“Love Me Harder” by Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd

song info

    “Love Me Harder” by Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd (official video) is an alternative R&B song.

link to the static song information page for this song:
http://www.thissideofsanity.com/music/songs/lo/lovemeharder.php

    Summary quotation from Wikipedia:

    “Love Me Harder” is a song recorded by American singer Ariana Grande and Canadian recording artist The Weeknd for Grande’s sophomore studio album, My Everything (2014). It was written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Peter Svensson, Ali Payami, Ahmad Balshe, and The Weeknd, and produced by Payami, Svensson and Peter Carlsson from Carolina Liar. The song was released by Republic Records on September 30, 2014 as the third single from the album.

    “Love Me Harder” received critical acclaim from critics, praising the dark sound, Ariana Grande’s vocals, and the pairing between Grande and The Weeknd. The song peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Ariana Grande’s 5th overall top 10 single and her 4th top 10 single from her sophomore album, My Everything. By becoming her 4th top 10 single, Grande had the most top 10 singles in 2014. The song is also The Weeknd’s first top 10 single on the chart as well.

Background

    The collaboration between Ariana Grande and The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) was pushed by their mutual label, Republic Records. Grande and The Weeknd were up-and-coming artists in 2013, with both releasing their debut albums that year. In an interview with Billboard, Republic Records EVP Charlie Walk stated, “The Weeknd is positioned to be best new artist of 2014. He is that guy.” In October 2014, Walk admitted that the collaboration was part of a plan to promote The Weeknd, saying, “It’s no accident that the new Ariana track features The Weeknd. That’s strategic, because he’s about to blow up with his own record.”

Live performances

    Grande and The Weeknd performed this song live for the first time on the season 40 premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 27, 2014. Grande also confirmed her and The Weeknd will perform the song together at the American Music Awards on November 23, 2014.

Music video

    On October 1, 2014, Grande confirmed she was working on the music video for “Love Me Harder” and Grande’s manager Scooter Braun posted a picture on Instagram of the set. In the following days, Grande teased fans by posting photos from the video shoot. The music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis who also directed Grande’s joint single “Bang Bang.”

    The lyric video for “Love Me Harder” was released on October 18, 2014. A behind-the-scenes video was released on October 28, 2014.

    The official music video premiered on VEVO on November 3, 2014.

Critical reception

    The song received critical acclaim, praising its dark sound and Ariana’s vocals. Mikael Wood from the LA Times wrote that “Love Me Harder” is a “darker (and more fully realized) R&B jam than anyone probably expected from a 21-year-old singer once known for her endless supply of pastel princess dresses.” He also wrote that the song explored adult themes and is “filled with double entendres about rough sex; that one also has a single entendre — delivered by her reliably creepy duet partner, the Weeknd — about feeling ‘the pressure between your hips.’” Jason Lipshutz from Billboard stated that the pairing of Grande and The Weeknd made sense, despite the two being completely different. He went on to say that, the “driving guitar riff in the chorus is delicious 80’s cheese, and the Weeknd’s ultra-sincere crooning works well while serving as callbacks to Grande’s demands for romantic satisfaction.” The Guardian wrote that the song’s “saturated, mid-tempo atmospherics” stand out.

Commercial performance

    After spending a couple weeks on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, “Love Me Harder” officially debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 79. The following week it moved to No. 57 and on its third week it jumped to No. 37, becoming the Weeknd’s first top-40 hit on the chart. On the fifth week, after the music video’s official release, it jumped to its peak of No. 7, becoming Ariana Grande’s 5th overall top ten single and 4th overall from her album My Everything. By becoming her 4th top ten single, Ariana Grande has the most top ten singles of 2014, along with her past top ten singles “Problem”, “Break Free”, and “Bang Bang”. “Love Me Harder” is also The Weeknd’s first top ten single on the Billboard Hot 100.

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