| "Love You Like a Love Song" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Selena Gomez & the Scene | ||||
| from the album When the Sun Goes Down | ||||
| Released | June 17, 2011 | |||
| Format | CD single, digital download | |||
| Recorded | 2011 | |||
| Genre | Electropop, dance-pop, eurodisco | |||
| Length | 3:08 | |||
| Label | Hollywood | |||
| Writer(s) | Antonina Armato, Tim James | |||
| Producer | Rock Mafia | |||
| Selena Gomez & the Scene singles chronology | ||||
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"Love You Like a Love Song" is a song performed by American band Selena Gomez & the Scene from their third studio album, When the Sun Goes Down. The song serves as the album's second single internationally on June 17, 2011. It was produced by Antonina Armato and Tim James. Musically, "Love You Like a Love Song" is an midtempo pop song that relies on electropop and dance-pop styles. The song officially impacted US mainstream radio on August 20, 2011, and was released physically in numerous European countries thereafter.
The song reached the top five in Russia, the top ten in Canada, the top twenty in Norway and Belgium, peaked in the top fifty in multiple other countries, and is the first single from Selena Gomez And The Scene to enter the list of Latin Pop Songs. In the United States, the song was certified Platinum by the RIAA and peaked at number 35 on the Hot 100 upon release in August 2011. In November the single started to receive pop and mainstream airplay, bringing the track to a new peak position of number 26, as of December 22 2011. The song's accompanying music video sees Gomez sporting several different outfits and styles before different places including a karaoke club, atop Grecian-based clouds and in a field with a mariachi band.
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A month after the release of "Who Says" there was already talk of a release of a new single, to be called "Love You Like a Song", rumor that arose when the provisional name of the album was still Otherside.[1] In April 30, 2011 Rock Mafia, through Twitter, 'confirmed' that "Love You Like a Song" was not correct and that the correct name of the song is "Love You Like a Love Song" or "Lovesong".[2] In May the media confirmed the official name of the song, "Love You Like a Love Song".[3] The song was written by Antonina Armato and Tim James.[4] Gomez spoke about the song: "This song is fun and I wanted it to be really high fashion and different and I think we have accomplished that. It's basically talking about how crazy you are about someone whenever it's the beginning. It's the honeymoon stage if you will."[5] The song was serviced to mainstream radio on August 16, 2011.[6]
"Love You Like a Love Song" is a midtempo pop music[7] song that derives from the genres of electro-pop and dance-pop while incorporating an eurodisco rhythm and electro-pop beats.[7][8] The song is set in common time, and has a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute.[9] It is written in the key of C ♯ minor, and Gomez's vocal span from E3 to C#5.[9] The song is lyrically about a relationship in its honeymoon phase according to Gomez, how new everything is and blissful and crazy it gets with that person. Kitty Empire of The Guardian noted that the song "combines a lyrical weariness beyond her years with some acrylic pump action",[10] while Bill Lamb of About.com noted Gomez's vocals as deep and richer, with a prominent use of strings and an electropop beat in the background.[7]
John Bergstrom of PopMatters commented that "No way does “Love You Like A Love Song” benefits from a great title, and the squishy Eurodisco rhythm is credible, catchy and even sultry. But it’s all undone by a stuttering, Max Headroom non-chorus.".[8] However Bill Lamb of About.com called the stuttering chorus "ultra-catchy" and also favored the song for being "hypnotic" and "gently sexy", also noting the song moves well outside from being dissmisable teen pop.[7] The CelebrityCafe.com also criticized the Gomez' auto-tuned vocals and called the lyrics mediocre.[11] "Love You Like a Love Song" was certified gold in the United States, selling 500,000 copies since August 20, 2011.[12] It also peaked at number #35 on the Hot 100. Although the single was originally released to radio in August of 2011, it didn't start to gain airplay until November and has so far reached a new peak at number 26.[13] It went Platinum on December 2, 2011.[14] It has become their first top ten and highest peaking song in Canada. It reached number 10 on the week of November 19, 2011.
The music video was directed by Geremy Jasper and Georgie Greville, who previously worked with Goldfrapp and Florence & The Machine.[15] Gomez considered the video as "the craziest video I've ever done", and commented, "[s]ometimes when you're in love, there are things you can't really explain and it doesn't make sense. That's how I feel when I'm in love."[15] Released on June 23, 2011 on VEVO,[16] the music video begins with the singer at a futuristic Japanese karaoke bar,[15] watching a man sing the band's previous single "Naturally" off-key before he wanders off stage, a scene criticized for being nearly identical to the opening scene of Maroon 5's video for their 2004 single "Sunday Morning". Gomez, who wears an outfit inspired on 1984 film Amadeus,[15] is called to the stage, where she starts to sing the song. As the first line begins, the karaoke machine begins projecting various images of the band in different settings. The first set features Gomez wearing a long black dress with poker-straight hair on a violet-sanded beach. She walks the beach with a long-haired blond male hippie, and lays in the sand while he plays sitar and time-lapsed clouds speed away overhead. In the chorus, many TV screens show images of Gomez in drag looking similar to The B-52's past music videos.[15]
During the second verse of the song, Gomez and the pianist are in a heavenly cloud-scape, both dressed in Marie Antoinette-era clothing and pale makeup.[15] She sings atop the triangular piano while he plays. She then glances at a TV screen displaying the next scene. Donning 1950's dress, Gomez rides in the passenger seat of a convertible car driven by a greaser on a Tron-esque computer grid in outer space. The song's breakdown takes place in a large field of fuchsia wheat. Gomez sports a bejeweled bustier, black tutu, and black thigh-high boots while playing piñata with a pink lightsaber. She is surrounded by a Mariachi band consisting of The Scene and others. In the video's conclusion, The Scene comes into the bar to watch their lead singer finish her song, as the men from the fantasy sequences are shown to be in the audience as well. Gomez then bows to applause from the small audience. The beach was filmed in Malibu, California.
Before the official release of the music video, a leaked photo from the set of Gomez, the hippie, and two pink-colored horses drew controversy during production. Although the horses were actually colored using a nontoxic water-soluble vegetable powder, when singer and PETA supporter Pink saw the photo, she assumed the horses had been colored traditionally using toxic paints or dyes.[17] Pink criticized the video, which had not even been released, as "stupid". On her arrival to the video's set, Gomez was reportedly surprised to see that the horses were physically colorized, having assumed their color would be added in post-production.[17] According to Gomez, she "was not so comfortable with the whole concept" of having horses in the video,[15] being later announced that the animals would not appear in the final cut of the video, despite on-set supervision from an official of the Humane Society and the horses not having been harmed or endangered in any way.[18] James Dihn of MTV Newsroom commented that Gomez was not the first celebrity to be criticized by PETA, naming Britney Spears and her music video for "Circus" (2008), as well as 50 Cent and Lady Gaga, as examples.[19] Following the release on VEVO, Becky Bain of Idolator noted "most of these scenes have absolutely nothing to do with one another", but considered it "pretty entertaining even without pink horses", joking about the PETA controversy.[16] Jocelyn Vena of MTV summarized her review of the music video saying, "Selena Gomez may have been born in 1992, but that doesn't mean that the teen queen can't get a little nostalgic for the '80s."[15]
Gomez performed the song on Good Morning America on June 17, 2011. The song has also been performed on the UK program Daybreak on July 8, 2011. She also performed it at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday, August 7, 2011. The song has also been performed on the We Own the Night Tour.
Gomez also won the Teen Choice Award for Best Love Song when she performed on the show with the Scene.
Gomez performed the song on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on September 19, 2011.[20]
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Weekly charts
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Certifications
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| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States[47] | June 17, 2011 | Digital download | Hollywood Records |
| Australia[21] | |||
| Australia[48] | June 20, 2011 | Contemporary hit radio | |
| United States[49] | August 16, 2011 | ||
| Australia[23] | August 19, 2011 | Digital EP - Remixes |
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