"Love @ 1st Sight" is a song recorded by American singer Mary J. Blige for her sixth studio album Love & Life (2003). It features a guest appearance from rapper Method Man, and was written by Blige and Method Man themselves, as well as Sean Combs, Mario Winans, Stevie Jordan, and Mechalie Jamison; Combs, Winans and Jordan produced the track. The song is built around a sample of "Hot Sex" (1992) by American hip-hop trio A Tribe Called Quest. Due to the inclusion of the sample, several other writers are credited as songwriters. Lyrically, it features the protagonist persistently wondering about a romantic attraction for a stranger on the first sight.
"Love @ 1st Sight" was released as the lead single from Love & Life on June 20, 2003, by Geffen Records. A moderate commercial success, it reached number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. In addition, the song charted within the top 20 in Italy and the United Kingdom, while reaching the majority on most other charts it appeared on. The radio edit of "Love @ 1st Sight" with intro was used for the accompanying music video, which was directed by Chris Robinson.
PopMatters felt that "Love @ 1st Sight" was "a great representation that some of our ghetto superstars are growing up. Reminiscent of No More Drama's "Family Affair", "Love @ 1st Sight" is following in it's [sic] footsteps to the club dance floor with its playful tone and head-bobbing bass line."[2]BET.com wrote of the song: "With a borrowed rap backdrop and a verse from Method Man, her old "You're All I Need to Get By" partner-in-crime, this song skillfully updated the pair's hip hop-soul heyday for the new millennium."[3]Now called a "strong street track" as well as a "killer lead single."[4]
Alexis Petridis, writing for The Guardian, remarked: "Over a tough, insistent groove, [Blige] ponders the mysteries of immediate physical attraction, while he sounds like the last person you would want to be immediately attracted to: "You find me just ’bout everywhere the poontang go"."[5]New York Times editor Jessica Willis described "Love @ 1st Sight" as "a breezy bit of piffle with a solid pogo-ing beat, but the song has seemingly so little to do with Ms. Blige's actual life that she puts herself at risk of sounding like just another tawny, toned and wholesome girl hip-hop singer."[6]Dallas Observer critic Walton Muyumba found that the song was a "cliché, but the sample helps push to the truth of her reaction."[7]
A music video for "Love @ 1st Sight" was directed by Chris Robinson, who also directed Blige in a music video-styled Lady Foot Locker commercial in which "Love @ 1st Sight" is played in the background.[8] Filming took place in Hollywood on July 2, 2003.[9] Method Man appears in it, while Sean "Diddy" Combs makes a special cameo appearance. An iPod is featured prominently at the beginning of video, an instance of paid-for product placement on the part of Apple Inc.[10][11]
