"Like I'm Gonna Lose You" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor from her debut major-label studio album Title (2015), featuring guest vocals from John Legend. Trainor wrote the song with Justin Weaver and Caitlyn Smith, and produced it with Chris Gelbuda. Epic Records released it as the album's fourth single on June 23, 2015. A soul love ballad, "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" is about savoring moments spent with loved ones and not taking them for granted.
Critics praised Trainor's vocals and the song's composition, but some thought its mellow style did not suit her. In the United States, "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It peaked at number one in Australia, New Zealand, and Poland, and attained an 8× Platinum certification in Australia.
Constellation Jones directed the music video for "Like I'm Gonna Lose You", featuring Trainor singing in a candlelit room on a rainy night while people engaged in a diverse variety of relationships are shown interacting with their loved ones. Trainor performed the song on television shows such as the Billboard Music Awards, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and the American Music Awards, and included it on the set lists of her concert tours That Bass Tour (2015), MTrain Tour (2015), and The Untouchable Tour (2016).
Background
After independently releasing three albums herself between 2009 and 2010, Meghan Trainor started writing songs for other singers. In 2012, she signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music, a Nashville, Tennessee-based music publishing firm, and moved to Nashville the following November. While working in Music Row, Trainor met fellow songwriters Justin Weaver and Caitlyn Smith, and wrote "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" with them, intending to pitch it to Kelly Clarkson. She signed with Epic Records in 2014 after L.A. Reid, the label's chairman, convinced her to become a recording artist. Epic wanted Trainor to record an entire album and asked her to begin working on songs for it. She released the doo-wop song "All About That Bass" as her debut single, which reached numberone in 58 countries and sold 11 million units worldwide. "Lips Are Movin" (2014) and "Dear Future Husband" (2015) served as the follow-up singles, which were sonically similar and reached the top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Trainor initially decided not to include "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" on her debut major-label studio album, Title (2015), because it did not keep with the album's doo-wop sound. After her uncle, Burton Toney, forced her manager to listen to it, the latter was reduced to tears and convinced her to put it on the track list. Trainor's management, which also represents John Legend, sent "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" to him. He said "I love this. I want to be a part of it". Trainor produced the song with Chris Gelbuda, with whom she had co-written the song "3am" and Sabrina Carpenter's 2014 single "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying". It was released as the sixth track on Title on January 9, 2015, featuring guest vocals from Legend. Epic Records promoted "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" to contemporary hit radio stations in the United States on June 23, 2015, as the fourth single from the album. The label sent the song to rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the country on October 6, 2015, and radio airplay in Italy on October 30.
Composition and lyrical interpretation
"Like I'm Gonna Lose You" has a duration of three minutes and forty-five seconds. Trainor and Gelbuda programmed the song; he recorded her vocals at The Green Room in East Nashville, Tennessee, and Jason Agel recorded Legend's vocals at Germano Studios in New York City. Manny Marroquin mixed it at Larabee North Studios in Universal City, California, and Dave Kutch mastered it at The Mastering Palace in New York City.
Trainor delivers her soprano vocals with a twang on "Like I'm Gonna Lose You", which is a soul ballad. Unlike other songs on Title, it features minimal instrumental accompaniment and places emphasis on Trainor's vocals; the Associated Presss Melanie J. Sims noted that in a rare moment for Trainor, it does not employ "a catchy hook or quirky production". Ian Gittins of Virgin Media described "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" as a "classic Motown-style ballad", and Chuck Arnold of Rolling Stone likened Trainor and Legend's chemistry on the "finger-snapping ballad" to that between Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.