"Love Drought" is a song recorded by American singer

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

for her sixth studio album, ''

Lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage. There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using ...

'' (2016). It was written by

Ingrid Burley Ingrid Burley (born December 19, 1986), known professionally as Ingrid (formerly IB3), is an American singer, rapper and songwriter. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Burley's mother was close to Tina Knowles and Mathew Knowles, who signed Burle ...

, Mike Dean and Beyoncé while the production was handled by the latter two. Burley was inspired to write "Love Drought" following an unpleasant experience with representatives at Parkwood Entertainment. Following the release of ''Lemonade'', the track appeared on several music charts, including 47 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and top 100 in the UK, Scotland, and Canada. The song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

, directed by Kahlil Joseph, is part of a one-hour film with the same title as its parent album, originally aired on HBO on April 23, 2016. Beyoncé performed the song in a medley with " Sandcastles" at the

59th Annual Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year ...

in February 2017.

Background

"Love Drought" was written by

, Mike Dean and Beyoncé while the production was handled by the latter two. During an interview in June 2016, Burley revealed that the song was not inspired by

Jay Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one o ...

's infidelity, although such speculations circulated in the media. She revealed that Beyoncé herself, was also unaware that the lyrics of "Love Drought" were aimed at Parkwood Entertainment. Describing it as a "metaphor about music", she recalled that the song was conceived after two representatives of the label lied to her that Beyoncé was not considering working on new music. Following a Los Angeles writing camp, she witnessed that the singer wrote notes for new material and explained that she wrote the lyrics "Ten times out of nine I know you're lying / But nine times out of ten, I know you're trying", "just thinking as I'm looping this beat I couldn't get out of my head the fact that they just lied to me".

Commercial performance

After the release of ''

'', "Love Drought" appeared on several music charts. It debuted on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at number 47 for the chart issue dated May 14, 2016. The same week, the song also entered 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 ...

and the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record ...

charts at numbers 28 and 84, respectively. "Love Drought" debuted at a position of 69 on 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 ...

for the chart dated April 29, 2016. The following week it descended to the position of 84 before falling off the chart. On the

UK R&B Chart The UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart and the UK Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart (also known as The Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts, the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Albums, or simply the UK Urban Chart) are 40-posi ...

it peaked at 26 in its first week of charting. For the week of April 22, 2016, the track debuted at number 152 on the singles chart in France. In Australia, it peaked at number 19 on the ARIA Urban Chart following the release of ''Lemonade''.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Beyoncé's website. ; Song credits *

Writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

– Mike Dean,

* Production – Mike Dean, Beyoncé *Vocal production – Beyoncé *Keyboards and drum programming – Mike Dean *Recording – Stuart White;

Jungle City Studios Jungle City Studios is a recording studio owned and operated by Ann Mincieli, Alicia Keys's longtime engineer and studio coordinator. Located in Chelsea, Manhattan, it was designed by John Storyk of Walters-Storyk Design Group. Recordings at J ...

, New York City *

Audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic ...

– Stuart White; Pacifique Studio, Los Angeles *Track engineering – Mike Dean * Second engineering – Ramon Rivas *Assistant mix engineering – John Cranfield * Mastering – Dave Kutch, The Mastering Palace, New York City

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2016 songs Beyoncé songs Song recordings produced by Beyoncé Songs written by Beyoncé Songs written by Mike Dean (record producer)