts to Ms. Young Money soloing in front of billowing one-million-thread-count satin sheets, just to remind us how damn FINE she is."[35] Tray Hova of Vibe gave a list of the best and worst parts of the music video, stating the best were Minaj chopped through the blocks of cement, her crazy faces, silk sheets and headgear, and that the worst part was the "melodramatic ending" and "the return of those Freddy Krueger fingers".[36]

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from the Pink Friday liner notes.[37]

Charts and certifications

Radio dates and release history

Release history and formats for "Your Love"
Region Date Format
United States June 1, 2010 Digital download[53]
June 15, 2010 Mainstream airplay[54]
United Kingdom June 7, 2010 Digital download[55]
Africa June 6, 2015 Digital download[56]

References

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