What Is Love

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This article is about the Haddaway song. For other songs of this name and all other uses, see What Is
Love (disambiguation).

"What Is Love"
"What Is Love" on YouTube

"What Is Love" is a song recorded by Trinidadian-German Eurodance artist Haddaway for his
debut album, The Album. The song was released on 8 May 1993 as the album's lead single. It
was a massive hit in Europe, becoming a number-one hit in at least 13 countries and reaching
number two in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, the single was
moderately successful, reaching number 11 in the United States, number 12 in Australia, number
17 in Canada, and number 48 in New Zealand. The song earned Haddaway two awards at the
German 1994 Echo Award, in the categories "Best National Single" and "Best National Dance
Single".

Background
"What Is Love" was written and produced by German music producer and composer Dee Dee
Halligan (Dieter Lünstedt a.k.a. Tony Hendrik) and Junior Torello (Karin Hartmann-Eisenblätter
a.k.a. Karin van Haaren) of Coconut Records in Hennef (Sieg) near Cologne. They were waiting
for the right singer for the song. Trinidadian-born singer Nestor Alexander Haddaway was then
chosen to sing it. He used to work as a producer, dancer and choreographer before he was signed
to Coconut Records.[3] In a 2012 interview Haddaway said about the making of "What Is Love":

We just used ideas that were fresh at that time and tried to make something that nobody else had,
(...) The song came really fast. I had the idea for the melodies in about 45 minutes and the total
structure of the song was done in a day and a half.[4]

Release and legacy

"What Is Love" was released in Europe in May 1993 and in the US in August 1993. It hit number
one in 13 countries : Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Zimbabwe. In Sweden, Germany and the United
Kingdom, it peaked at number 2. In the latter, the song reached that position on the UK Singles
Chart in its fift week on the chart, on June 27, 1993.[5] Additionally, "What Is Love" was a
number 3 hit in Iceland, and it managed to climb up to the top spot also on the Eurochart Hot
100. Debuting at number 87 on 28 August 1993, the song reached number 11 on the Billboard
Hot 100 in the United States. The song also peaked at number 12 in Australia. By March 1994,
worldwide sales of "What Is Love" had already reached 2.6 million.[6]

When asked about the meaning of "What Is Love" in a 2015 interview, Haddaway said:

People always ask me about what I meant, (...) I meant that 'what is love' needs to be defined by
everyone by his own definition. It's unique and individual. For me, it has to do with trust,
honesty, and dedication.[7]