"Lover Like Me" is a song by South Korean rapper and singer CL from her debut studio album ''

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

'' (2021). It was released through Very Cherry on September 29, 2021, as the second single from the album. "Lover Like Me" was written by CL,

Anne-Marie Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. She has attained various charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's " Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm", " Ciao ...

Freedo Freedo or variants may refer to * Freedo (producer), German music producer *Freedo, penguin cartoon mascot of Linux-libre, an operating system kernel and software package *FreeDO, an emulator for the 3DO See also * FreeDOS FreeDOS (formerly ...

, Nafla, Cleo Tighe, and Sarah Blanchard, whilst production was handled by Freedo and Nick Lee.

Background and composition

On September 17, four days after attending the annual

Met Gala The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly rega ...

fashion event in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, CL announced via her social media platforms that her upcoming second single, titled "Lover Like Me", would be released on September 29. It was made available for digital download and streaming as the second single off of her debut studio album, ''

''. Composed in the

key signature In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the cl ...

C♯ major C-sharp major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has seven sharps. Its relative minor is A-sharp minor (or enharmonically B-flat minor), its parallel minor is C-sharp minor, ...

, the song contains a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 158 BPM. Stylistically, "Lover Like Me" showcases a different charm in contrast to ''Alpha''s first single, "Spicy", which was released a month prior. Caitlin White from ''

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

'' commented that "'Lover Like Me' has the braggadocio of 'Spicy' but it's undercut with some of the softness of her pop sound." ''

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...

''s Jazmine Denise commented that it "will instantly trigger nostalgic feelings associated with early '00s R&B; it oozes self-confidence and sass as CL brazenly reminds an ex-lover that she’s one of a kind." Regarding its lyrical content, '' W Korea'' noted that "although it looks like a story about love, it can also be interpreted as a story about CL as a musician", the refining of her identity.

Reception

Writing for ''

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 ...

'', Chase McMullen contrasted the song to the open aggressiveness of "Spicy", saying it "practically glides, with CL displaying her equal strength for softer vocals. That doesn't mean she’s dropped even an ounce of that famous attitude." He additionally highlighted its catchiness, calling it "an instant, delightfully bitter, earworm." In its debut week, the song entered at number 35 on the

Gaon Download Chart The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. Founded in 2010, it is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored ...

Music video and promotion

The music video for "Lover Like Me" was uploaded to CL's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel simultaneously with the release of the single on September 29; a teaser video was uploaded via the same platform two days prior. The music video features shots of CL in brightly colored sets, including a room covered in sunflowers, as well as a red-tinted studio full of vintage television sets.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Melon. * Lee Chae-rin – vocals, lyricist *

– lyricist, composer * Anne-Marie Nicholson – lyricist * Nafla – lyricist * Cleo Tighe – lyricist * Sarah Blanchard – lyricist * Nick Lee – composer

Release history

References

{{CL (singer) 2021 songs 2021 singles Songs written by Anne-Marie