Someone to Call My Lover

Background and writing

"Someone to Call My Lover" was written and produced by Janet Jackson, James Harris III and Terry Lewis. The song's looped guitar riff is sampled from America's 1972 hit "Ventura Highway", with Dewey Bunnell receiving writing credits. The loop played throughout the chorus is an interpolation of "Gymnopédie No. 1" by French classical composer Erik Satie, played in 4/4 time instead of the original 3/4. Jackson had searched for years for the catchy Satie track.

When I was a little girl and I used to come home from school, there was something called "The 3:30 Movie", and they used to play the MGM Musicals. There was a commercial. I remember watching Singin' in the Rain and there was a commercial with the lady all in white, and I don't know if it was for Dove or something like that, but they would play this, 'Da, da, da.' It was the Erik Satie. I never knew who the composer was, and this song never left me.

Jackson said she came across the tune again about seven years later: "I was at Ralph Lauren and I said, 'Oh, my God! Is this the radio or is this a CD?' I said, 'Please tell me it's a CD.' They said, 'It's a CD—well, actually it's a Ralph Lauren CD and we don't have it anymore. I was like, 'Oh God...no,' and they gave me the CD." Jackson said, "I took it straight to Jimmy [Jam] and said, 'Jimmy, I've just got to share this with you,' and he saw my passion and my love for it. He didn't take the actual song, but he kind of put his own flavor to it in 'Someone To Call My Lover,' which takes me back to my childhood." In an interview, Jimmy said, "And for 'Someone to Call My Lover,' she hadn't heard the 'Ventura Highway' sample before. She hadn't heard those songs. So it's kind of fun to come up with stuff like that and play it for her. And she hasn't heard of it, but she still really likes it. So you have something that's going to appeal to people that haven't heard it before, it's going to catch them, but it's also going to catch the people who are nostalgic about it."

Composition and music

At the time of recording, Jackson had just divorced her longtime husband, René Elizondo, Jr., after nearly ten years of marriage. "Someone to Call My Lover", and several of the other songs on the All for You album, use Jackson's divorce and re-emergence into single life as central themes. "Someone to Call My Lover" talks about being determined to find a perfect match. The sample of America's "Ventura Highway" opens the single, accompanied by fingersnaps and some bass. In the beginning, Jackson has begun touring again and there isn't anyone to talk to and she wishes she had companionship, ""Back on the road again/Feeling kinda lonely/And looking for the right guy/To be mine," she sings.

In the pre-chorus, she fantasizes where her dream guy might be, "Maybe we'll meet at a bar / He'll drive a funky car / Maybe we'll meet at a club / And fall so deeply in love," she sings. In the chorus, she's eager to find a guy to love, "Alright, maybe gonna find him today / I gotta get someone to call my lover / Yeah, baby, come on," she chants.

"Someone to Call My Lover" is written in the key of D major with a moderately fast tempo of 128 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of Dmaj7–G6–Dmaj7–G6, and Jackson's vocals span from the low note A₃ to the high note B₄.

Critical reception

"Someone to Call My Lover" received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic picked the song as "one of the record's best cuts". Timothy Park of NME enjoyed the lyrics, writing that "while most of us dream of being Janet, it's reassuring to know she dreams of being us. And providing she does it with the ever-enduring Jam & Lewis produced fluffy pop of 'Someone To Call My Lover' then who are we to complain?." In another NME review, Piers Martin wrote that the song "recalls Aaliyah's 'Try Again' in its squelchy simplicity." Gene Stout of Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised the track, calling it "sweetly innocent", praising the "Ventura Highway guitar," writing that it "adds a wistful, nostalgic feel to the song's deep yearnings for love and togethernesss."

Chart performance

The song was released as the second single from All for You, following the huge success of its title track. It is the last of Jackson's singles to have reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart to date. On the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Someone to Call My Lover" reached the top-forty in June, while it reached the top-ten in July. It eventually peaked at number 3, stuck behind Alicia Keys' "Fallin'" and Jennifer Lopez' "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", becoming her 28th top-10 hit. It also debuted at number-one on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, where it remained for 3 weeks. It also topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart for 2 weeks. The song reached number 9 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. "Someone to Call My Lover" reached the top-twenty in many places. In the UK, the song reached number 11, on the UK Singles Chart In Australia, the song debuted and peaked at number 15 on the ARIA Chart week of August 5, 2001, spending 9 weeks on the chart, while on the New Zealand Singles Chart, the song started at number 30, peaking at number 18 in its fourth week, spending a total of 15 weeks on the chart.

Remixes and accolades

For the single, a So So Def Remix was produced and became Jackson's first collaboration with Jermaine Dupri. The song earned Jackson a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2002, losing out to Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a Bird".

Music video

The music video was directed by Francis Lawrence, and centres on a jukebox. Jackson is depicted driving and walking into a bar, where she sings, dances and eventually hitches a ride from a red car. A video for the So So Def Remix was also released, and contains similar footage to the original but contains shots of Dupri in alternate scenes as well as his vocals. The original video made the limited bonus-DVD edition of All for You while the So So Def Remix video appears on the 2004 video compilation From Janet to Damita Jo: The Videos.

Live performances

Jackson performed the song only on the All for You Tour, as one of the last songs on the show. During the performance, Janet is wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, while using a garland of flowers, called Lei in Hawaii. The February 16, 2002 final date of the tour at the Aloha Stadium in Hawaii, was broadcast by HBO. This rendition was also added to the setlist at its DVD release, Janet: Live in Hawaii, in 2002. "Someone To Call My Lover" was also the dedication song to Singapore for the 2011 Number Ones, Up Close and Personal tour.

Official remixes

Year-end charts

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