When Love Takes Over
"When Love Takes Over" is a song by French record producer David Guetta with vocals by American singer Kelly Rowland, from Guetta's fourth studio album, One Love (2009). It was released as the lead single from the album on 21 April 2009 by Virgin Records (EMI France). The song was conceived when Guetta played the instrumental version during one of his DJ sets in summer 2008; American recording artist Kelly Rowland, who fell in love with the track, convinced Guetta to allow her to take it so that she could write and record vocals for it. It was co-written by Nervo.
"When Love Takes Over"
21 April 2009
2008–09
- Gum Prod (Paris, France)
- Super Sonic Scale (France)
3:10 (album version) 3:24 (UK radio edit)
- David Guetta
- Miriam Nervo
- Olivia Nervo
- Kelly Rowland
- Frédéric Riesterer
- David Guetta
- Frédéric Riesterer
According to Rowland, the song inspired her to pursue a more dance-oriented sound for her album Here I Am (2011), while Guetta credited "When Love Takes Over" for providing the framework for his future musical explorations and inspiring him to experiment with more urban sounds. Guetta and Frédéric Riesterer produced the song with piano riffs and a melodic backing track. Veronica Ferraro mixed the song, focusing primarily on giving Rowland's vocals a magical and inspiring tone. Critics would later state that Rowland's vocals on "When Love Takes Over" helped to further establish the singer as a soloist. The song's lyrics carry a message of the euphoria one feels when in love with a significant other, while the production bears some similarities to Coldplay's 2002 hit single "Clocks".
"When Love Takes Over" received universal acclaim. Most noted the addition of Rowland's powerful and emotionally charged vocals which made the single the most memorable song from One Love. The song was praised for its lush production and euphoric sentiments. It achieved worldwide success by topping the charts in ten countries, including in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. At the time of release, it became Guetta's highest-charting single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Rowland's second number one single in the United Kingdom. "When Love Takes Over" ranked at number one on Billboard's Best of 2009 Dance Club Songs chart. In 2013, Billboard named "When Love Takes Over" its number one dance-pop collaboration of all time, in addition to noting the lasting cultural impact that the collaboration would have on dance music and its indication of the emerging electronic dance music trend in America at its time of release.
In the song's accompanying music video, Rowland and Guetta reminisce of how the song came together. It follows the duo as they prepare for a party before coming together for the final result. "When Love Takes Over" was promoted mainly at award shows, including the MTV Latin Music Video Awards, NRJ Music Awards and the World Music Awards. Guetta and Rowland reunited in late 2009 to perform "When Love Takes Over" for the annual Miss Universe competition. The single earned several Platinum and Gold certifications, selling over 5.5 million copies worldwide.[1][2] Additionally, it earned Guetta two Grammy Award nominations for "Best Dance Recording" and "Best Non-Classical, Remixed Recording", the latter of which Guetta won for his "Electro Extended Mix" of "When Love Takes Over".
Composition[edit]
"When Love Takes Over" is a synth-pop[13] and "uplifting floor-filler"[14] produced by Guetta and his associate Frédéric Riesterer.[15] Jason Lipshutz from Billboard magazine described it as a "pop number built around a lush piano loop and throbbing percussion"[5] with trance elements.[14] The song was written in the key of F♯ mixolydian with a time signature of common time and a tempo of 130 beats per minute.[16] The final recording and mixing took place at Gum Prod Studios in Paris.[15] Some elements of the song were compared to the riff and piano opener in the song "Clocks" by Coldplay.[13][14][17][18]
After gaining Guetta's approval to write vocals for the song, Rowland took the instrumental version to London,[4] where she wrote the bulk of the lyrics with Nervo (twins Miriam and Olivia Nervo) before sending the song back to Guetta,[3] who added his own contributions with Frédéric Riesterer. Rowland uses a vocal range of F♯3 to D♯5.[19] Guetta said that "Kelly['s vocals] had this Whitney Houston vibe and nailed it."[5] Critics agreed, noting that often her vocals were "powerful"[20] and "grand".[14] Others called them "a diva masterclass"[18] and "emotionally charged".[21] Fraser McAlpine from BBC Online compared Rowland's vocals to those by Madonna in "Ray of Light", for their "hands-in-the-air pop song" qualities.[22]
Chart performance[edit]
In Guetta's native France, "When Love Takes Over" debuted on the French Digital Chart at number 14 on 25 April 2009[28] before subsequently peaking at number three on 18 July 2009.[29] On the French Singles Chart, it debuted and peaked at number two.[30] In August 2009, Guetta had two simultaneous top 10 singles on the chart, the other being "Sexy Bitch" featuring Akon.[31] Following is strong run on the charts the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) awarded the single a Gold certification for selling 150,000+ copies.[32] In Rowland's native country of the United States the single was successful, topping both the Hot Dance Airplay and Hot Dance Club Songs charts, as well as reaching number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100. This became Guetta's highest Hot 100 chart position at the time.[33] It was Rowland's highest Hot 100 Chart entry since her feature of Trina's 2005 single, "Here We Go".[34] "When Love Takes Over" ranked at number one on the Best of 2009 Dance Club Songs chart[35] and number thirty-three on the End of Decade (2000–2009) Dance Club Songs Chart. "When Loves Takes Over" is one of the most successful songs on the top of the Türkiye Top 20 chart where it received airplay for 10 consecutive weeks.[36]
"When Love Takes Over" also achieved success in Europe, topping charts in Belgium (Wallonia),[37] Czech Republic,[38] Hungary,[39] Ireland,[40] Italy,[41] Slovakia,[42] Switzerland[43] and the United Kingdom.[44] It also reached the top 10 in most other regions apart from Brazil,[45] Canada[46] and the United States.[33] By the end of 2009 it reached the top 30 on most year-end charts, most notably reaching number two in Switzerland,[47] number five in Belgium (Wallonia),[48] and six on the European Hot 100.[49] It was certified Platinum in nine countries.[50][51][52][53][54][55][56]
In the United Kingdom, Guetta and Rowland's original version debuted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, having sold 25,000 copies.[57][58] The following week Guetta's version peaked at number one,[44] beating his previous best chart peak of number three with 2007's "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)".[59] It gave Rowland her second number one single in Britain, the first being "Dilemma" alongside Nelly in October 2002.[60] "When Love Takes Over" was awarded a double Platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry in September 2022 for sales and stream of over 1,200,000 units.[61] On The Official Charts Company's official countdown of the Top 100 British Downloads of all time, "When Love Takes Over" ranks at number 58, marking Rowland's only entry on the chart. However it is Guetta's second entry on the chart, behind "Sexy Bitch" (with Akon) which charted at number 27.[62] In total, the single has sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide.[1][63]
Cover versions[edit]
Airi L version[edit]
British dance music artist Airi L released a bootleg version of the song 9 May 2009, several days before the Guetta and Rowland version was due to be released.[80] EMI Music called Airi L's version "inferior" and decided to combat her cover by releasing Guetta's version on 11 June 2009 in the UK, earlier than originally planned.[57] The cover debuted and peaked at number 22, selling 12,000 copies whilst Guetta and Rowland's version debuted at number seven with 25,000 copies.[57][58] According to Yahoo! Music's James Masterton, Rowland's version would have debuted at a higher place had it not been for the "bootleg cover". He said the single had to be rush released "when not one but two spoiler (and indeed near-identical) cover versions started to race up the iTunes rankings and threatened to have a negatively impact on the 'official' version."[81] The following week Guetta and Rowland's version would debut at number one.[44]
Matt Cardle version[edit]
In the second week of October 2010, the song was covered twice by contestants on The X Factor. Matt Cardle performed his version on the opening show of the seventh series of the UK version.[82] Following Cardle's performance, "When Love Takes Over" jumped twelve places on UK Dance Chart, to number seventeen.[83]
Legacy[edit]
Rowland told MTV that "working with David is amazing. We have a great relationship, it's so effortless. He's such a talented individual. But most importantly he's such a down to earth, nice guy and I really enjoy working with him. We have good musical chemistry together."[84] Guetta told Billboard that "the track with Kelly has made him experiment with a more American urban influence. Musically, it's pure pop with a lot of detail."[5] Additionally British singer Cheryl Cole (of Girls Aloud) credited "When Love Takes Over" for inspiring her taste and preference in dance music, which in turn influenced her second solo single "3 Words" (featuring will.i.am).[85]
The track was also featured on the fictional radio station Vladivostok FM and fictional nightclub Bahama Mamas on the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. but it was removed due of Expiring license song on 10th Anniversary of Grand Theft Auto IV in April 2018.
Later in 2010 when recording her third album, Here I Am (2011), Rowland credited both Guetta and the song for inspiring her to pursue a new sound. Rowland relates: "I spent about a year of my life in Europe really listening to a whole bunch of Europeans DJs and hearing dance music a lot on the radio and really loving it. 'When Love Takes Over' it was my first introduction to dance music [and] it was a whole other monster. It's really a culture and I love it."[3] In 2010, following the success of "When Love Takes Over" and the duo's musical chemistry, Guetta was asked to work on Rowland's third studio album. He co-produced a couple of the songs including the album's first single, "Commander".[84]
Later in 2013, Kerri Mason and Zel McCarthy compiled a list of the top-ten dance-pop collaborations of all time for Billboard magazine. In their article, the critics named "When Love Takes Over" at the top of the list, saying that the song "repositioned Kelly Rowland as a solo vocalist with chops on her own."[27] The duo also commented that subsequent collaborations between Guetta and Rowland were not as good as "When Love Takes Over", also adding that Rowland's vocal was firmly part of "dance music history" and were an indication of the growing electronic dance music (EDM) trend emerging in America at the time.[27]
In a 2020 feature titled "Should Have Been Bigger" on the website Idolator, Mike Wass was reflecting on the underperformance of Rowland's follow up dance song "Commander" and noted that "When Love Take Over" firmly established Rowland as the "newly crowned Queen of Clubs in 2010".[86]
In 2023, Season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race used "When Love Takes Over" as the lip-sync song in episode 14 between contestants Anetra and Mistress Isabelle Brooks.