"What Lovers Do" is a song by American band

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...

featuring singer

SZA Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her diaristic lyrics and genre explorations, she has been credited as a prominent figure in influencing contemporary R& ...

. It was released on August 30, 2017, as the third single from the band's sixth studio album ''

Red Pill Blues ''Red Pill Blues'' is the sixth studio album by American band Maroon 5. It was released on November 3, 2017, through 222 Records, 222 and Interscope Records. This is the band's first album to feature multi-instrumentalist Sam Farrar as an offic ...

'' (2017). The song contains an interpolation of the 2016 song " Sexual" by

Neiked Neiked (stylised as NEIKED) is a Swedish artist collective of singers, songwriters and record producers. Victor Rådström and Mikael Rabus founded Neiked, a group that comprises rising artists, producers, writers and vocalists. Rådström got h ...

featuring Dyo, therefore Victor Rådström, Dyo and Elina Stridh are credited as songwriters.

Background and release

After extensive touring in support of their fifth studio album '' V'' (2014), Maroon 5 began the writing and recording sessions for their sixth studio album. On October 12, 2016, the band released the

tropical house Tropical house, also known as trop house, is a subgenre of house music, and a derivation of tropical music, with elements of dancehall and Balearic house. Artists of the genre are often featured at various summer festivals such as Tomorrowland. ...

single "

Don't Wanna Know "Don't Wanna Know" is a song by American pop rock band Maroon 5 featuring American rapper Kendrick Lamar. The song was released on October 11, 2016, as the lead single from the former's sixth studio album ''Red Pill Blues'' (2017), included on bo ...

", featuring American rapper

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

. Another single, entitled "

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

", featuring American rapper

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

, was released on February 14, 2017. Both songs later appeared in the deluxe and Japanese editions of ''Red Pill Blues''. The band later announced with the single's release date on August 30.

Composition

"What Lovers Do" runs for approximately three minutes and 16 seconds. It was written by

Adam Levine Adam Noah Levine ( ; born March 18, 1979) is an American musician who is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and sole continuous member of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, for ...

Starrah Brittany Talia Hazzard, professionally known as Starrah, is an American songwriter, singer, and rapper from Delaware. Best known for her songwriting work for other music industry artists, Starrah has co-written three singles that peaked atop the ...

Jason Evigan Jason Gregory Evigan (born June 10, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as the vocalist for the rock band After Midnight Project, which was formed in 2004 before disbanding in 2012. His songwriting or producti ...

and Solána Imani Rowe and was produced by Evigan,

Ben Billions Benjamin Dyer Diehl, known professionally as Ben Billions, is an American audio engineer, record producer and songwriter from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. He is best known for his production and engineering work for prominent music industry artists ...

Sam Farrar Sam John Farrar (born June 29, 1978) is an American musician. He is best known as a member of the pop band Maroon 5, in which he plays several instruments, primarily bass guitar. A frequent collaborator with the band since the 1990s, he joined ...

and Noah Passovoy. Victor Radstrom, Dyo, and Elina Stridh are also credited songwriters on the record, as songwriters of " Sexual" by

. The song is performed in the key of

B major B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its enharmonic equi ...

with 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 110 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of E–Gm–F–B–E, and the vocals in the song span from F₃ to D₅ in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

Commercial performance

In the United States, "What Lovers Do" reached number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Maroon 5's 13th and SZA's first top 10. By September 2017, it had sold 116,000 copies in the United States according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

; later, it would reach

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

status as certified 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 ...

. The track reached number seven on 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 ...

, becoming the band's tenth single in Australia to reach the top 10.

Music video

The music video for "What Lovers Do" was released on

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

, on September 28, 2017, and was directed by Joseph Kahn. The video follows a young Adam Levine and SZA chasing each other through a meadow. Now, as adults, they chase each other through the Arctic, a running field, the ocean, and underwater. Later 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 ...

, Levine plays with SZA in a

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

game until he loses to her and grabs SZA, transforming into a 50-foot version of himself. As SZA disappears on Levine's hand and turns into a doll, he attacks the city until the police, military, and

Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...

troopers eliminate him. At the end, Levine is in a hospital, injured with SZA as his nurse.

Lyric video

A lyric video was released on September 15, 2017. This video using as found footage, which features a red and white

lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...

when it melts into slime.

Live performances

Maroon 5 performed "What Lovers Do" for the first time of the

Rock in Rio Rock in Rio is a biennial Brazilian multi-day music festival held at City of Rock in Rio de Janeiro. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Ten incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeir ...

concert at

Barra Olympic Park The Barra Olympic Park (Brazilian Portuguese: ''Parque Olímpico da Barra''), originally the City of Sports Complex, is a cluster of nine sporting venues in Barra da Tijuca, in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The park, which served as t ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

on September 16, 2017. On September 28, they performed the song at the

Shoreline Amphitheatre Shoreline Amphitheatre is an outdoor amphitheater located in Mountain View, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The venue has a capacity of 22,500, with 6,500 reserved seats and 16,000 general admission on the lawn. When the parking lot ...

Mountain View, CA Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 census. Mountain View was integral to the ea ...

. The band promoted "What Lovers Do" live during their appearances on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

'' (with SZA), ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'', ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

'', '' The Voice'' and ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'', respectively.

Track listing

Digital download #"What Lovers Do" (featuring SZA) – 3:16 Digital download – Slushii Remix #"What Lovers Do" (

Slushii Julian Michael Scanlan (born May 1, 1997), known professionally as Slushii, is an American musician, DJ, songwriter, and music producer based in Los Angeles. He is best known for working with various artists managed by Moe Shalizi, such as Marsh ...

Remix) – 4:14 Digital download – A-Trak Remix #"What Lovers Do" (

A-Trak Alain Macklovitch (born March 30, 1982), known professionally as A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, record producer, and record executive. He came to prominence in the late 2000s as an international club DJ and remix artist, known for incorporating highl ...

Remix) – 3:37

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from ''Red Pill Blues'' album liner notes.

. (2017) ''

'' lbum Liner Notes 222 Records (

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

). Catalog. 00602567053002 Recording locations *Recorded in Los Angeles, California at

Conway Recording Studios Conway Recording Studios is a recording studio in Hollywood, California. People and awards Conway started in the early 1970s as a mastering studio. In 1976, the studio began recording albums, including projects by Elton John and Stevie Wonde ...

and

Westlake Recording Studios Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio with two locations in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, California. History Westlake Recording Studios was founded in the early 1970s by the American audio engineer Tom Hidley under the name ...

, and Chumba Meadows in

Tarzana, California Tarzana () is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Tarzana is on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is named after Burroughs' fictional jungle hero, Tarzan. His ...

*Mixed and mastered in

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...

at Mixstar Studios Maroon5 *

– lead vocals, songwriting, executive production *

Jesse Carmichael Jesse Royal Carmichael (born April 2, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for the pop rock band, Maroon 5. He is one of only two remaining original members of the group, along with frontman Adam Le ...

– guitar *

Mickey Madden Michael Allen Madden (born May 13, 1979) is an American musician and former bassist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. Life and music career Madden was born in Austin, Texas. He began playing in junior high school at the Brentwood School in Los ...

– bass * James Valentine – guitar *

Matt Flynn Matt or Matthew Flynn may refer to: * Matt Flynn (American football) (born 1985), American football player * Matt Flynn (Australian footballer) (born 1997), Australian rules footballer * Matt Flynn (politician) (born 1947), American politician * ...

– drums, percussion *

PJ Morton P.J. Morton (born Paul Sylvester Morton Jr.; March 29, 1981) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Since 2012, he has been the keyboardist for the pop band Maroon 5. Morton originally joined the band as a touring mem ...

– keyboards *

– bass, additional percussion, digital editing, additional producer,

additional vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

Additional personnel *

– featured vocals *Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy – keyboards, digital editing, additional percussion, engineer, backing vocals, additional producer, vocal producer *

– additional vocals, songwriting *

Ammo Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

– additional vocals *John Armstrong – assistant engineer * Benjamin "Ben Billions" Diehl – writer, co-producer, keyboards, programming *Eric Eylands – assistant engineer *

– writer, producer, vocal producer, programming *

Serban Ghenea Serban Ghenea () is a Canadian audio engineer and mixer. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award a total of 45 times and has won 21 times. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Romania, and in 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. H ...

– mixing *John Hanes – mixing engineer *Gian Stone – engineer, vocal producer, programming

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs Maroon 5 songs SZA songs Songs written by Adam Levine 222 Records singles Interscope Records singles Songs written by SZA Songs written by Starrah Songs written by Jason Evigan Music videos directed by Joseph Kahn Song recordings produced by Jason Evigan Songs written by Ben Billions