text: ( what is ) love ? " ( what is ) love ? " is a song recorded by american entertainer jennifer lopez . originally entitled " what is love ? " , the song appeared on the soundtrack to the back - up plan ( 2010 ) , a film in which lopez stars . the song was later included on lopez 's seventh studio album love ? ( 2011 ) , as the album 's title track . " ( what is ) love ? " is a midtempo electropop song written by diana " wynter " gordon , with the song 's producer emile " d 'mile " dernst ii . the song is about " not knowing what love is , " according to gordon . a remix of " ( what is ) love ? " , entitled " what is love ? part ii " , was produced by jean - baptiste . it was considered for inclusion on love ? and was leaked onto the internet in april 2013 . the song was due to be released as a promotional single from love ? on april 26 , 2011 , but was " unlocked " and released on april 22 , 2011 by island records through a campaign on lopez 's facebook page . upon its promotional release , the song debuted at number 97 on the south korea gaon international chart and at 33 on the productores de música de españa . writing and production " ( what is ) love ? " written by diana " wynter " gordon and emile " d 'mile " dernst ; the latter who also produced the song . lopez 's vocals for the song were recorded and produced by kuk harrell , with recording assistance from jim annunziato and josh gudwin at conway studios in hollywood , california . annunziato and eric eylands handled audio engineering of " ( what is ) love ? " , while the song was later mixed by mike " handz " donaldson at chalice recording studios in los angeles , california . " ( what is ) love ? " deals with the topic of " not knowing what love is " . the song 's co - writer gordon stated that : " i felt like so many woman have that same story . no fathers , families , abusive boyfriends and husbands .. no parental support , they feel alone .. i 've had my few relationships and have yet to feel love [ sic ] . " leak and release " what is love ? " was leaked onto the internet in may 2009 . wynter gordon , the co - writer of " what is love ? " , expressed her dismay at the " unfinished and unmastered " song 's leak in a post on her official myspace blog . she stated : " i wrote this song from a deep place in my heart . if the world was gonna hear it , i wanted them to hear it right ... it 's as good as gone to me now ... the story was given a lifetime tv special instead of a movie ... sad . " gordon did note that she was dissatisfied with the circumstances , but was in " no way dissing lopez . " a mastered version of " what is love ? " was included on the soundtrack to the back - up plan ( 2010 ) , a film in which lopez stars . " what is love ? " was re - titled as " ( what is ) love ? " and appeared on love ? ( 2011 ) . " ( what is ) love ? " was due to be released as a promotional single from love ? on april 26 , 2011 , but was " unlocked " and released four days earlier , on april 22 , 2011 by through a campaign on lopez 's facebook page . it was released in many european countries on april 25 . critical response the song received a positive review from digital spy 's robert copsey , who although stating that it isn 't any " we haven 't heard before , " lopez carries " it off with her unrivalled glamour and effortless sophistication . " he concluded by stating that the song was worthy of a standalone release . monica herrera from billboard commented that on the song , lopez channels " j.lo circa 2003 . " herrera added the song would have been " slayed if the gender had been flipped " , and it had been sung by justin bieber . joey guerra from the houston chronicle said that lopez uses " ( what is ) love ? " ( and the album cut " starting over " ) to play the jilted lover . us weekly noted the song 's lyrics to be pointing " a few fingers " at lopez 's previous relationships , seen in the line dissing " blind dates " and the declaration of : " musicians are the worst . " " what is love ? ( part ii ) " during the first album listening party for love ? in 2009 , rap - up magazine revealed that jean - baptiste had produced a second version of the song called " what is love ? ( part ii ) " . it was considered for included on the album but ultimately did not make the final track listing . it samples the " club - friendly " riff of edwin starr 's 1970 single " war " . " what is love ? part ii " was leaked onto the internet on april 20 , 2013 . according to jessica sager of popcrush , it picks up where the original song left off . sager wrote that the song " likely isn 't about [ marc ] anthony — but for those new to the song , it 's surely easy to interpret it as such . lopez gets pretty revealing in the new song , addressing a divorce directly and explicitly " . credits and personnel credits adapted from the liner notes of love ? . charts