"Love on Top" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé Knowles for her fourth studio album 4 (2011). Inspired from her state of mind while playing Etta James, Knowles wrote the song alongside Terius Nash and Shea Taylor; its production was handled by Taylor and Knowles. A throw-back to 1980s music, the uptempo R&B song exhibits style similar to that of Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and The Jackson 5, among others. While incorporating four key changes, Knowles adopts a high range when repeating the song's chorus towards the end of the song. She sings about a man who she can always call, even after facing grief and hard work, finally earning his love and respect.
"Love on Top"'s musical composition, as well as Knowles' vocals and versatility, surprised critics. In July 2011, the song charted at number three for three consecutive weeks in South Korea. Knowles sang "Love on Top" live at 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, announcing her pregnancy at the end of her performance. This caused the upsurge of the song on several charts worldwide. It appeared at number 75 in the United Kingdom and at number 14 in New Zealand. It also debuted at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and became the second highest debut of Knowles' career as a solo artist. "Love on Top" has so far peaked at number 20 in Australia, where it was certified platinum.
Mainly inspired by the work of the American band New Edition, the accompanying music video for "Love on Top" shows Knowles along with five male dancers, performing choreographed moves in a penthouse studio in New York City overlooking the Hudson River towards New Jersey. Critics generally commended the simplicity of the video, the wardrobe changes with every key change, and Knowles' youthful exuberance throughout the clip. The song was part of Knowles' set list on the 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé revue. Critics noted that the song was even more impressive in person and that going through the last four key changes while performing it live, remains a difficult task.
Background and Development
"Love on Top" was written by Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash and Shea Taylor while production was handled by Knowles and Taylor. From June 16 to June 27, 2011, the songs from 4 were available to listen to in full each day on Knowles' official website, paired with its accompanying photo spread from the album packaging and a quote. On June 26, 2011, "Love on Top" was the eighth song to be chosen. The quote found Knowles elaborating on the song's inspiration:
When I played Etta James it was the most I'd learned about myself until the recording of this album. When I went into the studio I used the same passion, honesty, and approach with my vocals I channeled as Etta James. It does not sound like the vocals on my past albums. It's a lot rawer. It comes from a deep place.
Knowles, who has covered "At Last" which is a song originally recorded by James, portrayed the artist in the 2008 musical biopic, Cadillac Records. She won critical acclaim for her portrayal of James. Knowles told Billboard magazine: "I realized that Etta James was so unapologetic, bold and strong that playing her was a big risk for me. It gave me the confidence and the push to challenge myself a little more with my music." "Love on Top" impacted Urban radio in the United States on January 10, 2012 as the fourth single from the album in that country.
Composition
"Love on Top" is an up-tempo R&B song viewed as a modern take on old school music. It also exhibits elements of retro-soul music, the 1980s pop music, funk music, and the 1970s classic disco music, as stated by Joanne Dorken of MTV UK and Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun. According to Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson, "Love on Top" is a "bright, breezy tribute to the freshness of mid-[80s, pre-new-jack-FM R&B reminiscent of Whitney Houston and pre-wack Anita Baker." He also noted the song to be the "perfect and totally inverted fraternal twin" of another song on 4, being "Rather Die Young". "Love on Top"'s retro elements are further illustrated by its use of finger snaps, a "distorted" bass groove, and a melding of horns as well as sweet backing harmonies, especially in the bridge and the chorus of the song.[10][13][14] It is instrumentally complete with a thumping bassline, synthesizers, tribal drums, an arena-rock music piano, a guitar, a peppy saxophone, and some backing vocals. Rich Juzwiak of The Village Voice compared "Love on Top" to Raydio's "You Can't Change That" (1979) and New Edition's "Mr. Telephone Man" (1984). Priya Elan of NME noted that "Love on Top" echoes Janet Jackson's "Whoops Now" (1995), Lionel Richie's "Dancing on the Ceiling" (1986) and the theme from My Two Dads.
According to the digital sheet music published at musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, "Love on Top" is written in the key of C major with a metronome of 94 beats per minute. Knowles' vocal range in the song spans from the low note of A♭3 to the high note of C6. "Love on Top" is set as "both a sweet love song and an expression of girl power" as stated by Georgette Cline of AOL Music. Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club and David Amidon of PopMatters noted that "Love on Top" features "mature lyrics" alongside Knowles "sounding vocally giddy and aggressive while portraying the message." Lyrically, the song finds Knowles as the female protagonist expressing the happiness she feels for to have her love interest in her life. "The languid, synth-soul smoocher allows for enjoyably euphoric tone" before Knowles chimes in with "Bring the beat in!", introducing "a mid-album interlude of mid-[19]80s pop", as stated by Andy Gill of The Independent as well as Hamish MacBain of NME.
Rich Juzwiak noted that Knowles "ecstatically and hyperactively" changes keys six times during the entire song. As stated by Scott Shetler of PopCrush, Knowles constantly sings praises of her love interest in the first verse where she also seemingly sends him subtle digs as he did not give her his full attention in the past, this being illustrated in lyrics such as, "[...] after fighting through my fears [...] finally you've put me first." The chorus, complimented with sweet backing harmonies, then arrives, with Knowles chanting, "Baby it’s you, you’re the one I love / You’re the one I need / You’re the only one I see / Come on baby it’s you / You’re the one that gives your all / You’re the one I can always call / When I need you make everything stop / Finally you put my love on top." The chorus carries the final two minutes of the song through four key changes. This was highlighted by Henderson who wrote that "the spirit carries both her and the song into a Stevie Wonder-reminiscent climax of continually rising key changes." In this way, the word "baby" is said about 24 times throughout the song. As soon as the synthesizers drop out, the song fades out almost instantaneously.
Chart Peformance
For the week July 2, 2011, "Love on Top" debuted on the South Korea Gaon International Singles Chart at number three, selling 89,942 digital downloads. The song remained at number three in its second week and third week, selling 52,462 downloads and 42,261 downloads respectively. It charted inside the top ten positions of the chart for five consecutive weeks.
After Knowles' performance of "Love on Top" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, the song was propelled into the top five positions of the US iTunes Store; its sales picked up by 221 percent. Despite not being a single at that time, it became the highest charting song from 4 on the US iTunes Store.For the week ending September 10, 2011, "Love on Top" consequently debuted at number 135 on the US Hot Digital Songs chart, and charted at number 22 on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, which is equivalent to number 122 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The following week, the song soared number 10 on the Hot Digital Songs chart, selling 113,000 downloads; digital sales went up by 803%. This prompted the entry of "Love on Top" at number 20 on the Hot 100 chart. The Hot 100 debut of "Love on Top" became Knowles' second highest among her 29 solo career entries; only "Ring the Alarm" began at a higher position, at number 12 in 2006. It fell to number 70 on the Hot 100 chart issue dated September 24, 2011.
For the week September 17, 2011, "Love on Top" debuted at number 85 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[46] It moved to number nine Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart issue dated February 11, 2012, and became the third song from 4 to chart inside the top ten of that chart. For the week ending March 3, 2012, the song earned the Greatest Gainer/Airplay title as it lifted from number four to number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart chart with 30 million audience impressions, which went up by 22%, according to Nielsen BDS. "Love on Top" topped the chart for the week ending March 10, 2012; it was Knowles' sixth song during her solo career to reach number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Before being sent for adds on any format on US radios, "Love on Top" debuted at number 36 on the BDS Urban AC National airplay chart issue dated October 29, 2011, having amassed 106 spins, including 55 in 7 days. According to Nielsen BDS, 18 Urban AC radio stations added the song to their playlists for that week ending. For the week ending March 3, 2012, it became Knowles' first number-one on the US Adult R&B Airplay chart.
Similarly owing to the live performance, "Love on Top" debuted at number 65 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart issue dated September 17, 2011. The song also entered at number 75 on the UK Singles Chart and at number 23 on the UK R&B Chart on September 4, 2011, It debuted at number 14 on the New Zealand Singles Chart the following day, and spent seven non-consecutive weeks on the chart. In Ireland, "Love on Top" made its debut at number 47 on September 8, 2011. The song also entered at number 40 on the Australian Singles Chart on September 12, 2011. The following week, it debuted at number nine of the Australian Urban Singles Chart, and was the most added song to radios in Australia. "Love on Top" peaked at number 20 on the singles chart on November 6, 2011, and number four on the urban chart on October 17, 2011. Having spent 16 consecutive weeks on the Australian singles Chart, the song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipment of 70,000 copies.
After having been announced as a single in the UK, "Love on Top" re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 154 on November 13, 2011, and moved to number 87 the following week. It also moved from number 63 to number 38 on the UK R&B Chart. On December 4, 2011, "Love on Top" climbed from number 54 to number 28 on the UK Singles Chart and from 16 to number seven on the UK R&B Chart, where the song has peaked so far. The following week, it moved to number 22 on the UK Singles Chart, where it remained until January 1, 2012. On January 8, 2012, "Love on Top" reached number 20, selling 15,660 digital copies and bringing its total sales to 120,648 copies.The single peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart the following week.
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