Songfacts®:

• When Ingrid Michaelson was putting together her traditional pop-inspired For The Dreamers album, she wanted to include a version of "If This Is Love," a song she wrote for the Broadway musical The Notebook. Based on the novel and movie of the same name, The Notebook follows the love story of Noah and Allie Calhoun, as told by an elderly Noah as a poignant reminder to Allie, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. In a flashback of young Allie, played by Jordan Tyson, the teen sings "If This Is Love," experiencing the first blush of her romance with Noah.
• Michaelson's jazzy version differs from the one that Tyson sings in the production. "I wanted it to fit really nicely with the other songs on the record that do lean into that traditional pop-jazz world," Michaelson told Songfacts in a 2024 interview. "I wanted it to be this connective tissue between this piece of theater that I've been working on the last seven years, and this record I'm putting out. Because I don't think this record would've come without The Notebook being written. I wanted to honor that connection and put one of the songs on the record."
• Out of all of the songs Michaelson wrote for The Notebook, she identifies with this one the most. "This is the song it feels like I can put myself into the most and makes the most sense for me to be singing it in my mind," she said. "It feels like that's my song in the show. Even though it's sung by a 17-year-old, the character, and she's falling in love for the first time, I connect with it the most."
• Michaelson, who has a background in musical theater, always wanted to write a musical but didn't pursue it earnestly until she got wind of The Notebook project. After her partner Will Chase introduced her to Broadway producer Kevin McCollum, who helmed the production with co-producer Kurt Deutsch, she dove into writing songs before she was even hired.
  
  "I think after the fifth song, they were like, 'Well, I think we should hire this woman,'" she told Vanity Fair in 2024.
• After Michaelson got on board with the musical, it took seven years to reach the stage in 2024. She wrote other songs in the interim, but The Notebook was her main focus. Bringing the emotional love story to life was a cathartic experience for the singer, who was grappling with painful personal issues behind the scenes.
  
  "This experience has been very healing for me in the wake of losing both my parents, realizing that I'm not going to have a child, and making these huge decisions," she told Vanity Fair. "But I always had The Notebook. I had this thing that was buoying me through these times."