If You Had My Love

Album

On the 6

Label

Work Group

Genre

Rhythm & Blues

Composer(s)

Rodney Jerkins;LaShawn Daniels;Cory Rooney;Jennifer Lopez;Fred Jerkins III

Entered Chart

May 15, 1999

Peak Date

Jun 12, 1999

Released

May 4, 1999

Recorded

Studio Sony Music (New York City)

Catalog #

Work 79163

B-Side

No Me Ames"

"If You Had My Love" was Jennifer Lopez' first single; it established her as a singing star as well as a popular actress and dancer. Over the next few years, she became one of the most sought-after entertainers and cultivated a glamorous image through high-profile romances and numerous public appearances. Lopez was not known as a strong vocalist, and she relied on a talented team of writers and producers to create a marketable sound for her. Rodney Jerkins, who has worked on many R&B/pop hits, produced this track. In this song, Lopez is telling a man what he has to do if he wants to be in a relationship with her. She insists that he stay faithful and give her true love. At the time, the Internet was relatively new and streaming video was in its infancy. As the public discovered the voyeuristic nature of The Net through webcams, the video for this song capitalized on the trend by showing a man looking up "Jennifer Lopez" online and being transported to a world where he can watch her in action by clicking various links. >> Rodney Jerkins originally wrote the groove with Michael Jackson in mind, but producer Cory Rooney suggested trying it out on Lopez. LaShawn Daniels, who co-wrote the Destiny's Child hit "Say My Name" with Jerkins, wrote the lyrics and melodies with Rooney. Rooney remembers the recording session, where Lopez was doubting her singing abilities: "I would always tell her that this is no different than her acting job. Forget technique. Just close your eyes and believe in every word you're singing. Don't worry about where you're standing or anything like that as far as positioning on the mic, because it's the job of the engineer to capture your voice. Just be you. Go into character for what this song is going to require and we'll pull off the rest." The Dark Child remix of "If You Had My Love," released along with the radio edit on the single, is an early use of Auto-Tune as a vocal effect. The software was designed correct pitch, and by 1999 was in many recording studios - it was particularly handy for singers like Lopez who weren't classically trained or very experienced. But an extreme setting creates a robotic effect similar to a Vocoder, but more organic. When a young rapper named T-Pain heard the remix, he went on a mission looking for the effect so he could use it himself. It took him over a year to figure it out because Auto-Tune use was so secretive - singers didn't want the public to know about it, and neither did producers or publicity teams. T-Pain put the effect all over his first solo album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, in 2005. This opened the floodgates, and soon the Auto-Tune was ubiquitous in hip-hop.

If you had my love and I gave you all my trust
Would you comfort me?
And if somehow you knew that your love would be untrue
Would you lie to me?
And call me baby

Now if I give you me, this is how it's got to be
First of all I won't take your cheating on me
Tell me who can I trust if I can't trust in you
And I refuse to let you play me for a fool (yeah, yeah)

You said that we (you said that we could possibly spend eternity)
Could possibly, spend eternity (yeah yeah yeah yeah)
See, that's what you told me, that's what you said (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
But if you want me (you'll have to be)
You'll have to be (have to be fulfilling all my dreams)
Fulfilling all my dreams (yeah yeah yeah yeah)
If you really want me babe (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

If you had my love and I gave you all my trust
(Would you comfort me?) Would you comfort me?
Tell me, baby
And if somehow you knew (how you knew) that your love would be untrue (yeah)
Would you lie to me? (Na, na, na, na, na)
And call me baby

You said you want my love
And you've got to have it all
But first, there are some things you need to know
If you wanna live
With all I have to give
I need to feel true love or it's got to end, yeah

I don't want you (don't want you)
Trying to get with me (trying to, trying to get with me)
And I end up unhappy (yeah yeah yeah yeah)
I don't need the hurt (yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)
And I don't need the pain, so before I do (before I do)
Give myself to you (give myself)
I have to know the truth (yeah yeah yeah yeah)
If I spend my life with you (yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)

If you had my love (had my love) and I gave you all my trust (gave you trust)
Would you comfort me? (What would do babe? Tell me right now)
And if somehow you knew (I need to know) that your love would be untrue (be untrue)
Would you lie to me? (Don't lie)
And call me baby (don't you lie to me)

If you had my love (if I gave it to you)
And I gave you all my trust (what would you do?)
Would you comfort me? (Comfort me, ooh, tell me baby)
And if somehow you knew (how you) that your love would be untrue (be untrue)
Would you lie to me? (Would you lie to me)
And call me baby (don't you lie to me, baby)

Hmm
Yeah
Ooh, na, na, na
Ooh

If you had my love
If you had my love (yeah) and I gave you all my trust
(Would you comfort me?) Would you comfort me?
Tell me baby, oh
And if somehow you knew that your (oh) love would be untrue
Would you lie to me? (Don't lie to me)
And call me baby (call me baby)

If you had my love (had my love) and I gave you all my trust (gave my trust)
Would you comfort me?
(What would you do? If I gave it to you)
And if somehow you knew that your (tell me)love would be untrue
Would you lie to me? (Don't you lie to me)
And call me baby (call me baby)

If you had my love and I gave you all my trust
Would you comfort me?
And if somehow you knew that your love would be untrue
Would you lie to me?
And call me baby