"I Like the Way You Kiss Me" is a song by English

singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk- acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has ...

Artemas Artemas may refer to: People Government and politics * Artemas Hale (1783–1882), U.S. Representative from Massachusetts * Artemas Ward (1727–1800), American Revolutionary War General and U.S. Representative from Massachusetts * Artemas Ward, Jr ...

. It was released independently on 19 March 2024, as the first single from his sophomore mixtape ''Yustyna'' (2024). "I Like the Way You Kiss Me" peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song topped the charts in Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland, peaked within the top ten of the charts in various countries including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, and Norway, and the top 20 in Italy and the United States.

Background

Following the release of his debut mixtape ''Pretty'' in February 2024 and having hosted two shows at The Lower Third in London,

returned to the recording studio and created "I Like the Way You Kiss Me". Artemas announced the single on 15 March on his social media.

Composition

Musically, "I Like the Way You Kiss Me" is a

darkwave Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, ro ...

and

alternative pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

song, fueled by "moody 80s and pulsating synths" featuring a "dark, retro-futuristic sound collage". The song is 2 minutes and 23 seconds in common time and runs at a tempo of 152

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. Artemas lends his "crooning, gloomy" vocals on the chorus as a counterpart to the "kinetic energy" of the whole track. For

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 ...

, Marcy Donelson regarded the vocals as "shape-shifting" and "manipulated through either pitch-shifting or varied playback speed". Lyrically, he presents a story of a strained relationship, being unsure of where he and his partner stand. Eventually, he confesses that he favours sex over feelings "by pushing harder for the physicality".

Reception

Critical reception

''New Wave Magazine'' praised the song: "...it’s evident that Artemas has honed his sound, delivering sharp and infectious vocal performances that leave a lasting impression." For '' Clash'', Robin Murray was also laudatory: "Deeply catchy, ‘i like the way you kiss me’ bubbles with the coy thrills of attraction." Daniel Dylan Wray of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' had a more mixed viewpoint, calling it "pulsating, icy synth-pop" but criticising the songwriting as "unabashed, unpolished lyricism".

Commercial performance

On 4 April 2024, "I Like the Way You Kiss Me" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at no. 13. On 25 April, the single peaked at no. 3 on the UK Singles Chart; as of the 8 August chart, the single has been on the UK Singles top 100 for 19 weeks. In the US, "I Like the Way You Kiss Me" entered the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

chart at no. 70 on 6 April 2024. On 27 April, it peaked at no. 12. By the end of April 2024, "I Like the Way You Kiss Me" had nearly 2.5 billion views on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

and topped the

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

"Daily Top Songs Global" and Billboard Global Excl. US charts.

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References