Somebody to Love

Album: Ultimate R&B: The Love Collection 2011 (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • This electronic-tinged track is the first full single release of singer-songwriter and Gossip Girl actress, Leighton Meester.
  • The song's theme of searching for true love is something Meester personally struggles with. She told Entertainment Weekly: "I so often get love confused with sex and vice versa. And the song is basically about how I can't get any—I can't find anyone to love."
  • The song finds Leighton dueting with Robin Thicke, whom the Gossip Girl actress says she absolutely adores. She gushed to Entertainment Weekly, "He's so soulful, and his voice is so flawless and beautiful. I don't even think he knows how much I love him."
  • The song was written by Rico Love (Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Usher) and produced by Mike Caren and Oligee (Flo Rida, Cobra Starship). Love said in a statement: "I was honored when I found out that my record was chosen to be Leighton's first single. It's exciting to be able to show a different side of my work and me. I listen and study all types of music, and I want to share that with the world. What better way to do that than with one of the biggest stars in entertainment today."
  • Meester told MTV News that Thicke's verse is the perfect complement to her part of the song. "The way that the song came about, I had written and recorded the song earlier. And then he jumped on it later on, and now that I've heard it that way, I don't want anyone to hear it any other way." She added: "I think it's a perfect song, too, for being a duet. He's the answer [to my questions]. And he has such a sexy voice on a sexy song."
  • Thicke told MTV News that it was as a result of catching Meester on an episode of Entourage playing a pop singer that he knew he wanted to work with her on this tune. "I heard the song, and I knew right away it was a hit song," he said. "I'm not totally familiar with Gossip Girl. I first saw Leighton on Entourage. I thought she was electric and seductive, and then I watched an episode of Gossip Girl and I thought it was great."
  • Meester told MTV News about the song's music video: "It's basically going through a sexy day in my life. We start off in the car, we come in, I keep on fantasizing and dreaming that I'm with somebody I can love. He kind of comes and goes. He disappears. It's mostly about the clothes and the looks, so that's exciting for me. I've had a lot of fun with that."

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