Motherlover

"Motherlover"
Single by the Lonely Island featuring Justin Timberlake
from the album Turtleneck & Chain
ReleasedMay 9, 2009 (broadcast)
April 19, 2011 (single)
RecordedMay 7–8, 2009
Length2:49
LabelUniversal Republic
Songwriter(s)Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Drew Campbell, Asa Taccone, Justin Timberlake
Producer(s)No I.D., Justin Timberlake, Drew Money
The Lonely Island singles chronology
"We're Back!"
(2011)
"Motherlover"
(2009)
"Turtleneck & Chain"
(2011)
Justin Timberlake singles chronology
"Winner"
(2010)
"Motherlover"
(2011)
"3-Way (The Golden Rule)"
(2011)
Music video
"Motherlover" on YouTube

"Motherlover" is the first sequel to "Dick in a Box" by the Lonely Island, also featuring Justin Timberlake. It debuted on Saturday Night Live as an SNL Digital Short on May 9, 2009. The song finds the two ballad singers (played again by Andy Samberg and Timberlake) singing of their desire to have sex with each other's mothers (played by Patricia Clarkson and Susan Sarandon) as the ultimate tribute to Mother's Day. Set five months after the events of "Dick in a Box", the video opens with the balladeers being released from jail, only to be faced with the quandary of what to get their respective mothers for Mother's Day.

The short was an effort between the two artists during a sleepless week of writing, recording and shooting before it aired. The song was written by the Lonely Island (Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer) with Timberlake on the Tuesday before the short's premiere. Samberg and Timberlake recorded the song in an all-night session two days later, with a 20-hour video shoot commencing the next day. Schaffer began editing the footage early Saturday morning and only completed the short within minutes of its broadcast debut, finalizing the video while the show was already live.[1]

Released the day before Mother's Day 2009, the video was an immediate viral hit, in the same vein of its predecessor. The song was released as a single shortly before the release of the Lonely Island's sophomore record, Turtleneck & Chain.[2]

The song has two versions, which were both praised by David Jeffries of AllMusic.[3][4]

  1. ^ "MUSIC 'MOTHERLOVER' CO-CREATOR DESCRIBES THE MAKING OF RAUNCHY 'SNL' VIDEO". mtv.com. 2009-05-12. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
  2. ^ "The Lonely Island: Chattin' with Joni: Motherlover on iTunes!". Thelonelyisland.blogspot.com. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  3. ^ Jeffries, David. "The Lonely Island: Turtleneck & Chain". AllMusic. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  4. ^ Greenwald, Andy (May 4, 2011). "Music Review: Turtleneck & Chain (2011)". Entertainment Weekly.