"Must Be Love" is a song recorded by American singer Cassie. It features guest vocals by American rapper Puff Daddy, who also co-wrote the song with Aion Clarke, Michael Jones, Leroy Watson and the producer Mario Winans. The song was released for digital download in the United States on April 14, 2009, by Atlantic Records under the Bad Boy imprint, impacting urban radio stations in that region on April 27, 2009.
Cassie stated she had fallen in love with the "soulful R&B record" after it was lingering around in the Bad Boy studios, with demos initially being recorded by other artists, and she immediately wanted the track for herself before having the opportunity to try it out. She considered it an "honor" to have Puff Daddy featured on the song. It was well received by music critics, who complimented its minimalist style recalling Bad Boy Records' classic hit singles of the 1990s.
"Must Be Love" peaked at number fifty-six on the US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It received remix versions and was sampled by various artists such as Busta Rhymes, Day26, Trey Songz, J. Cole and Jacques Greene. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Bernard Gourley and features Cassie and Puff Daddy in different sides of a wall from adjacent apartments while performing the record to each other. Cassie appreciated the treatment had a "nice story" that wasn't overdone which she felt added warmth to it allowing Diddy to have a bigger role in the visuals.
Background and release
In 2007, it was revealed that Cassie had begun recording material for her sophomore album. In August 2008, she released a new single "Official Girl," featuring Lil Wayne and produced by Danja. Later that year, she noted being most excited about putting another single and video out before the project's release and "people getting it a bit more every time they see [her]." The album was then scheduled for a spring 2009 release and Cassie talked about its production and mentioned other collaborators also included Pharrell Williams, Darkchild, Kanye West, Ryan Leslie, Bryan-Michael Cox, and Mario Winans. On March 12, 2009, Diddy shared footage from a mixing session with Cassie working on a collaborative track between the two called "Must Be Love," with Diddy referring to it as a "Bad Boy classic." Cassie reacted in an interview stating: "When people say that, it's an honor. I really fought for the record, it was kind of like lingering around in Bad Boy and I was like 'Can I please have it?' They said ok and we tried it out. I really fell in love with that record." The full song, produced by Winans, surfaced online the following day. She elaborated, "I've never like really had a soulful R&B record, something that just gave a good Bad Boy vibe. [...] So I tried it and it worked. Puff got on it, which is really an honor to have him on the record or want to be on the record."
It was made available for digital download on April 14, 2009. That same month Cassie debuted a new look by shaving the right side of her head. Diddy confirmed on his video blog that her new album would be called Electro Love and was slated to be released later that year, with Cassie telling MTV News: "You're definitely going to see more independence [...] a difference in vocals, a little bit more personality. And it's definitely a sensual album." Bad Boy Records serviced it to urban contemporary radio stations on April 27, 2009. Cassie said the track is "about finding yourself in unexpected love and how strong the feeling is, that it takes over you and you can't control it but you love [the feeling]. That's all love should be." She explained why Diddy was credited as Puff Daddy for the release, "It was funny when he was doing the rhyme, when he was recording it, he sounded like himself back in the '90s, so we were like 'that's Puff Daddy,' and so he was like 'alright cool, that's what we're putting on the record'."