| "Love You Like a Love Song" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bySelena Gomez & the Scene | ||||
| from the albumWhen the Sun Goes Down | ||||
| Released | June 17, 2011 | |||
| Recorded | December 2010 | |||
| Studio | Rock Mafia (Santa Monica, California) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:08 | |||
| Label | Hollywood | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers |
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| Selena Gomez & the Scene singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Love You like a Love Song" onYouTube | ||||
"Love You Like a Love Song" is a song by American bandSelena Gomez & the Scene recorded for their third studio albumWhen the Sun Goes Down (2011). It was released as the second single from the album internationally. The song was released for digital download on June 17, 2011, and serviced tomainstream radios on August 16, 2011, in theUnited States, throughHollywood Records.
It was written byAntonina Armato andTim James while both receive production credits under the stage-nameRock Mafia. Additional songwriting comes fromAdam Schmalholz, while Devrim Karaoglu co-produced the track. The song, according to Gomez, was meant to sound different from her previous material, achieving a "high fashion" sound. "Love You like a Love Song" is a midtempodance-pop andelectropop song with aEuro disco rhythm. The lyrics deal with the feeling of being in love early on in a relationship.
"Love You Like a Love Song" was a success in North America, peaking at number twenty-two on theBillboard Hot 100 and number ten on theCanadian Hot 100. It stands as the band's most successful single in the United States, lasting the longest on the chart, selling more than two million copies and earning a penta-platinum certification by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song peaked at number one in Russia, inside the top ten in Hungary, Mexico and Slovakia, and earned gold certifications inAustralia andSweden, and a platinum one inNorway. In 2022,Billboard ranked the song as the biggest hit that peaked at number 22.
The music video for "Love You Like a Love Song" was directed by Geremy Jasper and Georgie Greville. It features Gomez performing the song at a Japanese karaoke bar while scenes of the band performing in different settings are intercut through the video. The video received controversy for the use of paint, later proven to be non-toxic, on a horse. Despite the use of non-toxic paint and supervision by theHumane Society, the scenes with the horses were removed in the final edit.
"Love You Like a Love Song" was written and produced byAntonina Armato and Tim James, while they are credited under the stage-nameRock Mafia for the production. Armato and James have collaborated onThe Scene's previous songs including "Naturally" and "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" (Kiss & Tell, 2009). 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", a rumor that arose when the provisional name of the third studio album was stillOtherside. On April 30, 2011, the production/songwriting duo, through Twitter, 'confirmed' "Love You like a Song" was not correct and the correct name of the song is "Love You like a Love Song" or "Lovesong".[1] In May, the official name of the song, "Love You like a Love Song", was confirmed.[2]
In an interview withBillboard, Gomez described as a "one of those tracks that's addictive because it's kind of repetitive in the best way. It's one of those songs that you can't get out of your head."[3] In an interview with another publication, Gomez explained what she expected from the record: "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."[4] "Love You like a Love Song" was released as the second single fromWhen the Sun Goes Down (2011), after the international success of "Who Says", on June 17, 2011, throughdigital distribution.[5] The song was serviced tocontemporary hit radio airplay on August 16, 2011, in the United States.[6]
"Love You Like a Love Song" is three minutes and eight seconds long.[7] Armato and James collaborated with Paul Palmer on the song'smix, which was orchestrated at Rock Mafia Studios inSanta Monica,California, while Steve Hammons serves as themix engineer. Hammons and Ross Hogarth were signed as the song'sengineers, while Adam Comstock serves as the second engineer. Brooke Adams performedbackground vocals with Armato and James. Tim Pierce contributedguitars. The song was then digitally edited by James and Nigel Lundemo.[8] Musically, according to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com byUniversal Music Publishing Group, the song is set incommon time and moves through a moderatetempo, having a tempo of 117beats per minute. It is written in thekey ofC♯ minor. Gomez's vocals range from a low register of E3 to a high register of C♯5. It has a basic descending fifths sequence of C♯m-F♯m-B-E-A-D♯dim-G♯7 with the eighth chord being G♯ in the verses and C♯m in the chorus as its chord progression. It changes to A-E-B-C♯m-A-E-G♯7-G♯7 in the bridge.
"Love You Like a Love Song" is a mid-tempodance-pop andelectropop song incorporating aEuro disco rhythm and pulsing beats.[9] Lyrically, "Love You like a Love Song" is about a relationship in its honeymoon phase. Kitty Empire ofThe Guardian commented the song "combines a lyrical weariness beyond her years with some acrylic pump action".[10]
The song received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who criticized its lyrics and Gomez's monotone vocals. John Bergstrom ofPopMatters expressed a mixed opinion about the song, writing it "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."[11]
Victoria Meng of TheCelebrityCafe, in her review of the single, found faults with the lyrics and the production.[12] Calling the production "sub-par", Meng criticized it for sounding "mechanical" due to the electronic nature, writing "a love song shouldn't sound mechanical unless it's deliberately meant to be subversive and to highlight dark, pathological obsessions like in many of Lady Gaga's songs."[12] Meng also criticized it for the use of monotone vocals and Auto-Tune, in regards to a love song which she claims should be "passionate".[12] Meng found the lyrics to be "mediocre", writing "to surround them with a beautiful tune" would help them stand out.[12] Blair Kelly ofmusicOMH expressed similar feelings towards the song; she deemed it "forgettable" and stated it and "Bang Bang Bang" were both "wannabe electro-pop songs which lack both lyrical merit and a really catchy hook to make up for it".[13]
In 2017, Alex Frank fromPitchfork called the song "a cult karaoke classic".[14]
"Love You like a Love Song" debuted at number 71 on the USBillboard Hot 100 issued for July 9, 2011. The song peaked at number 22 on March 3, 2012. With 38 weeks spent on the chart, it is Selena Gomez & the Scene's longest-charting single.[15] On April 20, 2012, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the single double platinum.[5] It is Gomez's best-selling song in the US and had sold 2.8 million copies as of May 2017.[16][17][18] In Canada, "Love You like a Love Song" entered theCanadian Hot 100 at number 64 on July 9, 2011.[19] The song rose to number 21 in the following week.[20] It ascended and descended inside the top 30 for eighteen weeks until it peaked at number 10 on November 19, 2011.[21][22] The song lasted another fifteen weeks inside the top 30 and exited the charts after forty-two weeks.[21]
In Belgium, "Love You like a Love Song" peaked at number 15 and charted for thirteen weeks.[23] In New Zealand, the song entered thesingles chart at number 34 and peaked at number 21 two weeks later.[24] In Australia, it peaked at number 48 and, despite lasting two weeks on the chart, was certified gold for shipments of 35,000 units byAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[25] In Sweden, the song peaked at number 41 on thesingles chart and earned a gold certification by theSwedish Recording Industry Association (GLF) for shipments of 10,000 units.[26] The song showed similar success across Europe, peaking in the lower end of the top fifty in several other countries, though it went to #1 inRussia staying 20 weeks atop (the most of any song), and top 3 in several other Eastern European countries. In France, one year after its release, the single entered at number 68 on June 9, 2012 and peaked at number 17 on September 8, 2012, three months later. It became Gomez's first entry in theFrench Singles Chart and the only entry forThe Scene, the first top twenty for theDisney star and also her longest-running single in the charts (spending 34 weeks) untilTaki Taki (2018) withDJ Snake, 6 years later and which spent 57 weeks.[27] It is the Gomez's biggest hit as a lead artist there.It also made #1 in bothTaiwan and thePeople's Republic of China.
The music video was directed by Geremy Jasper and Georgie Greville, who previously worked withGoldfrapp andFlorence & The Machine.[28] 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."[28] The video was released on June 23, 2011, onVEVO.[29] Around the same time, the video would play during commercial breaks onDisney Channel.
As of October 2025[update], the video has been viewed more than 800 million times.
It begins with the singer at a Japanesekaraoke bar,[28] watching a man sing the band's previous single "Naturally" off-key before he wanders off stage, a scene criticized for being similar to the opening scene ofMaroon 5's video for their 2004 single "Sunday Morning". Gomez, who wears a goldendisco-style dress,[28] 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. The close ups with her dark sleeveless top, hairstyle, hair color, goth like makeup, and with her hands gesturing towards the camera bear a striking resemblance withAvril Lavigne'sComplicated music video. She then walks the beach with a long-haired blond male hippie (actor/model Oliver Seitz), and lays in the sand while he playssitar andtime-lapsed clouds speed away overhead. In the chorus, many TV screens show images of Gomez indrag looking similar to 1980s iconMax Headroom.
During the second verse of the song, Gomez and the pianist are in a heavenly cloud-scape, both dressed in a style inspired by the 1984 filmAmadeus.[28] She sings atop the triangular piano while he plays. She then glances at a TV screen displaying the next scene. Donning 1950s dress, Gomez rides in the passenger seat of a convertible car driven by agreaser, played by actor Charan Andreas on aTron-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 playingpiñata with a pinklightsaber. She is surrounded by a Mariachi band consisting of The Scene and others playingRoland AX-7 synth keytars and a YamahaWX5 wind controller. 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.
In a May 2018 interview with Victoria Rodriguez ofSeventeen, actorTimothy Granaderos, who portrays the character ofMonty in the Gomez-producedNetflix drama13 Reasons Why, confirmed he played the purple-masked mariachi band member, who plays the YamahaWX5 wind controller, in the video.[30]
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 colored using anontoxicwater-soluble vegetable powder, when singer andPETA supporterPink saw the photo, she assumed the horses had been colored traditionally using toxic paints or dyes.[31] 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 the horses were physically colorized, having assumed their color would be added in post-production.[31]
According to Gomez, she "was not so comfortable with the whole concept" of having horses in the video,[28] and it was later announced the animals would not appear in the final cut of the video, despite on-set supervision from an official of theHumane Society and the horses not having been harmed or endangered in any way.[32] James Dihn ofMTV Newsroom commented Gomez was not the first celebrity to be criticized by PETA, namingBritney Spears and her music video for "Circus" (2008), as well as50 Cent andLady Gaga, as examples.[33] Following the release onVEVO, Becky Bain ofIdolator 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.[29] Jocelyn Vena ofMTV 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."[28]
Gomez performed the song onGood Morning America on June 17, 2011. The song has also been performed on the UK programDaybreak on July 8, 2011.[citation needed] She also performed it at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday, August 7, 2011. Gomez performed the song on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on September 19, 2011.[34] The song was also performed onThe Ellen DeGeneres Show on November 17, 2011. Gomez and her band performed the song at their first headlining tourWe Own the Night Tour.[35]
The band performed the song at the2011 Teen Choice Awards following their win for "Best Love Song".[36]
The song was later featured in the setlist of Gomez's second solo tourRevival Tour.[37][38]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Love You like a Love Song" (Dave Audé Radio Mix) | 3:17 |
| 14. | "Love You like a Love Song" (Dave Audé Club Mix) | 6:28 |
| 15. | "Love You like a Love Song" (Jump Smokers Radio Remix) | 4:11 |
| 16. | "Love You like a Love Song" (Jump Smokers Club Remix) | 4:36 |
| 17. | "Love You like a Love Song" (DJ Escape & Tony Coluccio Radio Remix) | 3:16 |
| 18. | "Love You like a Love Song" (DJ Escape & Tony Coluccio Club Remix) | 6:38 |
| 19. | "Love You like a Love Song" (Mixin Marc & Tony Svejda Radio Remix) | 3:59 |
| 20. | "Love You like a Love Song" (Mixin Marc & Tony Svejda Club Remix) | 5:49 |
Credits are adapted from theliner notes ofWhen the Sun Goes Down.[8]
In 2012,Naya Rivera performed the song as her characterSantana Lopez in the third-season episode "Prom-asaurus" of the television seriesGlee.
RuPaul's Drag Race contestantWillam Belli parodied the song on his albumThe Wreckoning, entitled "Love You like a Big Schlong".[39]
The song was featured in the episode "No, You Can't Sit With Us" ofSuburgatory.[40]
The song was covered byMarshall Williams andKelli Berglund in the Disney Channel television filmHow to Build a Better Boy, as their characters Albert Banks and Mae Hartley respectively.
The song was featured in the 2012 dance video gameJust Dance 4.[41][42][43]
In 2014,Cats on Trees released acover version of the song. It charted on theSNEP, the official French Singles Chart peaking number 44 and 43 atWallonia.[44][45]
In 2015, Sami released acover version of the song.[46]
The song was featured in episode 7 of the Netflix seriesGinny and Georgia.[47]
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Music: Love Song | Won |
| 2012 | MTV Video Music Awards | Best Female Video | Nominated |
| 2012 | Hollywood Teen TV Awards | Song Of The Year | Nominated |
| 2012 | MuchMusic Video Awards | Best International Video: Group | Nominated |
Weekly charts[edit]
| Monthly charts[edit]
Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[95] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria)[96] | Gold | 15,000* |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[97] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[98] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[99] | 2× Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway)[100] | Platinum | 10,000* |
| Russia (NFPF)[101] Ringtone | Platinum | 200,000* |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[102] | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Sweden (GLF)[103] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[104] | Gold | 400,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[105] | 6× Platinum | 6,000,000‡ |
| Streaming | ||
| Norway (IFPI Norway)[106] | Platinum | 3,000,000† |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States[5] | June 17, 2011 | Digital download | Hollywood Records |
| Worldwide[107] | |||
| Australia[108] | June 20, 2011 | Contemporary hit radio | |
| Taiwan | June 22, 2011 | Digital download | Universal Music Taiwan |
| United States[109] | August 16, 2011 | Contemporary hit radio | Hollywood Records |
| Worldwide[110] | August 22, 2011 | Digital remixes EP |
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