"He Loves U Not" is a song by American girl group

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

. It was released on August 22, 2000, as the group's debut single and is featured on their debut album, '' It Was All a Dream'' (2001). The song was written in 1999 by

Steve Kipner Stephen Alan Kipner (born 1950) is an Australian songwriter and record producer. He has produced a number of international hit songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical (Olivia Newton-John song), Physical", Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words ...

, David Frank and Pamela Sheyne, with the former two doing the production. A

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

and R&B song, "He Loves U Not" is about a girl confronting another girl trying to steal her boyfriend. An early version of the song started with a young girl's voice saying "He loves me, he loves you not," but was removed from both album and single versions, with the phrase "He loves you not" being heard at the end of the album version. "He Loves U Not" received mixed reviews from critics who gave credit to the production and lyrics but felt that it was derivative compared to other songs of its time. The song peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for two weeks. It also peaked at numbers three, nine, and 15 on 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 ...

, Rhythmic Top 40, and

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charts, respectively. Worldwide, it reached the top 40 in several countries, including Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The song was certified gold by the

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(RIAA) for selling over 500,000 copies in the United States. An accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song, directed by

Marcus Raboy Marcus Raboy (born November 30, 1965) is an American film director, film and music video director. Since the early 1990s, Raboy has amassed a large number music video credits directing music videos for Mary J. Blige, Dixie Chicks, Rihanna, Lu ...

, premiered on

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's ''

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'' and features the girls dancing in three different settings: a white room with the Dream logo behind them, a California desert and a rotating white room. They first performed the song live by touring with fellow pop group *NSYNC on their No Strings Attached Tour. They made their television debut performing the song live on ''TRL'' and would make later appearances at '' Live with Regis'', ''

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'', ''

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'', the 2001

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Summer Jam Concert, ''

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'' and the 7th Annual

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Content

Upon Dream's signing to P. Diddy's Bad Boy Entertainment, the quartet recorded "He Loves U Not" as their breakthrough single, setting aside previously recorded songs "Do U Wanna Dance," "Baby," and "Miss You" that they had done while signed to Clockwork Entertainment with Judith Fontaine as their manager. Lead vocals are performed by Holly Arnstein with speaking breaks by Melissa Schuman. Diana Ortiz can be heard saying a few Spanish phrases, such as ''Él me quiere'' ("He loves me") and ''No te quiere'' ("He doesn't love you"). An early version of the song opened with a young girl's voice saying "He loves me, he loves you not," though this opening was removed on the album and single versions, although the phrase "he loves you not" is heard at the end of the album version. The song is sung from the point of view of a girl confronting another girl who is trying to steal her boyfriend, to whom she claims, "He loves me, he loves you not."

Critical reception

"He Loves U Not" received a mixed reception from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

who praised the production and lyrics but felt that it was derivative compared to other songs of its ilk. ''Billboard'' praised the song for having a street edge in its production, the group's performance and compared the lyrics positively to

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and Monica's duet " The Boy Is Mine", concluding that "With Bad Boy's genius and solid talent here, "He Loves U Not" has a good shot at becoming a dream come true."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

highlighted the song as a "Track Pick", giving credit to P. Diddy's team of producers and songwriters. Arion Berger of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' praised the song for exuding bright attitude, saying that it has a "whipping elasticity and sass to spare." David Browne of ''

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'' called the song "an utterly derivative piece of song-and-dance pop-R&B," but did highlight the rhythm and guitar sounds as "intriguing" and the lyrical catfight for having "enough hiss in it to be interesting." A writer for ''

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'', reviewing the album, was less positive towards the song's adult content and preferred the tracks " Mr. Telephone Man" and "How Long" for how "the girls sound their age." The song gave them a

nomination for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist, Group, Band or Duo but lost to 3LW's " No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)". In 2017, ''Billboard'' placed "He Loves U Not" at number 36 on their list of the 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Commercial performance

"He Loves U Not" debuted at number 99 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the week of September 30, 2000. Six weeks later, it entered the top 40 at number 32 for the week of November 11. It entered the top 10 at number eight for the week of December 16. The song eventually peaked at number two for two weeks in December 2000 and January 2001. It also reached number 15 on the

chart the week of January 6, 2001. It was certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on January 2, selling over 500,000 copies in the United States. In Australia, where the song was released on February 26, 2001, "He Loves U Not" entered the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

on March 11, and stayed there for three weeks, peaking at number 30. The song was also released in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart on March 17, and staying on the chart for seven weeks.

Music video

The music video for "He Loves U Not" was directed by

. It featured three settings: in the first, the girls, clad in pink outfits, danced in a white room with the Dream logo flashing behind them; in the second, the girls danced on stage in a California desert; in the third, the girls moved around a rotating white room; the same one used previously in the videos for *NSYNC's " Bye Bye Bye" and

Sugar Ray Sugar Ray is an American rock band formed in Newport Beach, California, in 1986. Originally playing heavier funk metal and nu metal style music, the band achieved mainstream popularity in 1997 with their more pop-influenced single " Fly". Th ...

's " Fly". The video inspired the title sequence from the

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musical comedy series '' Girls5eva'', according to ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

s Heather Schwedel.

Live performances

Dream first performed the song live on November 26, 2000, by touring with fellow pop group *NSYNC on the second leg of their No Strings Attached Tour in the

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. The song was also performed when they opened alongside

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and Debelah Morgan for

98 Degrees 98 Degrees (stylized as 98°) is an American vocal group consisting of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre. Their first Christmas album '' This Christmas'' has sold over two million copies and is widely recognized ...

on their

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Tour (2001) and on MTV's ''Total Request Live'' Tour (2001). They made their television debut performing it live on ''TRL'' on December 11, 2000, to promote the premiere of the song's music video. On January 24, 2001, they performed it on two talk shows to promote the release of their debut album a day before: '' Live with Regis'' in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

and ''

''. On February 12, it was performed on ''

''. On June 10, they performed this and "

This Is Me This Is Me may refer to: Albums * This Is Me (Heather Peace album), ''This Is Me'' (Heather Peace album), 2010 * This Is Me (Jully Black album), ''This Is Me'' (Jully Black album), or the title song, 2005 * This Is Me (Kierra Sheard album), '' ...

" at the 2001

Summer Jam Concert, aboard the Disney Wonder cruise ship in the

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. A week later, they performed it at

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, an annual all-day concert organized by

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, in

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. Troy J. Augusto of '' Variety'' put their performance alongside

Eden's Crush Eden's Crush was an American girl group who were created on the United States, American television series ''Popstars'' which aired on the now defunct The WB Television Network, WB. The group was formed in late 2000 and released the hit song "Get ...

and Vertical Horizon's, saying that they were "easy to forget." Eight days later, they appeared on ''

'' on June 25, 2001, to perform this and "This Is Me". On August 28, 2001, they performed both album and remix versions of the song at the 7th Annual

Track listings

US CD single # "He Loves U Not" – 3:46 # "He Loves U Not" (instrumental) – 3:46 US 12-inch single :A1. "He Loves U Not" ( HQ² club mix) – 8:24 :A2. "He Loves U Not" (HQ² instrumental) – 8:24 :B1. "He Loves U Not" (HQ² radio mix) – 3:48 :B2. "He Loves U Not" (Meeker & MC Supplier 2 step garage mix) – 6:24 Australian CD single # "He Loves U Not" (radio mix) – 3:48 # "He Loves U Not" (remix featuring G. Dep) – 3:50 # "He Loves U Not" (Ingroove club mix) – 6:36 # "He Loves U Not" (HQ² club mix) – 8:25 # "He Loves U Not" (Meeker & MC Supplier 2 step garage mix) – 6:27 UK CD single # "He Loves U Not" (radio version) – 3:47 # "He Loves U Not" (remix featuring G. Dep) – 3:49 # "He Loves U Not" (radio edit video) UK 12-inch single :A1. "He Loves U Not" (radio version) – 3:47 :A2. "He Loves U Not" (remix featuring G. Dep) – 3:49 :B1. "He Loves U Not" (remix instrumental) – 3:08 UK cassette single # "He Loves U Not" (radio version) – 3:47 # "He Loves U Not" (remix) – 3:49 European CD single # "He Loves U Not" (radio mix) – 3:48 # "He Loves U Not" (HQ² remix) – 8:52

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''It Was All a Dream''. Recording * Recorded and mixed at Canyon Reverb, The Sweatbox & Sony Studios,

Personnel * Dave Way – mixer ( Pacifique Recording Studios;

North Hollywood, Los Angeles North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ...

) * Wassim Zreik – assistant engineer * David Frank – keyboards, drums,

songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates 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 genre and film scoring. ...

– additional keyboards, songwriting * Pamela Sheyne - songwriting, additional background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1999 songs 2000 debut singles Arista Records singles Bad Boy Records singles Bertelsmann Music Group singles Dream (American group) songs Music videos directed by Marcus Raboy Songs written by David Frank (musician) Songs written by Pam Sheyne Songs written by Steve Kipner