Talk About Our Love
"Talk About Our Love" is a song recorded by American singer Brandy for her fourth studio album Afrodisiac (2004). It was written by Kanye West, who also appears as a featured artist on it, and Harold Lilly, while production was handled by the former. Due to the song's use of a sample of Mandrill's 1978 song "Gilly Hines", band members Claude Cave II, and Carlos, Louis, and Ricardo Wilson are also credited as writers. Lyrically, "Talk About Our Love" is about a relationship lacking support from family and friends.
"Talk About Our Love"
Recorded late into the production of Afrodisiac, "Talk About Our Love" was an eleventh-hour addition to the track listing, alongside "Where You Wanna Be". It was eventually selected as the album's lead single in a last-minute decision, replacing the Timbaland-produced song "Black Pepper", which resulted in his dissociation from Afrodisiac. Released on March 26, 2004 to generally positive reviews from music critics, "Talk About Our Love" became a moderate commercial success. While it peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart, the song peaked only at number 36 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The accompanying music video for "Talk About Our Love" was directed by Dave Meyers and was based on a concept by West. It portrays Norwood and the rapper as a couple who is frequently disturbed by nosy friends and neighbours, who keep on popping in and out of their house to find out about their affairs. At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Norwood garnered a nomination in the Best R&B Video category. Additionally, the song received a Best Collaboration nomination at the 2004 MOBO Awards. "Talk About Our Love" was promoted on several television shows and was later included in the encore set of her Human World Tour (2009).
Writing and recording[edit]
"Talk About Our Love" was written by American rapper Kanye West and songwriter Harold Lilly, with production handled by the former.[1] Due to the interpolation of Mandrill's 1978 song "Gilly Hines", band members Claude Cave II, and Carlos, Louis and Ricardo Wilson received co-writing credits on the track.[1] Recorded by Eugene Toale at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, it was mixed by Manny Marroquin and engineered by Jun Isheseki, with further assistance from Blake English and Kenisha Pratt.[1] Israeli musician Miri Ben-Ari played the violin, while Ervin A. Pope was on the keyboards.[1]
An eleventh-hour addition to the final track listing of Afrodisiac, "Talk About Our Love" was not recorded until late into the production of the album.[2] Although Norwood had considered the project complete by October 2003 after intense recording sessions with producer Timbaland and his team, Atlantic Records executive Geroid Roberson encouraged her to embark on additional studio sessions with West, following the success of his debut studio album The College Dropout (2004). "One of the executive producers of my album [Roberson] is one of Kanye's managers, so that's how we hooked up", Norwood explained the following year, adding: "He said he always wanted to work with me [and] having followed his successes, I've always wanted to work with him. When we got together it was like, 'Oh, my God! This is great chemistry. It's magical. Kanye's passionate about the song, and so am I, so it worked out great'!".[2]
Music and lyrics[edit]
"Talk About Our Love" is an R&B and hip hop song containing a sample from Mandrill's 1978 song "Gilly Hines".[1] Borrowing from Kanye West's own sound at the time, including wordplay and sampling,[3] Norwood compared the song to Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name" (2003), another West production.[4] Commenting on the music, Norwood said: "We [Norwood and West] collaborated and we just came up with a great melody".[5]
Lyrically, "Talk About Our Love" revolves around a relationship that lacks support by family and friends. Speaking of the content, Norwood remarked: "For me, [it's about] when you're in a relationship and you just wanna be one with that person and you want everybody to support you, but they don't."[6] She described the song as being about "being in a relationship being so deeply in love that everybody wants to be in your business. Everybody wants to be opinionated about what you do and why you do it and I think everybody in a relationship experiences that kind of stuff, people talking about your business so that is what that song is about."[4]
Release[edit]
Though Norwood was expected to shoot a music video for a Timbaland-produced "hyper, bass-heavy" track entitled "Black Pepper" during the second week of December 2003, plans for the single eventually fell through in favor of additional recording sessions with West, the result of which was "Talk About Our Love".[7] Released as lead single from Afrodisiac by Atlantic Records heads, the decision somewhat contrasted with Timbaland's major influence on the album and resulted in his dissociation from the album.[8] Norwood later voiced her discontent towards her record company bosses for subsequently deciding to release it as the album's lead single. "No offense, but ‘Talk About Our Love’ was never really my choice to come out with," she said. "I had created a creative energy and a creative bond with Timbaland. What we were trying to do for the album, it was a completely different sound than 'Talk About Our Love.' It was just a little bit interesting for me, and I just wanted to keep the same consistency. But also, Kanye was hot at the time and I wanted to work with him too, but for me it was really what I was trying to create a creative bond with Timbaland. So that wasn't my choice to come out with that first."[9]
"Talk About Our Love" made its world premiere on March 26, 2004 via AOL Music's First Listen program, where it was streamed more than 4.6 million times within its first two-month of release; by March 28, its final version had leaked.[10] The song's CD single was released in the United States on May 25, including a reworked version of "Turn It Up", Afrodisiac's preceding buzz single.[11] Elsewhere, "Like It Was Yesterday" appeared as the B-side on the CD single.[10] On July 13, a maxi CD single was released, featuring previously unreleased mixes of the original version; remixes were produced by Albert Cabrera, Bill Hamel, Eric "E-Smoove" Miller, That Kid Chris, Lawrence Fordyce, Eric "Thick Dick" Miller and D. Brandon under his Alan Smithee pseudonym.[12]
Commercial performance[edit]
On May 6, 2004, "Talk About Our Love" debuted at number 88 on the US Billboard Hot 100, being the sixth highest debut of the week.[19] The song peaked at number 36 on June 3, the same week it earned the Billboard Hot 100's greatest retail gainer designation,[20] becoming Norwood's lowest-peaking lead single at the time. Furthermore, it became her first single to fail reaching the top 20 since "U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To)" (1999) peaked at number 72.[20] "Talk About Our Love" was more successful on Billboard's component charts: benefiting from strong physical sales, it peaked atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales and number three on the Hot Singles Sales,[21] as well as reaching the top 20 on the Dance Club Songs and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[3] The maxi CD single also peaked at number two on the Hot Dance Singles Sales.[22][23]
In the United Kingdom, "Talk About Our Love" debuted and peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Norwood's fifth non-consecutive top-ten single. The song was the second highest entry of the week–behind Britney Spears' "Everytime", which debuted at number one[23]–and remained within the top ten for two weeks. Elsewhere, the song enjoyed moderate success. While it still managed to reach the top 40 in Australia, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands, it failed to enter the top 50 in other international markets.[23]
Notes