Baby I Love U!
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"Baby I Love U!" (stylized as "Baby I ♡ U!") is a song recorded by American singer
Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
for her third studio album, '' This Is Me... Then'' (2002). It was written by Lopez, Cory Rooney, Dan Shea and John Barry and produced by Rooney and Shea. The song contains an interpolation of the theme for the film ''
Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama (film and television), drama film, based on the 1965 Midnight Cowboy (novel), novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars ...
'' (1969). "Baby I Love U" is about unconditional love, with critics pointing out that it was inspired by her relationship with the actor Ben Affleck. Lopez would also meaningfully quote some of the lyrics from the song several times throughout her memoir, True Love. The song was well received by critics who complimented Lopez’s vocals. Commercially, the song was as successful as the other singles from the album in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three. In the United States, the song peaked at number 72 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and reached the top 30 of the
Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
chart.


Background and release

While recording her then-upcoming album, Lopez listened to
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
, the music she had often turned to while growing up. Using songs by
Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
,
Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...
and others as inspiration, she attempted to elicit a similar feeling in her own songwriting, claiming, "Those were just songs that made my heart sing", she said. "They just stay with you. ... I wanted to do something that's true to me and how I grew up, but I also wanted to make beautiful songs. So I'd listen to records from today and I would listen to records from back then, and ventuallyI'd go, 'That's what I want.'" Among the songs on the album, "Baby I Love U!" was written, with the help of her longtime collaborator and friend Cory Rooney. "He's so talented", she said. "And he's so 'behind the scenes,' especially when it comes to me. He's really, really just dedicated to music for the pure love of music." "Baby I Love U!" was released as the album's fourth and final single on August 3, 2003, in the United States, and on March 8, 2004, in the United Kingdom.


Composition and remix

"Baby I Love U!" was written by
Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
, Cory Rooney and Dan Shea, with production being handled by Rooney and Shea. The song contains an interpolation of the "haunting melody" from the theme of ''
Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama (film and television), drama film, based on the 1965 Midnight Cowboy (novel), novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars ...
'', written by John Barry. The track has a "vintage-sound", where Lopez "gushes for Ben Affleck", according to Sal Cinquemani of ''
Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
''. A remix version featuring
R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...
was released on the
CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...
of the song. Kelly's part talks about 'rollin' with 'some fine females' against J-Lo's heart-on-the-sleeve declaration of passion. The version with Kelly was also included on her second remix album "
The Reel Me ''The Reel Me'' is an EP and music video compilation album by American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. It was released on November 18, 2003 by Epic Records, containing all her hits at the time and a series of singles released from the albu ...
".


Commercial performance

"Baby I Love U!" performed much lower than Lopez's previous singles from ''This Is Me... Then'', missing the top 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, debuting and peaking at number 72, on the issue date April 3, 2004. Eventually, the song became Lopez's lowest charting-English single on the ''Billboard'' charts, until " Papi" became her lowest charting-single, later in 2011. The song also made its debut on the
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 at number 75. The song received a Billboard Spin Award on March 25, 2006, for 50,000 spins. Elsewhere, the song proved to be more successful. First time Jennifer performed this song on
Telman Ismailov Telman Mardanovich Ismailov ( az, Telman Mərdan oğlu İsmayılov, russian: link=no, Те́льман Марда́нович Исмаи́лов; born 26 October 1956) is an Azerbaijani-born businessman and entrepreneur of Mountain Jewish origin ...
's 50 years anniversary as a birthday gift. In the United Kingdom, the song was a huge success, debuting and peaking at number three, on March 20, 2004, becoming her third top-three single of the same album. In Ireland, the single managed to peak inside the top 20, reaching number 16, on March 11, 2004.


Music video

The music video for the song was directed by
Meiert Avis Meiert Avis is an Irish music video and commercial director. Avis has directed videos for artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Alanis Morissette, Flyleaf, Jennifer Lopez, New Found Glory and Josh Groban, ...
and premiered on
BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...
, on August 11, 2003. The video was also included on the DVD "
The Reel Me ''The Reel Me'' is an EP and music video compilation album by American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. It was released on November 18, 2003 by Epic Records, containing all her hits at the time and a series of singles released from the albu ...
". It features scenes of Lopez in the bed, as well as walking around the house, performing the song. Jason Shawhan of About.com called the video "minimalist and stark and much more inspired than the song that forms its spine." Shawhan continued, "Visually, in fact, there's something quite experimental going on with its almost exclusive use of close-up and shifting focal length. This is certainly a promising development in Lopez' continuing evolution as a visual artist, and we can hope she'll work with director Meiert Avis again soon." There is a version of the music video featuring scenes from the movie Gigli released on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
. The bed sequence of the music video has a link to a later Lopez music video, Marry Me (Ballad Version), as both music videos have a bed sequence. In 'Baby I love U' she is alone in bed and looking at the camera, but in Marry Me (Ballad Version) she is seen in bed alongside Ben Affleck.


Track listing

*CD single #"Baby I Love U!" (album version) – 4:31 #"Baby I Love U!" (
R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...
remix) – 4:13 #"Baby I Love U!" (video) – 4:30 *12" single #"Baby I Love U!" (album version) – 4:31 #"Baby I Love U!" (R. Kelly remix) – 4:13


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Release history


References

{{Authority control 2002 songs 2003 singles 2004 singles Jennifer Lopez songs Music videos directed by Meiert Avis Song recordings produced by Dan Shea (producer) Songs with music by John Barry (composer) Songs written by Cory Rooney Songs written by Dan Shea (producer) Songs written by Jennifer Lopez