"Lovin' You" is a song recorded by American singer Minnie Riperton from her second studio album, Perfect Angel (1974).

[9][10] According to the liner notes from Riperton's compilation album Petals, the melody for "Lovin' You" was created as a distraction for her baby daughter (Maya Rudolph) so that Minnie and her husband Richard could hang out.

The song fades out early in the radio edit because the disc jockeys felt that the repeated "Maya" was being overdone and that it would be misunderstood as a religious chant.

[11] The original single version released to radio contained only Riperton's vocals, accompanied by electric piano and acoustic guitar.

[8] Rudolph and Riperton wanted Epic to release "Lovin' You" as a single, after seeing the song's effect on people while on tour to promote the album.

[15] With "Lovin' You", Riperton became the first female artist on the Epic label with a debut song that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

[20][21][22] Ed Hogan of AllMusic noted that Riperton's work is known for its simplicity, and that "Lovin' You" was consistent with this feature, stating that the song's "simple declaration of love" is enhanced by the "sparse, airy backdrop of chimey electric piano" in combination with "gentle acoustic guitar".

[24] Marcus J. Moore of Pitchfork described "Lovin' You" as "remarkably affectionate" and a "sweet, acoustic lullaby that Riperton delivers wistfully".

[25] Stevie Chick of The Guardian noted the song's "smartly spare production", with "dizzy electric piano" and "gentle acoustic guitar".

[26] In the 1996 comedy film The Nutty Professor, Sherman Klump, under the guise of his alter ego Buddy Love, sings the first part of the song to his love interest Carla Purdy (while humorously twisting his rival Reggie Washington's hand to achieve the high singing note at the end of the chorus).

To the dismay of many of the players and fans, in the middle of the commercial it cuts to a scene at a music store where an employee of the stadium sound crew was trying to buy a copy of "Who Let the Dogs Out" by using a check.

[7] In 1989, English electronic music group the Orb released the song, "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld (Loving You)", as a single on their own label WAU!

[49] "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain ..." consisted of various sound effects that were built around, and formed an ambient backdrop for, musical samples of Minnie Ripertons's "Lovin' You".

He noted the "elegant tapestry of babbling brooks, crashing waves, crickets, chants, roosters, church bells, and various other modes of white noise" that was created to form a musical backdrop for the sample of Riperton's "Lovin' You".

[48][54] Peel, the legendary DJ of BBC Radio 1, broadcast the live version on December 19, 1989, giving both the band and the song exposure to a much wider audience.

[48][54][50] The version that was played live on BBC Radio 1 included samples of Riperton's voice,[48] and was ranked at number 10 on John Peel's year-end Festive Fifty for 1990, listed as "Loving You (Session)".

The song was produced by Narada Michael Walden and released by Motown as the album's fourth and final single in August 1992.

[61] Larry Flick from Billboard called it a "shimmering rendition", where "her youth gives the song a lovely, innocent quality that should prove refreshing and irresistible to top 40 and urban radio programmers alike."

[63] A reviewer from People magazine described the cover as "cherubic",[64] while Wilson & Alroy's felt it was lacking adequate emotion, though they noted that Shanice was able to handle the technical difficulties of the song.

[58] Michael Eric Dyson from Rolling Stone opined that the singer "preserves the immediacy and simplicity of the original while adding color and nuance with an altered note here, a vocal flourish there".