"What Is Love" was the final single from En Vogue's second album, Funky Divas. The song was not released commercially, but was instead shipped to dance clubs across the United States. "What Is Love" reached the Top 10 of the US dance charts. The song appeared again in 1993 as part of the group's Runaway Love EP. This was the only song En Vogue produced for market featuring Maxine Jones and Cindy Herron sharing lead vocals. It was initially supposed to be included on the EP Remix to Sing as a new song, but missed the production deadline and was added to their subsequent album Funky Divas.
| "What Is Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by En Vogue | ||||
| from the album Funky Divas | ||||
| Released | October 26, 1993 (US) | |||
| Recorded | Autumn 1991–August 1993[1] | |||
| Genre | Pop/R&B | |||
| Length | 4:42 | |||
| Label | EastWest | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Thomas Derrick McElroy & Denzil Delano Foster | |||
| En Vogue singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Critical reception
editLarry Flick from Billboard called the song "the only house-minded moment" on Funky Divas, adding that it "has been nicely retouched with a thick'n'chewy underground groove by Mentalinstrum, who is better known as a member of the Smack Productions posse. He has done a fine job of taking the song to interesting new depths, while wisely keeping those nifty vocals front and center at all times."[2] Arion Berger from Entertainment Weekly said the album "has an awkward charm", especially on "What Is Love", "in which they archly recite dictionary definitions of the word."[3] Pop Rescue noted that "parts of this song" reminds "a bit of Deee-Lite’s What Is Love?, pieces of Madonna‘s ‘Vogue’, CeCe Peniston and Kym Sims." They added that "the vocals really belt out here, and at times, it doesn’t sound very much like En Vogue amongst all the spoken word sections, and sampled bits."[4] Cheo H. Coker from Stanford Daily described the song as "a house groove" with "a rather funky, upbeat note", and added that it "will also be a commercial success."[5]
Charts
edit| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[6] | 6 |
| US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[7] with "Runaway love" |
17 |
References
edit- ^ "Don't think I can make it. By Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy, Will Townsend, Pharoah Davis, Warren Robinson & Andre Zachary - song, music - Copyright Info". Faqs.org. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ Flick, Larry (9 October 1993). "Dance Trax: An Educational Alliance; Where Is 'What Is Love'?" (PDF). Billboard. p. 32. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ Berger, Arion (3 April 1992). "Funky Divas". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ^ "REVIEW: "FUNKY DIVAS" BY EN VOGUE (CD, 1992)". Pop Rescue. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
- ^ Coker, Cheo H. (16 April 1992). "Hip-hop's four funky divas". Stanford Daily. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ "En Vogue Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
- ^ "En Vogue Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
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