"Where Is the Love?" is a song by American hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. It was released on May 12, 2003, as the lead single from their third album, Elephunk (2003). The song was written by will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, Justin Timberlake, Printz Board, Michael Fratantuno, and George Pajon. The track features vocals from Timberlake, although he is not officially credited on the single release. It was the group's first single to feature singer Fergie as an official member.
"Where Is the Love?" is a song by American hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. It was released on May 12, 2003, as the lead single from their third album, Elephunk (2003). The song was written by will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, Justin Timberlake, Printz Board, Michael Fratantuno, and George Pajon. The track features vocals from Timberlake, although he is not officially credited on the single release. It was the group's first single to feature singer Fergie as an official member.
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"Where Is the Love?" is a song by American hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. It was released on May 12, 2003, as the lead single from their third album, Elephunk (2003). The song was written by will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, Justin Timberlake, Printz Board, Michael Fratantuno, and George Pajon. The track features vocals from Timberlake, although he is not officially credited on the single release. It was the group's first single to feature singer Fergie as an official member.
"Where Is the Love?" saw success on radio airplay charts, peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in 15 countries, including the United Kingdom, where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The band and Timberlake received two nominations, Record of the Year and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, for "Where Is the Love?" at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background and writing
Following the commercial failures of their previous albums and singles, there was doubt over whether the Black Eyed Peas would continue to record together. A&R executive Ron Fair approached them and suggested a crossover to a more mainstream pop sound. in particular resisted the idea for fear that they would be seen as sellouts. However, after discussions and some writing sessions, the idea was pursued. After the release of "Where is the Love", Taboo would claim on the topic of selling out that if he was going to sell out, he'd "rather be selling out arenas than selling out of my trunk on the corner of my block."
Composition
Although initially intended as a vessel to post-9/11 anxiety, the song discusses many issues including terrorism, US government hypocrisy, racism, gang crime, pollution, war, and intolerance, with the call for love in the chorus as the element tying these together. The lyric "Overseas, yeah, we try'na stop terrorism - but we still got terrorists here living - in the USA, the big CIA - the Bloods and the Crips and the KKK" compared domestic terrorism with international terrorism - however, in the later live performance of One Love Manchester the inclusion of the CIA was censored. The song was released during the Iraq War and alludes to it and its casus belli with the lyric "A war's going on but the reason's undercover" in the bridge.
The song is in the key of F major (according to musicnotes.com), and has a tempo of 94 BPM. Will.i.am laid the track's iconic main rhythm over the chord progression, which he said was inspired by that of a human heartbeat. "I was like, 'this song needs a heartbeat.' (...) I just liked the pull and the call of response of the human heart – a beat, a rhythm that we hear everyday subconsciously, without paying attention to it."
Reception
As part of the album Elephunk, the song was met with critical and commercial success. Elephunk has a Metacritic score of 66/100. The Black Eyed Peas' album Elephunk sold 3.2 million copies as of 2011. David Jeffries of Drowned in Sound noted that it was the "long time coming" Black Eyed Peas hit, praising its dramatic delivery as "epic, positive, and concerned with where the world is going, "Where Is the Love" bounces between positive hip-hop and orchestral soul that royally recalls Marvin Gaye's social meditations." According to The Washington Post, "Where is the Love" propelled the Black Eyed Peas from the underground to the mainstream. Entertainment Weekly was more negative about the song, which deviates sharply from the Black Eyed Peas' rap roots, writing that "the biggest offense for a once smart-sounding rap collective is 'Where Is the Love,' the horrifyingly trite single with Justin Timberlake. It's enough to make longtime fans wonder, 'Where are the Peas?'" Chris Nettleson of Drowned in Sound refrains from commenting on "Where is the Love" directly, but instead notes that other critics have unfairly regarded Elephunk as deviating from standard hip hop. Nettleson writes that "Where is the Love" is a "slightly saccharine hippy anti-gulf war anthem",
In an interview with The Telegraph in 2016, will.i.am said the inspiration for the original song came from the generalized anxiety following the September 11 attacks. will.i.am said: "On our last day (of recording sessions in San Francisco), as I was packing my equipment, I saw the first plane fly through the World Trade Center (...) I thought it was a film. The fear of driving back home, y'know going over San Francisco bridge. That 10 minute drive across the bridge felt like an hour." In the same interview, will.i.am claims that the emotions from that time form the base emotions the song's lyrics are composed of.
Shortly after Christmas 2001, three months after 9/11, will.i.am created a loop and a guitar part that he liked. apl.de.ap and Taboo also heard the track and were able to write similar lyrics over it. Justin Timberlake was introduced to the group by Taboo, and got a chance to hear the track that will.i.am created. Impressed with the music, Timberlake helped write and sing the chorus. In a 2025 YouTube short, Taboo revealed that Timberlake called him saying "I think I got it," singing over the phone: "People killing, people dying, children hurt and you hear them crying, would you practice what you preach..." and was instantly impressed by the lyrics.
The production of "Where is the Love" was halted over the early half of 2002 as the band burned out over what will.i.am claimed was 9/11-induced anxiety during their tour in that year.
Timberlake was in the midst of promotion of his debut solo album, Justified, and his label Jive Records was concerned about possible overexposure. The Black Eyed Peas were worried about this, as getting some assistance from an established pop star like Timberlake had been the original point of this song. A compromise was reached eventually in which Jive gave clearance for the vocals of Timberlake to be released on the song, but he does not appear in the song's music video nor is he officially credited on the song as an artist. By 2008, the single had sold 954,000 digital copies.
