"Love Don't Cost a Thing" is a song by American singer Jennifer Lopez for her second studio album J.Lo (2001). It was released on November 20, 2000, by Epic Records as the lead single from the album. The song was written by Damon Sharpe, Greg Lawson, Georgette Franklin, Jeremy Monroe and Amille D. Harris, and produced by Ric Wake, Richie Jones and Cory Rooney. At the time of the song's release, Lopez was transitioning into a sex symbol and in a relationship with American rapper Sean Combs. Lyrically, "Love Don't Cost a Thing" is described as an "exploration of love" in which Lopez is unhappy about her materialistic lover; provoking much media analysis as to whether or not it was an innuendo towards Combs. Ultimately, the pair's courtship ended shortly after its release. Described as "frothy" and "catchy" by critics, it was noted for its message about love and commercial appeal to women.
"Love Don't Cost a Thing" was met with worldwide commercial success and is considered "classic Lopez". It peaked within the top ten in the United States and foreign markets including Australia, France, Germany and Ireland, as well as peaking at number one in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, among other countries. "Love Don't Cost a Thing" was also a radio hit, becoming her first single to top the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. The music video for "Love Don't Cost a Thing" directed by Paul Hunter and choreographed by Darrin Dewitt Henson was met with acclaim, garnering MTV Video Music Award and ALMA Award nominations. It became one of the year's most-viewed clips, and was highly requested on the music video broadcasting series, Total Request Live. The music video subsequently became notorious after Lopez married Cris Judd, one of the back-up dancers who appeared in it. Lopez has performed "Love Don't Cost a Thing" live on numerous occasions, including the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards and the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.
Background and release
After a high-profile title role in the musical biopic Selena (1997), Lopez began developing her own career in music, later being signed to Work Records by Tommy Mottola. Her debut album entitled On the 6 (1999) became an instant commercial success, and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number one song "If You Had My Love". This led her to begin recording new material for her second album in April 2000. Initially, the album was to be called A Passionate Journey. During this period, Lopez began to transition into a sex symbol and was nicknamed J.Lo by the public, which is known as a nickname and "public persona". Hence, she instead released an album entitled J.Lo, which she credits as being more "personal" and "romantic" than On the 6. "Love Don't Cost a Thing" was globally premiered on November 16, 2000. The single began impacting US radio from mid-December. "Love Don't Cost a Thing" was included on Lopez's greatest hits album, Dance Again... the Hits, which was released on July 24, 2012.
Writing and production
In July 2000, Lawson came up with an idea for a song he thought would be ideal for Lopez. He recalled: "I wrote and recorded a track which eventually turned out to be 'Love Don't Cost a Thing'. I called Damon up, and I played the track and sang the melody to him over the phone. We ended up collaborating on the song, with both of us writing parts of the melody and the lyric. I came up with the title, and he came up with the key line, 'Even if you were broke,' in the chorus. Three other writers, Georgette Franklin, Jeremy Munroe and Amil Harris, also contributed parts to the song." In August, after a demo for "Love Don't Cost a Thing" had been recorded, Sharpe sent a CD of the song to Wake at his studio in New York. Wake, who loved the song, played it for Lopez, who also loved it. Not soon after, the master recording of "Love Don't Cost a Thing" was cut at Sony Studios in New York City.