"If This Isn't Love" is a song recorded by American recording artist

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

. It was written and composed by

Planet VI A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a yo ...

, brothers Theron and Timothy Thomas, along with Brian Kennedy for her eponymous debut album, released in 2008. Production on the song was handled by the latter and Harvey Mason, Jr. Musically, it is a

midtempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhy ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

with pop elements, built along on a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

sounds. The song was released as the second single from the album following "

Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...

" in 2009. Upon release, "If This Isn't Love" was met with generally positive reviews from contemporary critics who praised the song's structure and its modern interpretation for an adult audience. On the charts, the track failed to make much impact, though it reached number five of the US '' Billboard''

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 ...

and the top forty of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Hudson promoted the song on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...

'' on March 26, 2009 and on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' on Wednesday’s results show on April 15, 2009.

Critical reception

Andy Kellman from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

stated that "Hudson's voice is smoothed out through the fluttery "If This Isn't Love" (not to mention spiked with grating male grunts of "Hey!"), nearly unrecognizable until the point where she belts." Slant Magazine said that " 'If This Isn't Love' succeeds at sounding completely modern without eschewing the standard adult-contemporary song structure that's tailor-made for pipes like Hudson's." David Balls from '' Digital Spy'' felt that "If This Isn't Love" was a "delicate love song that finds Hudson in her natural comfort zone. 'God sent me an angel from above, that's going to love me for life,' she sings soulfully, with recent events making the lyrics particularly resonant. Combining modish beats with a cool, breezy chorus, 'If This Isn't Love' may not be in the same league as recent power ballads from Beyoncé and

Leona Leona is a female given name derived from the Latin word ''leo'' for "lion". People and fictional characters named Leona include: People *Leona (wrestler) (born 1980), Japanese professional wrestler *Leona Aglukkaq, Canadian politician *Leona B ...

, but it has an understated charm that's hard to quibble with." Commenting on its remix, produced by

Fraser T. Smith Fraser Thorneycroft-Smith (born 8 February 1971), known professionally as Fraser T. Smith, is an English record producer, songwriter and musician. Some of the singles he collaborated on include Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain", James Morrison (sin ...

, he added: "The single comes with no fewer than six different remixes, but the straightforwardly-titled Fraser T Smith Remix wins 'B-side Of The Week' as it adds a bit of extra zest to the song without removing any of its understated charm. Smith has carefully tinkered with the track's foundations, injecting some R&B adrenaline and a bit more of a beat. Thankfully, he's also chopped out the male screeching from the start of the original, which seemed bizarrely inappropriate in the first place."

Chart performance

"If This Isn't Love" entered the

at number 195 on February 22, 2009 and reached a peak of number 37 on downloads alone. It marked Hudson's second consecutive top 40 hit on the chart. Due to a high peak of number three on the UK Airplay Chart, the song also charted at number twenty on Hit40UK. The song spent eleven weeks on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the song debuted and peaked at number 84 on the '' Billboards Hot 100. Several weeks later, it reached a new peak at number 63, boosted by Hudson's performance on the April 15, 2009 results show of ''

''. On the ''Billboard''

, the song became Hudson's second consecutive top five hit, peaking at number five. Hudson made history with "If This Isn't Love" when it earned its second consecutive week at number one on the Urban Adult Radio Charts. Thus, Hudson joined a group of only five other women in urban adult history to reach this accomplishment.

Music video

Hudson shot a music video for the track in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on January 26, 2009 with director

Diane Martel Diane Martel (also known as Bucky Chrome) is an American music video director and choreographer. Awards Diane Martel was nominated for the Video of the Year for her work in "Blurred Lines" – Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell & T.I. in 2013. Fil ...

. The video premiered February 11, 2009 on AOL, Entertainment Tonight, and

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rate ...

Formats and track listings

Digital EP #"If This Isn't Love" – 3:36 #"If This Isn't Love" ( StoneBridge remix) – 3:12 #"If This Isn't Love" (

Fraser T Smith Fraser Thorneycroft-Smith (born 8 February 1971), known professionally as Fraser T. Smith, is an English record producer, songwriter and musician. Some of the singles he collaborated on include Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain", James Morrison's " ...

remix) – 3:36 #"If This Isn't Love" (music video) – 3:36 UK Digital single # "If This Isn't Love" – 3:36 # "If This Isn't Love" (

remix) – 3:36

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Jennifer Hudson''. *

Songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

–

Theron Thomas R. City (short for Rock City; and formerly Planet VI) is a Virgin Islands musical duo formed in 2003, from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The duo is composed of brothers Theron "Uptown AP" Thomas and Timothy "A.I." Thomas. Primarily known ...

, Timothy Thomas, Brian Kennedy *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

– Brian Kennedy, Harvey Mason, Jr. *

Recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

– Andrew Hey, Dabling Harward * Mixing – Harvey Mason Jr. * Mastering – Chris Gehringer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

*
JenniferHudsonOnline.com
— official site {{DEFAULTSORT:If This Isn't Love (Jennifer Hudson Song) 2000s ballads 2008 songs Jennifer Hudson songs Music videos directed by Diane Martel Contemporary R&B ballads Songs written by Brian Kennedy (record producer) Songs written by Timothy Thomas Songs written by Theron Thomas Arista Records singles 2009 singles Song recordings produced by the Underdogs (production team)