"If This Is Love"
Single by The Saturdays
from the album Chasing Lights
B-side	"What Am I Gonna Do?"
Released	July 27, 2008[1]
Format	CD single, digital download
Genre	Pop, dance-pop, electropop
Length	2:58 (Radio Edit) 3:23 (Album Version)
Label	Fascination, Polydor
Writer(s)	Joe Belmaati, Vince Clarke, Michaela Breen, Mich Hansen, Alison Moyet, John Reid, Remee, Ina Wroldsen
Producer	Joe Belmaati, Cutfather
The Saturdays singles chronology
"If This Is Love" (2008) "Up" (2008)
Music video "If This Is Love" at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)

"If This Is Love" is the debut single released by British girl group The Saturdays from their debut album "Chasing Lights" (where it is featured as the album's opening track). The single was released on July 27, 2008 through Polydor & Fascination Records in the UK on digital format accompanied by the seven-minute long Moto Blanco remix. The following day on July 28, 2008, the song was released on CD single format with a three-minute sixteen-second song entitled "What Am I Gonna Do?" as its B-side, which was written and produced by Duck Blackwell and Paddy Dalton.^[2] As part of its release promotion "If This Is Love" was B-listed on BBC Radio 1 and A-listed on Capital FM radio stations in the UK. The tracks also on the "Commercial Collection 311" compilation album.^[3]

[edit] Background

The song was written by Joe Belmaati, Mich Hansen, Vince Clarke, Alison Moyet, John Reid, Remee, Michaela Breen and Ina Wroldsen for the group's 2008-debut album "Chasing Lights". The lyrics of the song refer to a confused relationship whereby the girls are asking what the relationship actually is. The track samples Yazoo's 1982 dance hit single "Situation" (written by Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet) as its heavily-synthesised backing rhythm.^[4] the difference being the sample A-tune in comparison to the original's C#-tune. The track features a combination of keyboard and percussion, both of which are produced by Joe Belmaati who is also credited as the song's producer (together with Cutfather), engineer (together with Graham Archer) and mixer. Extra backing vocals are courtesy of Nabina Bensound and the track was mastered by Dick Beetham. The track's vocals are ordered in the following manner: Una Healy sings the call in the first verse as well as the build-up verse to the second chorus, Mollie King sings the response in the first and second verses, Rochelle Wiseman sings the build-up verse to the first chorus as well as the song's bridge, Vanessa White sings the call in the second verse as well as the harmonising in the choruses after the bridge and all the group members, including Frankie Sandford sing the track's chorus. On the group's "The Work Tour" the song is performed with the girls wearing characteristic matching black raincoats.

Una Healy told Digital Spy about the song:

It's about a love/hate relationship really. These two people are falling in love but they're scared of getting hurt. The verses are all about one of them stalking the other one, hanging out outside the other's window.^[5]

The band promoted the single when they were supporting acts to Girls Aloud's "Tangled Up Tour". They also promoted it during various radio and magazine interviews as well as on a number of television shows including: Nokia Green Room (the group's first onscreen performance^[6]), GMTV, Loose Women and Big Brother's "Little Brother".^[7]

[edit] Reviews

Popjustice included the song in its list of the top hundred and four singles of 2008, ranking it at number forty-five^[8], describing it as "an object lesson in how to write a pop song with a chorus so unexpectedly brilliant that it makes you think your head is going to explode".^[9] The song however received a mixed response from pop critics:

Nick Levine of Digital Spy reviewed the single:

This debut single is nothing that Rachel Stevens couldn't have given us three or four years ago: a midtempo electropop tune with a memorable chorus and a crafty Yazoo sample slipped in for bonus street cred. It's a solid, promising effort, but not really in the same league as the best debuts by British girl groups: "Sound of the Underground", "Overload", "Wannabe".^[10]

Angryape.com had the following to say in their review:

"If This Is Love" sounds quite similar to a Girls Aloud song but doesn't seem to be as well produced. It's catchy and will do well as a pop song, but maybe the band needs to work more as group, as for how it sounds more like a dance track with added vocals.^[11]

Mike Barnes of musicOMH mentioned:

The track itself is the obligatory fluffy summery pop we can't seem to manage at this time of year, replete the auto-tuned vocals that sound as though they've simply been parachuted in over a dance track to make it radio friendly. The chorus is pleasing enough, but what really lifts this is the pervasive Yazoo sample.^[12]

Unreality Music's Gerard McGarry's review:

As a debut single, If This Is Love doesn't offer much more than a jolt of pure pop. On one hand, they've regressed to a period of pop that pre-dates the Xenomania-infused tunes we've seen from Sugababes and Girls Aloud.^[13]

[edit] Music video

A screenshot of some of the scenes from the music video.

The music video for "If This Is Love" was directed by Harvey B Brown and premiered on MSN UK on June 16, 2008.^[7] It was uploaded onto YouTube on June 20, 2008 by the group's record label, Polydor.^[14] It has so far had over 1,700,000 views on YouTube alone. Around the same time, "If This Love" was then added onto various music channels broadcasting in the UK.^[6]

The video begins with the group's name/logo flashing onscreen before moving into the setting of a backstage dressing room which enables passers-by to have a view of the activity within, similar to a shop window. The group's members are sitting down singing during the first verse and bridge as they are getting their hair and make-up done whilst looking in the mirror. Viewers also get introduced to the tradition of each member's signature colour in dress code which is apparent in all the music videos the band has released likewise in this video - each girl is wearing a different coloured dress to the other girls. The colours being: red, blue, green, yellow and pink.

The setting then moves in what seems to be an evening scene where the girls are getting escorted by the music video's production crew to performing live onstage in front of a cheering audience. Whilst on stage, each girl's stilleto shoes can also be seen to be a different colour to other girls' and at the same time not matching the colour of their dress. The girls are prominently seen singing seated on colourful chairs during this scene. The background to the stage is in a washed out colour that contrasts with the group's outfits. Nearing the end of this scene, a man in the crowd can be seen handing out his phone number on a piece of paper to one of the group members, Frankie, who in the end ignores the offer.

The crowd can be heard cheering ecstatically as the group is escorted by the production crew off the stage before moving onto the final setting. This setting comprises of the girls walking side by side, surrounded by a large number of fans and paparazzis cheering for them. The girls sign autographs for their fans amongst the flashing lights of the paparazzi cameras. The music video then ends with the lights on the stage where they were performing - flashing out. The music video uses the single's album version and not the shorter radio edit.

[edit] Track listings

UK CD Single Promo
(1771961; Released July 28, 2008)^[2]

1. "If This Is Love" (Radio Edit) – 2:59
2. "What Am I Gonna Do?" – 3:18

UK Digital Single Promo
(Released July 27, 2008)^[15]

1. "If This Is Love" (Album Version) – 3:24
2. "What Am I Gonna Do?" – 3:18

UK iTunes Single Promo
(Released July 27, 2008)^[16]

1. "If This Is Love" (Album Version) – 3:24
2. "If This Is Love" (Moto Blanco Club Mix) – 7:45

[edit] Charts

Despite having an iTunes and midweek peak of number seven "If This Is Love" in the end debuted and peaked on the UK Singles Chart at number eight on August 9, 2008^[17] due to a sudden soar in popularity from Katy Perry's debut trans-atlantic hit "I Kissed a Girl".^[18] The single had first week sales of just under 15,000.^[19] After nineteen consecutive weeks within the top two-hundred, "If This Is Love" dropped out the chart on December 14, 2008 before re-entering at number one-hundred and fifty-five on January 4, 2009 and dropping out again on March 15, 2009. Altogether the single has spent a total of nine weeks within the top 75, seventeen weeks within in the top 100 and twenty-nine weeks within the top 200, non-consecutively. The song has sold over 80,000 copies in the UK alone.^[19] The single came in at number one-hundred and forty-two on the UK Year-End Singles Chart for 2008.^[20]

[edit] References