Why R U?

Album: In Love & War (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • This was the first single released by American R&B singer Amerie from her fourth studio album, In Love & War. It was also her first release for her new label, Island Def Jam.
  • Amerie explained in publicity materials that this song, "is about being in a relationship and hating that you're so attached to this person." She added: "A lot of the songs on this album deal with wanting to be done with a relationship but you're just not really ready to leave, so you hang around and wait for a person to change. I really wanted the lyrical content to be real conversation. I didn't want anything to be sugar-coated."
  • The Buchanans, who have credits on all of Amerie's previous albums, produced this. Previous production credits include "Crush" off Amerie's previous album Because I Love It, "Hip-Hop Star" from Beyoncé's first album, and "What More Can I Say?" off Jay-Z's The Black Album.
  • Ray Kay (The-Dream, Lady Gaga) directed the song's music video.
  • The song samples "Ego Trippin" by hip-hop collective Ultramagnetic MCs from their 1988 album Critical Breakdown.

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