"Your Love" is a song by rapper Nicki Minaj from her debut studio album Pink Friday (2010). It was released on June 1, 2010, by Young Money, Cash Money, and Universal Motown as the lead single of the album, replacing the song "Massive Attack" featuring Sean Garrett. "Massive Attack" was pulled from the album following an underwhelming commercial performance a month earlier.
"Your Love" was written by Minaj, Joseph Hughes, David Freeman, and Andrew "Pop" Wansel, and was produced by duo Pop & Oak. Described as a "rap ballad", the song is a change of tempo compared to Minaj's previous work, and according to Mariel Concepcion of Billboard, the song contains a "new brand of hood majesty". The song samples Annie Lennox's 1995 cover version of the song "No More I Love You's" (1986) by the Lover Speaks, using its background vocals with additional bass, hip-hop backbeats and drum loops added. The song peaked at numbers 14 and four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, respectively. As of June 2016 the song has sold 1.5 million digital downloads.
Background
The first version of "Your Love" appeared on Nicki Minaj's unofficial mixtape Barbie World (2010), with different lyrics included in the pre-chorus along with a faster pace. Another version was later stolen and leaked online. The song underwent minor lyrical adjustments and mixing before being sent to mainstream radio, as the first official single from Minaj's debut album Pink Friday (2010). In an interview with Hot 93.7 radio, Minaj spoke about the leak of the song, saying "That was a leak and I was so upset they put it out 'cause I recorded that song like two years ago. Next thing you know, people started falling in love with it." Whilst on set on the music video for "Your Love", Minaj further explain about the song's theft and leak, saying, "I was not planning on putting the song out at all. But then I heard it one day, somebody told me it was online. And I was like, 'No way, no way in the world that song is out.' I went and listened to it and was really upset. It wasn't mixed, it wasn't finished, it wasn't anything — I wasn't gonna use it at all. But then radio started playing it."
Rap-Up posted cover art featuring a close up of Minaj smirking to her right, however for unknown reasons the art work was changed. The new cover features a cartoon version of Minaj, made by illustrator Asia Kendrick-Horton who posted it for Minaj on Twitter.
Composition
"Your Love" is a mid-tempo song with the heavy use of Auto-Tune in the chorus. It samples the instrumentals and background vocals of Annie Lennox's cover version of "No More I Love You's" by the Lover Speaks, with the addition of additional bass, drum-loops and hip-hop backbeats. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Your Love" is set in common time with a metronome of 94 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E major with Minaj's vocal range spanning from the low-note of B3 to the high-note of C5.
The concept of “Your Love” was created after a series of accidents; Pop had made the beat in his mother's basement. Pop’s sister, Jackie, was a big fan of Annie Lennox and recommended sampling “No More I Love You's”. Despite his disdain for the song, one day, while Jackie was cleaning house, Pop heard the song being played again and the idea for “Your Love” was born. He went back to the basement and looped the sample, adding a kick and snap. While sending Minaj some beats over email, Pop accidentally attached the track’s instrumental version. He texted her right after, saying it was an accident but, to his surprise, she liked the vibe and wrote her verses for it. After recording with the newly created beat, the song went into limbo for two years, until an anonymous hacker at Hot Beats Studio in Atlanta leaked it online. Nicki was horrified at how the public might have reacted to her Auto-Tune quality, hoping the leak would be forgotten; instead, it went on to surpass the initial single “Massive Attack”, which had been a commercial flop. The leaked unmastered demo started to gain listeners and would enter the charts. Along with Pop's partner Oak, they replayed the sample (Annie Lennox would not allow the sample to be cleared) and then re-recorded Nicki's vocals for the new version of the beat, which replaced the demo on the charts.