Your Love Is My Drug

Album: Animal (2010)
Charted: 13 4
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Kesha delves into the grubby details of her love life on this song, which she wrote with her mother, Pebe Sebert, and the track's producer, Ammo (Joshua Coleman). Kesha's mom started her music career as a punk-rock singer before penning country songs, most notably Dolly Parton's 1980 Country #1 "Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle to You)." Kesha told MTV News: "I wrote a few songs with my mom who's a sick writer and taught me everything I know about songwriting. My mom and I are best friends, so it really comes naturally. She taught me how to write my first song. I can also be really honest with her. We're like best friends and there are no really forbidden topics."
  • Pebe Sebert contributed to two other tracks on Animal: "Stephen" and "the title track." Most of the time, they create songs in the studio with producers, but they took a different approach on "Your Love Is My Drug." In a Songfacts interview with Pebe, she said: "Kesha came home and we just started writing that here at home to an empty track. So we did all the topline here to a little mono track."
  • Kesha explained to PopEater how growing up in Nashville influenced her songwriting: "The cool kids played the most instruments. Me and my brother had a punk band; me and my mom wrote songs and I taught my little brother all about music," she said, adding, "[My mom] really taught me to tell a story, tell the real story and be honest. So, I [took] that mentality of country music and just put it in the words of a then-19-year-old sassy girl."
  • This is featured on the soundtrack to the film Everybody The Bounty Hunter.
  • Kesha performed this song on NBC's Saturday Night Live on April 17, 2010. During the performance, the singer was covered in tribal-like makeup and performed in the dark with only blacklight lighting making the makeup glow in the dark.
  • The song's music video was directed by Honey and shot on April 6 and April 7, 2010 in the Lancaster, California, desert. Kesha told MTV News: "In my video for 'Your Love Is My Drug,' it has a lot of animals in it, so that's exciting 'cause I'm a huge animal lover and I get to actually, like, hang out and ride and perform with animals."

    Kesha added that the clip helps to explain the Animal album title. "I love animals - that's why my record's called Animal. People have their theories about why I called my record Animal - it's really just because I'm obsessed with animals and I feel like I am an animal and I want to bring that out in people," she said. "So this is the video where I really got to play with animals and a hot bearded guy in the desert."
  • Kesha expounded on the video to MTV News: "I wrote this song on an airplane in, like, 10 minutes and finished it with my mom. So it's one of my favorites. It's stupid and fun. You can't take it too seriously. And so, the video, I wanted it to be like a psychedelic trip of the mind, comparable with being so disgustingly in love with someone that you lose your head. So I ride an elephant - no big deal! - and, um, I dance around a cave with black-light body paint and a python. I was in a cave, in the desert, and it was really fun. This video was inspired by the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie, the animation aspect. There's a little bit of [that] in there too."

Comments: 4

  • Kathleen from Canoga Park, CaKate Glas, a beginning writer, wrote a poem 007, and made a comment on Craigslist/writers that "Music is a drug" just before Ke$ha's song came out.
  • Shelby from Westerly, Rilove this song (especially if there's pot)
  • Amy from Houston, Txi like this song because it's telling that how much she actually likes him
  • Jeana from Sterling Heights, Mi*cough* better not mean walmart
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Album Cover Inspirations

Album Cover InspirationsSong Writing

Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.

La La Brooks of The Crystals

La La Brooks of The CrystalsSong Writing

The lead singer on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," La La explains how and why Phil Spector replaced The Crystals with Darlene Love on "He's A Rebel."

Charlie Benante of Anthrax

Charlie Benante of AnthraxSongwriter Interviews

The drummer for Anthrax is also a key songwriter. He explains how the group puts their songs together and tells the stories behind some of their classics.

Taylor Dayne

Taylor DayneSongwriter Interviews

Taylor talks about "The Machine" - the hits, the videos and Clive Davis.

Howard Jones

Howard JonesSongwriter Interviews

Howard explains his positive songwriting method and how uplifting songs can carry a deeper message.

Linda Perry

Linda PerrySongwriter Interviews

Songwriting Hall of Famer Linda Perry talks about her songs "What's Up" and "Beautiful," her songwriting process, and her move into film music.