If This Is Love

"If This Is Love"
A black and white portrait of five young women standing, leaning up against each other in a small dark room. Focused on the women, are yellow circular spotlights. The spotlights and the dresses of the women, each in a single different colour are the only visible colouring in the portrait.
Single by The Saturdays
from the album Chasing Lights
B-side"What Am I Gonna Do?"
Released27 July 2008 (2008-07-27) (digital)
28 July 2008 (2008-07-28) (physical)
GenreDance-pop, electropop, synthpop
Length3:24
LabelFascination, Polydor
Songwriter(s)Joe Belmaati, Michaela Breen, Vince Clarke, Mich Hansen, Alison Moyet, John Reid, Remee, Ina Wroldsen[1]
Producer(s)Joe Belmaati, Cutfather
The Saturdays singles chronology
"If This Is Love"
(2008)
"Up"
(2008)
Music video
"If This Is Love" on YouTube

"If This Is Love" is the debut single by English-Irish girl group The Saturdays from their debut album, Chasing Lights (2008). It was co-written by Joe Belmaati, Michaela Breen, Vince Clarke, Mich Hansen, Alison Moyet, John Reid, Remee and Ina Wroldsen. The song was produced by Belmaati in collaboration with Cutfather. The track samples a heavily synthesised backing rhythm from Yazoo's 1982 song "Situation".

"If This Is Love" was first released by Fascination and Polydor Records on 27 July 2008 as the lead single from Chasing Lights. It was accompanied by a B-side entitled "What Am I Gonna Do?", written and produced by Duck Blackwell and Paddy Dalton.[2] The Saturdays collaborated with Ina Wroldsen on a number of songs; eight were chosen for the album. "If This Is Love" was then released as the first single from it. The song has prominent electropop and dance-pop genre characteristics. It contains lyrical influences from love-hate relationships, the definition of love and its complications that can result in situations of stalking.

"If This Is Love" received mainly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. On 3 August 2008, the single debuted and peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart with a total of just under 15,000 copies sold in its first week of release. It has since sold a total of 107,000 copies in the United Kingdom to-date. The single also garnered charting success for the group in Europe, where it reached number thirty-three on the European Hot 100 Singles chart.

The music video accompanying "If This Is Love" was directed by Harvey B. Brown and premiered on MSN Video on 16 June 2008. The video features The Saturdays in colourful dresses performing and meeting the paparazzi. "If This Is Love" was performed by The Saturdays as part of their setlist on The Work Tour and as supporting acts on Girls Aloud's Tangled Up Tour and Take That's Take That Present: The Circus Live Tour. The group also performed the single on various television shows, namely: Loose Women, GMTV and on Nickelodeon.

Popjustice included the song in its list of the top hundred and four singles of 2008, ranking it at number forty-five.[3] About.com ranked "If This Is Love" in their list of the best dance songs of 2008 at number twenty-eight.[4]

  1. ^ "The Saturdays Download If This Is Love at Universal Music". Universal Music. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  2. ^ "Saturdays, The - If This Is Love (CD, Single) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Popjustice - The Top 104 Singles Of 2008". Popjustice. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference dance was invoked but never defined (see the help page).