# I Love It (Icona Pop song)
"I Love It" is a song by the Swedish synth-pop duo [Icona Pop](https://www.edgepedia.org/icona-pop), consisting of Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, featuring vocals from the British singer [Charli XCX](https://www.edgepedia.org/charli-xcx) (Charlotte Aitchison). Written by Charli XCX with Swedish producers [Patrik Berger](https://www.edgepedia.org/patrik-berger) and Linus Eklöw (Style of Eye), it was first released as a single in May 2012, peaked at number two on the Swedish singles chart, and became a global hit a year later, reaching number one on the UK Official Singles Chart in July 2013.[1](https://lyricsweb.com/song/icona-pop/icona-pop-i-love-it) • [2](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/icona-pop-ft-charli-xcx-i-love-it/) • [3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artists | Icona Pop (Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo) featuring Charli XCX[2](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/icona-pop-ft-charli-xcx-i-love-it/) |
| Writers and producers | Patrik Berger, Charli XCX (Charlotte Aitchison), and Linus Eklöw; produced by Berger and Style of Eye[3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753) |
| First release | May 2012; peaked at number two in Sweden[1](https://lyricsweb.com/song/icona-pop/icona-pop-i-love-it) |
| UK chart | Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart, first charted 06/07/2013, 20 weeks on the chart, label Atlantic[2](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/icona-pop-ft-charli-xcx-i-love-it/) |
| US performance | Billboard Year-End Hot 100 single of 2013 at number 28; more than two million copies sold in the U.S.[3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753) • [4](https://time.com/3616754/charli-xcx-sucker/) |
| Length | 2:35 (album/single version)[3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753) |
| Later recognition | Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 2010s (number 197), Stereogum's 200 Best Songs of the 2010s (number 117), Billboard's 500 Best Pop Songs (number 163)[3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753) |
## Writing and recording
The song originated with Patrik Berger, the Swedish producer previously behind Robyn's "Dancing On My Own".[5](https://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a21798/icona-pop-interview-snooki-phillip-lim-and-their-song-of-summer/) Berger sent Charli XCX, then a teenager making her first trips to Sweden to write, two beats, and she quickly wrote a song for each; one became "I Love It" and the other her single "You're the One".[1](https://lyricsweb.com/song/icona-pop/icona-pop-i-love-it) She wrote it in a hotel room sitting next to her boyfriend at the time, thought little of the track, and did not realize it could be a breakup anthem until Icona Pop said so; her label, judging it a huge hit, urged her to keep it for herself.[4](https://time.com/3616754/charli-xcx-sucker/)
Icona Pop encountered the song by accident. While in the studio with Berger writing a completely different song, they heard his rough cut and, in Aino Jawo's words, asked "Is this our song?" The duo, who were living through the same story of an age-difference relationship the lyrics describe, adopted it and reshaped it to be more shout-y, wanting the punk feeling of screaming the lines rather than singing them prettily.[5](https://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a21798/icona-pop-interview-snooki-phillip-lim-and-their-song-of-summer/) Charli XCX was happy to let them take it, and she remains featured on the recording as a guest vocalist.[4](https://time.com/3616754/charli-xcx-sucker/) • [3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753)
The track was recorded and mixed at Patrik's House in Stockholm, with Berger handling recording engineering, mixing, and production alongside Style of Eye, who shared programming and instruments.[3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753) The lyrics are a breakup tirade delivered as celebration: crashing a car into a bridge, throwing an ex's belongings down the stairs, and the repeated chorus hook "I don't care, I love it".[6](https://www.pluggedin.com/track-reviews/icona-pop-i-love-it/)
## Chart performance
Released quietly in May 2012, the single peaked at number two on the Swedish chart and initially made little noise elsewhere.[1](https://lyricsweb.com/song/icona-pop/icona-pop-i-love-it) • [7](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-icona-pop-14889-319845) Its rise was slow: Pitchfork's review appeared in May 2012, and the song gathered momentum through 2012 and into 2013 before breaking internationally.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13584-icona-pop-i-love-it/)
In the United Kingdom it entered the Official Singles Chart at number 1 on 06/07/2013, overtaking [Robin Thicke](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-thicke)'s "Blurred Lines", and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks, with seven weeks in the top 10.[2](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/icona-pop-ft-charli-xcx-i-love-it/) In the United States it reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and finished at number 28 on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2013; Time reported U.S. sales of more than two million copies, and a 2026 Pitchfork retrospective described the single as 5x platinum.[3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753) • [4](https://time.com/3616754/charli-xcx-sucker/) • [9](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/icona-pop-ritual/)
## Media exposure and cultural footprint
A large part of the song's spread came through television and advertising placements. In 2013 it served as the theme song for the MTV series *Snooki & JWoww* and appeared in *Girls*, *The Vampire Diaries*, *Glee*, the video game *Need for Speed: Most Wanted*, and numerous commercials.[10](https://rantingaboutmusic.com/2013/06/04/radio-rant-icona-pop-feat-charli-xcx-i-love-it/) Critics singled out its use in *Girls*, where it played dialogue-free over a season-defining dancing scene, as a turning point in the song's ascent.[11](https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/icona_pop_this_is) Its ubiquity became a running joke: Pitchfork's Lindsay Zoladz noted that the last time she watched the song's video, she first had to sit through a 30-second advertisement soundtracked by "I Love It" itself.[12](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18529-icona-pop-this-is-icona-pop/)
The song also became Charli XCX's breakthrough as a writer and performer. Its success generated a flood of requests for her and Berger to write replicas for other artists, which pushed the pair into deliberately contrary punk sessions in Stockholm that shaped her subsequent album *Sucker*.[4](https://time.com/3616754/charli-xcx-sucker/) Retrospective lists have kept the song in circulation: Pitchfork placed it at number 197 and Stereogum at number 117 on their 200 Best Songs of the 2010s lists, and [Billboard](https://www.edgepedia.org/billboard-magazine) ranked it number 163 on its 500 Best Pop Songs (as of October 2023).[3](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753)
## Critical reception and legacy
Pitchfork's Larry Fitzmaurice gave the track "Best New Track" on May 9, 2012, calling it a slice of buzzy electro euphoria that fit pop and electronic music's turn toward maximalism, with Hjelt and Jawo shouting defiantly about crashed cars with infectious energy.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13584-icona-pop-i-love-it/) Fellow Pitchfork writer Lindsay Zoladz later described it as "basically just two-and-a-half minutes of drop" and, in her review of the duo's debut album, as a hard-driving, rainbow-brite break-up anthem whose slow-burning success made it a Song of the Summer contender two years in a row.[12](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18529-icona-pop-this-is-icona-pop/)
The song's shadow over its creators' careers has been a recurring theme in later coverage. NME wrote in 2013 that Icona Pop owed their popularity to the track and that their debut album *This Is... Icona Pop* failed to replicate its pop brilliance.[7](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-icona-pop-14889-319845) A 2026 Pitchfork review of the duo's album *Ritual* argued that few songs have both catapulted and confined an artist as decisively, establishing Hjelt and Jawo as relentless party starters while fixing them in a single identity.[9](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/icona-pop-ritual/) Marking a decade since the song hit number 1 in the UK, Official Charts called it, still, an excellent pop song.[13](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/icona-pop-talk-release-of-hard-edged-new-single-faster-and-10-years-of-i-love-it-with-charli-xcx__38932/)
## References
1. ["I Love It" by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX – Lyrics & Story, LyricsWeb](https://lyricsweb.com/song/icona-pop/icona-pop-i-love-it)
2. [I LOVE IT – ICONA POP FT CHARLI XCX, Official Charts Company](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/icona-pop-ft-charli-xcx-i-love-it/)
3. [Release "I Love It" by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX, MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/release/6c94bbb6-5403-4c0d-85ae-64438e7a6753)
4. [Riot Girl: Charli XCX Rages Against the Pop-Music Machine on Sucker, Time](https://time.com/3616754/charli-xcx-sucker/)
5. [Icona Pop on Snooki, Phillip Lim, and Their Song of Summer, ELLE](https://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a21798/icona-pop-interview-snooki-phillip-lim-and-their-song-of-summer/)
6. ["I Love It" – Plugged In track review](https://www.pluggedin.com/track-reviews/icona-pop-i-love-it/)
7. [Icona Pop – 'This Is...', NME](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-icona-pop-14889-319845)
8. [Icona Pop: "I Love It" Track Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13584-icona-pop-i-love-it/)
9. [Icona Pop: Ritual Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/icona-pop-ritual/)
10. [Radio Rant: Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX – I Love It, Ranting About Music](https://rantingaboutmusic.com/2013/06/04/radio-rant-icona-pop-feat-charli-xcx-i-love-it/)
11. [This Is…Icona Pop, Under the Radar](https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/icona_pop_this_is)
12. [Icona Pop: This Is… Icona Pop Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18529-icona-pop-this-is-icona-pop/)
13. [Icona Pop talk 10 years of I Love It with Charli XCX, Official Charts](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/icona-pop-talk-release-of-hard-edged-new-single-faster-and-10-years-of-i-love-it-with-charli-xcx__38932/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Synth-pop songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license