Love Yourself

On the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, the song became Bieber's third consecutive number-one, wherein the United States it spent 24 non-consecutive weeks in the top ten (later named the best-performing single of 2016) and was also Bieber's first number one on the Adult Contemporary chart, while in the United Kingdom, it spent six weeks at the top. "Love Yourself" topped the charts in fifteen countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and Sweden. "Love Yourself" was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. It was the seventh-best-selling song of 2016 in the US.^[5]


The music video for the song was released along with the Purpose: The Movement project on November 14, 2015. It features dancers Keone & Mari Madrid doing an interpretive dance in a house. Bieber promoted the song with performances on TV shows, as well as awards shows throughout 2015–16 while adding it on the set list of his Purpose World Tour.

Composition and lyrics[edit]

"Love Yourself" was written by Ed Sheeran, Benny Blanco and Justin Bieber, with production being done by Benny Blanco, who was also responsible for the song's instrumentation and programming. It features lyrical vocals by Bieber and background vocals by Sheeran. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is composed in the key of E major with a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute and a time signature of ⁴
₄. Bieber's vocals range from the note of B₂ to B₃.^[14] It is an acoustic pop, folk^[3] and blue-eyed soul^[4] song, featuring just vocals and an electric guitar,^[1][15] and a brief flurry of trumpets,^[16] which was considered "the most subdued and least electronic of Bieber's new tracks."^[1]


Lyrically, "Love Yourself" is a kiss-off to a narcissistic friend who did the protagonist wrong,^[17][11] with Bieber singing in a snappy tone^[18] while criticizing "a girl for loving herself too much."^[19] In the pre-chorus, he sings with a husky tone in the lower registers:^[18] "My mama don't like you, and she likes everyone," "in a style that molds well to Sheeran's," according to Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos.^[1] "And I [never] like to admit that I was wrong. And I've been so caught up in my job, didn't see what's going on, and now I know, I'm better sleeping on my own," he continues.^[1] In the chorus, Bieber sings, "Cause if you like the way you look that much, oh baby, you should go and love yourself,"^[19] which according to Digital Spy's Amy Davidson, "'love yourself' means 'go f**k yourself' in this context."^[20] On March 7, 2017, composer Ed Sheeran stated on the Howard Stern Show that he had Rihanna in mind for the song at first, and the original lyric was indeed "fuck yourself".^[21] In the song's bridge, Bieber uses a "brass-and-vocalese" style.^[22]

Critical reception[edit]

Andrew Unterberger of Spin called it "an earth-salting, cruelly chuckling kiss-off track, it features an unprecedented-for-Bieber caliber of lyrical detail, and its minimal arrangement allows every lyrical barb to pop like one of the song's palm-mutes. For such sour grapes, though, 'Love Yourself' still sounds exultant; one of many reminders this year that for all his insistence on being a good person, Bieber may ultimately be best served as a Top 40 heel."^[16] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly complimented the track as one of her favourites from the album, naming it "the world's first campfire-folk diss track."^[23] Amy Davidson of Digital Spy agreed, calling it a 'deliciously evil poison-pen ballad'.^[20] Sheldon Pearce of Complex praised "Sorry" and "Love Yourself" for "display[ing] the best of Bieber in tandem: the full scope of his pop stylings—blue-eyed soul fleshing out both electronic and acoustic spaces."^[18] Kenneth Partridge of Billboard wrote that Bieber "overplay[s] his renewed spirituality ... mak[ing] like John Mayer doing Sam Smith," citing the track as an example.^[24] Josh Gonzalez of Music Times thought the song was "a cool change of pace and nod musically to his 2014 duet with Cody Simpson 'Home to Mama'," adding: "Bieber is a great vocalist and does well on acoustic tracks."^[25]


For Consequence of Sound editor Janine Schaults, "all the credit goes to Sheeran's cherubic magic powers. Refreshingly, just a guitar and a lonely trumpet interlude accompany Bieber's coy delivery."^[26] Michelles Geslani of the same publication opined that the track "sounds exactly what you'd expect from a meeting of these two minds," considering it "'Thinking Out Loud' crossed with low-key, lovelorn Bieber."^[27] Kitty Empire, writing for The Observer, appreciated the song for "strip[ping] everything back very effectively to a guitar line and a vocal."^[28] Annie Zaleski of The A.V. Club was mixed, noting that "despite being a nicely deadpan kiss-off to a snobby ex, is generic acoustic-pop."^[29] In a less favorable review, Pitchfork's Brad Nelson wrote that, lyrically, "it's needlessly mean, neither funny nor clever, and it doesn't do much to justify the severity of its perspective."^[30] Al Horner of NME noted that the song is "more traditionally Bieber, and [its] big pop hook [is] out of place amidst the forward-thinking electronic scuttle."^[31] Sam C. Mac of Slant Magazine called the lyrics "unintentionally hilarious."^[22] Alex Macpherson of The National called it "a cloying Ed Sheeran collaboration."^[32] Billboard ranked "Love Yourself" at number 34 on their "100 Best Pop Songs of 2016" list.^[33]