Love (Keyshia Cole song)

"Love" is the fourth single from American R&B singer Keyshia Cole. The song is from her debut album The Way It Is. "Love" is the most successful single from her debut album peaking at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at #3 on the Hip-Hop/R&B chart, becoming her breakthrough record after a string of modestly successful singles. The video features R&B singer Tyrese and it received heavy play on BET. On the countdown show, 106 and Park, the track retired, making the countdown for 65 days. The video retired from the countdown on 19 April 2006.

Song information

When Keyshia Cole moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of a record deal, "Love" is the track that she thought would gain her one. When faced with A&M Records President Ron Fair, she performed this song and Fair decided to sign Keyshia on the spot. He would eventually rewrite the track.

The track is about a girl who is in a serious relationship with a guy, and is always trying to do her best, although she thinks that it is not good enough ("I used to think that I wasn't fine enough and I used to think I wasn't wild enough but I won't waste my time tryin' to figure out why you are playin' games what's this all about?"). The guy is cheating on her, but she can't believe it because she is so much in love with the guy.

"Love" was announced as Keyshia Cole's debut single in 2003. She performed the song at different showcases until her song "Never" was picked as the lead single of the Barbershop II soundtrack.

Chart performance

The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #82 and rose to #49 in its second week, gaining the charts "Greatest Gainer". It slowly moved up the charts with minor setbacks, and eventually peaked at #19, becoming her highest solo charting single until her 2007 song Let It Go reached #7.

"Love" was #18 on Billboard's 2006 Year End R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Music video

The video for "Love" features Keyshia Cole and Tyrese (as her boyfriend). The video was shot in different locations in New York City, as it shows in the beginning of the video. The video starts off as two policemen pull over Keyshia and Tyrese because apparently Keyshia ran a red light while driving, but claims she didn't see it. Tyrese is believed to be living a double life. He is some type of criminal that Keyshia suspects is doing wrong, but never confronts him of the issue, but he appears to be a loving boyfriend. Subsequently, as Keyshia is watching television, there is a video of her boyfriend and some other men robbing a bank. After she arrives home from a day of expensive shopping, Keyshia is confronted by the authorities and asks her if she knows where her boyfriend is. Her boyfriend then picks her up, she gets into the driver's seat of the car, and are taken back to the scenario shown in the beginning of the video. However, the policeman recognizes that it is Keyshia Cole, and calmly calls the whole thing off by asking for her autograph. Keyshia confronts her boyfriend, ends up staying with him, and he gives up being a criminal for her love.

Charts