What Is Love
Encyclopedia
"What Is Love" is a 1993 dance track by the singer Haddaway
, popular with club DJs. It was written and produced by Dee Dee Halligan (Tony Hendrik/Dieter Lünstedt) and Junior Torello (Karin Hartman-Eisenblätter) of Coconut Records
in Cologne
. Recorded in the early 1990s, it later experienced a revival as the song from the Saturday Night Live
"Roxbury Guys" sketches, where two brothers played by Chris Kattan
and Will Ferrell
frequently went to dance clubs with a third person, (including actors such as Sylvester Stallone
and Jim Carrey
) credited as "Barhop". These sketches were later made into the 1998 feature film A Night at the Roxbury
but the "Barhop" role was dropped during the production of the film.
The song peaked at number two in the United Kingdom
and Germany
, but it reached number one in 13 other countries, all of them Europe
an or Asia
n. In the United States
the song reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100
, and number 12 in Australia
. The song is currently the 75th best-selling single of all time in Germany.
The song was used in a 2011 TV advertising campaign for British clothing retailer Next, pushing it into the UK iTunes Store
chart top 100.
"What Is Love" - remix
"What Is Love" - reloaded
1 "What Is Love" - remixes
2 "What Is Love" - reloaded
Haddaway
Nestor Alexander Haddaway , better known by his stage name Haddaway, is a Trinidadian-German singer. He is most famous for his worldwide 1993 hit, "What Is Love".- Early life :...
, popular with club DJs. It was written and produced by Dee Dee Halligan (Tony Hendrik/Dieter Lünstedt) and Junior Torello (Karin Hartman-Eisenblätter) of Coconut Records
Coconut Records
Coconut Records is a German record label formed in 1981 by producers Tony Hendrik and Karin Hartmann. Acts that have been signed to Coconut have included Bad Boys Blue, C. C. Catch, Haddaway, Londonbeat, Chyp-Notic, The Searchers, Soultans, the Weather Girls, Rammstein and Modern Talking.The...
in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. Recorded in the early 1990s, it later experienced a revival as the song from the Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
"Roxbury Guys" sketches, where two brothers played by Chris Kattan
Chris Kattan
Christopher Lee "Chris" Kattan is an American actor/comedian, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:Kattan was born in Sherman Oaks, California. His father, Kip King, was an actor and voice actor who appeared on the series Reno 911! as Larrie Plum. His mother, Hajnalka E....
and Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
frequently went to dance clubs with a third person, (including actors such as Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
and Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
) credited as "Barhop". These sketches were later made into the 1998 feature film A Night at the Roxbury
A Night at the Roxbury
A Night at the Roxbury is a 1998 comedy film based on a recurring skit on television's long-running Saturday Night Live called "The Roxbury Guys." Saturday Night Live regulars Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, and Colin Quinn star....
but the "Barhop" role was dropped during the production of the film.
The song peaked at number two in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but it reached number one in 13 other countries, all of them Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an or Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the song reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, and number 12 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The song is currently the 75th best-selling single of all time in Germany.
The song was used in a 2011 TV advertising campaign for British clothing retailer Next, pushing it into the UK iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
chart top 100.
Track listings
"What Is Love"- CD single / 7"
- "What Is Love" – 4
- 28
- "Sing About Love" – 3:12
NEWLIN
- CD maxi - France
- "What Is Love" (7" mix) – 4
- 29
- "What Is Love" (12" mix) – 6:40
- "What Is Love" (club mix) – 5:02
- "Sing About Love" – 4:36
NEWLIN
"What Is Love" - remix
- CD single - France
- "What Is Love" (eat-this mix - radio edit) – 4
- 19
- "What Is Love" (refreshmento extro mix) – 3:52
NEWLIN
- CD maxi
- "What Is Love" - remix (eat-this mix) – 6
- 54
- "What Is Love" (tour de trance-mix) – 6:00
- "What Is Love" (7" mix) – 4:27
NEWLIN
"What Is Love" - reloaded
- CD maxi
- "What Is Love" - reloaded (video mix) – 3
- 16
- "What Is Love" - reloaded (reloaded mix) – 6:09
- "What Is Love" - reloaded (what is club mix) – 6:39
- "What Is Love" - reloaded (Jens O.'s hard remix) – 5:32
- "What Is Love" - reloaded (Nathan Jolly's NRG remix) – 6:48
- "What Is Love" - reloaded (radio edit) – 2:56
- "What Is Love" - reloaded (lunaris remix) – 6:21
NEWLIN
Peak positions
| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts 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 singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
12 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... |
1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
17 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
1 |
| European Singles Chart | 1 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 1 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 2 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
1 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 1 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 48 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
1 |
| Spanish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Swiss Top 100 Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
11 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
9 |
| Chart (1993)1 | Peak position |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 15 |
| Chart (2003)2 | Peak position |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 49 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 20 |
| Dutch Mega Top 100 | 100 |
| German Singles Chart | 51 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 92 |
1 "What Is Love" - remixes
2 "What Is Love" - reloaded
Year-end charts
| Chart (1993) | Position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 2 |
| UK Singles Chart | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 82 |
| Chart (1994) | Position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 97 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Platinum | October 19, 1993 | 30,000 |
| Germany | Platinum | 1993 | 500,000 |
| Sweden | Gold | July 19, 1993 | 10,000 |
| UK | Gold | July 1, 1993 | 400,000 |
| U.S. | Gold | November 9, 1993 | 500,000 |
Chart successions
Cover versions and sampling
- 2007, the song has been covered by indie band The GossipThe GossipGossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
, with lead singer Beth DittoBeth DittoMary Beth Patterson, known by her stage name Beth Ditto , is an American singer-songwriter, most famous for her work with the indie rock band Gossip.-Personal life:...
changing the lyrics to "When Is Lunch?, Baby I'm Hungry, I'm Hungry, For More". - In 2009, singer and songwriter Diane BirchDiane BirchDiane Birch is an American singer-songwriter.-Early life:Birch was born in Michigan and her father was a Seventh-day Adventist preacher whose work took him to several countries. As a child Birch lived with her family in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sydney, Australia...
completely rearranged the song, that later was featured on [Billboard Magazine Mashup Monday] in 2010. - In 2010, it was also sampled for the song "No LoveNo Love"No Love" is a song by American rapper Eminem, and was released as the third official single off of his seventh studio album, Recovery . The song features American rapper Lil Wayne. It impacted radio on October 5, 2010. "No Love" was produced by American hip hop record producer Just...
" by rapper EminemEminemMarshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
for his album Recovery and it also features Lil WayneLil WayneDwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
. - In 2010, Swedish boy bandBoy bandA boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
E.M.D.E.M.D.E.M.D. is a Swedish boyband consisting of Erik Segerstedt, Mattias Andréasson and Danny Saucedo. All three members have participated on the Swedish version of Idol, with Erik as a finalist and Danny at 6th place on Idol 2006. Mattias was eliminated as the fourth runner-up on Idol 2007.After Idol,...
released a piano ballad version of "What Is Love" as the second single from their upcoming sophomore studio albumStudio albumA studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
RewindRewind (E.M.D. album)Rewind is the third album released by Swedish boy band E.M.D.. The album was released in on December 3, 2010. As of December 5, 2010 the album had spawned the three hit singles Save Tonight , What Is Love? and There's a Place for Us , all of them being cover songs.-Background:The group started...
.
External links
- What Is Love? on DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...