“(At Your Best) You Are Love” by Aaliyah

The way the lyrics of Aaliyah’s “(At Your Best) You Are Love” read is as if the singer is involved in a troubled romantic relationship. More specifically, it seems as if there are times when she doubts her lover’s level of commitment. So basically she is letting him know that when he is in fact vested, that is when she feels most edified. Or as she puts it, he is a “positive motivating force within (her) life”. Indeed as the title implies, she feels that when he is ‘at his best’, he personifies “love” itself.

Facts about “(At Your Best) You Are Love”

This song was originally released by The Isley Brothers in 1976. And the entire band are credited as writers.

Meanwhile Aaliyah’s version of the song was produced by R&B superstar R. Kelly in conjunction with Barry Hankerson. It was released as the second single from her debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number”, on 22 August 1994. It was the album’s second single. It was followed by the controversial single “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number“.

Aaliyah also dropped a couple of remixes of this song which actually featured R. Kelly.  This contributed to “At Your Best (You Are Love)” becoming a hit. For instance, it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard’s famed Hot 100 and also appeared on 4 other Billboard charts. It also made an appearance on the UK Singles Chart, in addition to charting in a handful of other nations.

Moreover the track went on to be certified Gold in the United States. And in latter years it had been sampled by the likes of Drake (2010), Tamar Braxton (2014) and Sevyn Streeter (2017).

The music video to this track was directed by Millicent Shelton and was filmed at the same time as the clip to R. Kelly’s track “Summer Bunnies”.