"Old Love / New Love" is a song by American singer-songwriter Twin Shadow featuring D'Angelo Lacy. It was written for the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V, being featured on the fictional radio station Radio Mirror Park, which Shadow hosted. To promote the video game, the song was released as a single on September 13, 2013, and Rockstar Games included it on their soundtrack album The Music of Grand Theft Auto V, on the Vol. 1: Original Music side. Musically, "Old Love / New Love" is a dance and house song with R&B and Hi-NRG influences, whose lyrics describe the protagonist being confused by a phone call he received from an ex-girlfriend whom he still loves despite his heartache.[1]

"Old Love / New Love"
Single by Twin Shadow featuring D'Angelo Lacy
from the album The Music of Grand Theft Auto V and Eclipse
Released	September 13, 2013 (2013-09-13)
Genre	Dance-pop house
Length	3:49
Label	Rockstar Games Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	George Lewis Jr. Dennis Herring D'Angelo Lacy
Producer(s)	Twin Shadow Herring
Twin Shadow singles chronology
"The One" (2012) "Old Love / New Love" (2013) "To the Top" (2014)
Remix cover
"Old Love / New Love [Armand Van Helden Remix]"

In 2015, Warner Bros. released Shadow's third studio album Eclipse, where the song was added to the final track list. Upon its release, "Old Love / New Love" received critical acclaim by music critics; it was selected by most of them as a highlight from both albums; being lauded because of its composition, which was different from other Shadow songs, and reviewers named it a song suitable for the dance floor. In the same year, the song was promoted by the singer in multiple concert shows, and it was remixed by American DJ Armand Van Helden.

Background

On September 17, 2013, Rockstar Games published the action-adventure game videogame Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V).[2][3] Its soundtrack contained 214 songs when it was released,[4] including the track "Old Love / New Love",[5][6] that was written for the videogame by George "Twin Shadow" Lewis Jr., D'Angelo Lacy and Dennis Herring.[7] In an interview for Ouch, My Ego! Shadow, who also hosted the in-game radio station named Radio Mirror Park, explained he was involved in the project because he "kind of become friends with" some developers and they wanted to work with him "for a long time".[8] They contacted him and asked if he "wanted to host the radio show and do songs for the soundtrack", and he agreed.[8]

In a conversation with Preston Barta from Fresh Fiction TV, Shadow considered the lyrics to be "a little bit about someone trying to get back into your life and have you repeat what has happened but then again, you know, to the top [he tries and talks] about how sometimes doing everything all over again, even though it's all messed up, it's also important".[9] A music critic from Tiny Mix Tapes said "Old Love / New Love" portrays "a relationship of extremes".[10] Ascher Kulich from The Tufts Daily mentioned that regardless of his ex-lover "calling and hurting him", Shadow continues in love with her.[1] The refrain of "Old Love / New Love" includes the line "Drill me to the floor, this hurts even more than I expected it to do", which Christopher Monk from musicOMH considered it a "desperate death throe",[11] and Andrew Unterberger defined the phone call from the ex-girlfriend to influence "evocative and discomfiting lyrics".[12]

Composition

"Old Love / New Love"

A 20-second sample of "Old Love / New Love". Christopher Monk from musicOMH called the featured verse a "desperate death throe",[11] while Joseph Moore considered the millennial whoop "repetitive".[13]

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Both Herring and Shadow Record producer "Old Love / New Love"; the latter also played bass guitar, drums, guitar and keyboards. Lacy provided featured vocals, Wynne Bennett additional keyboards, Ryan Gilligan audio mixing, and Ted Jensen and Joe LaPorta mastered the track.[14][15][16] Musically, while Shadow described it as "dance-y",[8] music critics labeled it as a dance,[17][18][19] dance-pop,[20][21][22] and house act,[23][24][25] that is influenced by R&B[26] and '90s Hi-NRG.[18][27][28] Tiny Mix Tapes compared the vocals to those of Michael McDonald, and wrote the song features a disco-influenced guitar, a "Geiger counter" drum program, and a simple house beat.[10] The track has a tempo of 116 beats per minute,[29] and it incorporates piano house elements,[11][27][30] guitars,[10][31][32] drum beats,[1][10][19] combined with a synthesizer.[32] Kulich said the refrain is sung with a "catchy, drum-and-piano [sound] in the background";[1] Jamie Milton defined it for DIY as a "gigantic trance chorus",[33] and Dan Reilly, from Spin, said that during that verse the song becomes "an electrifying jam".[34]

Release and promotion

To promote GTA V, "Old Love / New Love" was released as single,[2][18][35] on September 13, 2013.[36] The single cover features the black-and-white face of Shadow sticking his tongue out; music critics Alex Young and Josiah Hughes complimented it.[22][37] On September 24, Rockstar Games released the soundtrack album The Music of Grand Theft Auto V, and the song was featured on the Vol. 1: Original Music album.[38] In March 2015, Warner Bros. released Shadow's third album titled Eclipse, which included "Old Love / New Love".[39] In that year Shadow performed the song in different appearances, including the Troubadour, in Los Angeles,[40] the Music Hall of Williamsburg, in New York City,[41] the South Side Music Hall, in Dallas,[42] at Fordham University's WFUV radio station,[43] after a cross-country train trek,[44] and the Landmark Music Festival.[45] In 2015, when asked about if he would film more music videos, Shadow commented about filming one for "Old Love / New Love", but it was difficult to do it because he was busy touring.[9] In the same year, American DJ Armand Van Helden remixed the song.[46]

Critical reception

After its 2013 release Dan Reilly called "Old Love / New Love" "soulful";[34] Ian Cohen wrote for Pitchfork that the song's "gleaming piano" flirts with Shadow's sincere "heatseaking lyricism".[18] In a Death and Taxes review, Alex Moore praised its introduction as Shadow "makes you wade through about 30 seconds of wind-up" and the singer chants the hook "about 50 seconds [later]". According to him, when the hook happens it is "good", and lauded the conclusion, and that unlike Lorde's "Team", which was released on the same day, "Old Love / New Love" "is your new fucking jam".[36] Jamie Milton penned for DIY it fits to the "mass rampages and elaborate bank robberies" featured in GTA V, and he compared it to David Guetta's music.[33] Alex Young mentioned in Consequence of Sound the song was more suitable for the dance clubs than "six-star killing spree";[37] During his The Music of Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack review, Gerrit Feenstra called "Old Love / New Love", for KEXP-FM, as "one of the finest tracks" from it,[47] a feeling Pat Levy shared in a Consequence of Sound review, adding it is Shadow's best efforts ever, and marked it as an "essential track".[32] Feenstra, in a separate review for the same radio station, claimed its "over-dramatic [tone]" matches without the context of the soundtrack.[48] The song was ranked at number 71 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2013, with a commentary comparing it to "Get Lucky" (2013) by Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams.[28]

After the release of Eclipse, Embling for Tiny Mix Tapes praised the song and Shadow.[10] In his analysis for Slant Magazine Jesse Cataldo examined it as cheerful and "less focused on grandiloquence" so it achieves to "[build] up an uncanny, off-kilter momentum";[49] Ian Gormely considered for Exclaim! that Shadow created a "sublime catharsis";[50] AllMusic's Heather Phares lauded its contemporary sound;[17] Philip Cosores from Paste commented it is Shadow's funniest song;[51] Jayson Greene from Pitchfork labeled it as "sexy";[21] Sand Avidar-Walzer described it for Glide as "a straight-up summer house jam";[35] Ryan Leas wrote for Stereogum that it could not be rare to hear "Old Love / New Love" in a music club,[52] a feeling shared by Andy Battagli, who compared it to Daft Punk in a the Current review;[31] George Schlesinger noted for The Village Voice the song "[reminds] of the good stuff, the midnight mystique and inherent sexiness that help pull you back in";[15] and Andrew Unterberger mentioned for Spin that although it is the most aged song from Eclipse, it is "the most exciting for Shadow's future", as well.[12] However, Samuel Tolzmann from Pretty Much Amazing called it "cheesy",[25] and Joseph Moore asserted for No Ripcord that its millennial whoop is monotonous.[13]

Several music critics graded "Old Love / New Love" as a highlight from Eclipse.[19][23][30] But some of them criticized the album for this reason. In a review for The Observer, Daniel O'Boyle was disappointed of the result it "could have been";[19] J. Moore considered the "harmonies with Lacy [hinting] at a darkness far greater than what is expressed on" the album;[13] Tom Walters named it for DIY "an infectious dance floor belter" but felt discomforted it became the focal point on a "brand new material [record]";[53] and David Turner from Rolling Stone added that "Old Love / New Love" gives "rave-level bliss on an album that more often sticks to cocksure swagger or somber introspection".[23]

Track listing

The Music of Grand Theft Auto V, Vol. 1: Original Music (2013)[7]

3. "Old Love / New Love" – 3:55

Armand Van Helden Remix (2015)[46]

1. "Old Love / New Love [Armand Van Helden Remix]" (featuring D'Angelo Lacy) – 6:15

Eclipse (2015)[17]

8. "Old Love / New Love" (featuring D'Angelo Lacy) – 3:49

Credits

Liner notes adapted from Eclipse, published by Warner Bros. Records.[16]

• George "Twin Shadow" Lewis Jr. – vocalist, producer, songwriter, bass, drums, guitar, keyboards
• D'Angelo Lacy – featured vocalist, songwriter
• Dennis Herring – co-producer, songwriter
• Wynne Bennett – keyboards
• Ryan Gilligan – audio engineer, additional mixing
• Ted Jensen – masterer
• Joe LaPorta – masterer

References

External links

• "Old Love / New Love" on YouTube, at Twin Shadow's Official Channel
• "Old Love / New Love (Live at Electrowerkz)" on YouTube, at Twin Shadow's Official Channel