"Mad Love" is a song by American R&B singer-songwriter JoJo and is the title track from her third studio albumMad Love. It was written by Joanna Levesque, Nikki Flores and Josh Monroy, with the latter also handling the song's production under the title Igloo. The song was released as the first promotional single from the album on September 16, 2016. Musically, "Mad Love" is a mid-tempo pop song with Doo-wop influences.
Background
During an interview with BBC Radio 1 in August 2015 JoJo was quiet about announcing any details surrounding her third album but stated that the album's title was two words first beginning with "M" and second beginning with "L". In a follow-up interview on March 28, 2016 with Malcolm Music during her "I Am JoJo Tour" in Europe JoJo spoke on a new song from album titled "Mad Love" calling it one of her "favorite songs" on the album suspecting fans to believe that was the album's title. On July 28, 2016 JoJo officially announced “Mad Love” as the title of her third album. Lyrically the song is about the ups and downs of love and being in and out of your feelings with some straight-no-chaser lyrics, You took a knife to my heart / cut up the rational parts / she sings about a lover who just won't do right. The song has been described as an R&B style with old school doo-wop influences.
"Mad Love." received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics, with many praising its raw and confessional commentary and hip hop infused sound. Ben Dandridge-Lemco from The Fader magazine called the track an "intense ballad about the difficulty of letting go". Kevin Apaza of Direct Lyrics said the song had a "little bit of doo-wop and a little bit of soul". Adelle Platon from "Billboard" magazine said that JoJo "pours her heart out" on the song. Madeline Roth from "MTV News" provided a positive review stating JoJo's "vocal range knows absolutely zero limits" calling the song "sweeping" and "soulful". Roth went on to further praise JoJo's "golden pipes" and the song's "growing urgency about throwing rationality out the window and giving in to a painful love that she knows is no good for her", while concluding that the song is 2016's "most aching declaration of love" in rival to that of Rihanna's 2016 song "Love on the Brain". Jessica Goodman of "Entertainment Weekly" called the song a "total departure" from the album's first single Fuck Apologies, describing the song as "sweeping, soul-inspired pseudo-ballad". Breath Heavy said JoJo remains "unapologetic on her quest for life-changing love". Kara Nesvig from Teen Vogue called "Mad Love." a "big song, encompassing all the emotions of an up-and-down relationship" with a "building, dramatic chorus that perfectly showcases JoJo’s incredible golden pipes". Idolator's Rachel Sonis praised JoJo’s “glorious pipes” and the song's “soulful, winding melody” calling it “a beautiful choice for an album-title track”.
Live performance
On September 30, 2016, JoJo made her first televised performance of the song on MTV's newest music show "Wonderland", where she also performed albums cuts for the first time including "Fuck Apologies." and "FAB.". On November 5, 2016, she performed the song live for Revolt TV's "Revolt Sessions" music show. On November 22, 2016, she performed the song live for Good Day L.A.. On October 20, 2016, JoJo held an album release party as a part of Samsung's 837 Fall Concert Series where she performed the song and other album cuts for the first time. On February 3, 2017, JoJo performed the song live for the Audience Network's newest music channel "Audience Music". In promotion for her third album, "Mad Love." was included in the set list for JoJo's 2017 Mad Love Tour and was used to close out the show. During the tours run JoJo interpolated Mariah Carey's 1990 debut single "Vision of Love" into the song's performance.
