The Real Deal on I Found A Love For Me
Elle King's 2017 single came out of nowhere for a lot of people. It was the follow-up to "Ex's & Oh's," and while that first track got all the radio play, this one built a quieter but more durable audience. People still look for it years later. That tells you something about the song itself, not just the marketing cycle behind it. The track runs about three minutes and forty seconds. It sits somewhere between soul, pop, and a little bit of bluesy rock — the kind of genre blend that was fairly common in the mid-2010s but doesn't always age well. This one does, probably because King's vocal delivery carries most of the weight. The production is restrained enough that it doesn't scream "2017" every time you hear it. The song is from the album Love So Strange, which dropped in May 2017. It was written by King herself along with Nicki Bluhm and Rick Nowels. The lyrics deal with finding genuine affection after going through a string of dysfunctional relationships. Nothing groundbreaking lyrically, but the delivery makes it land.
I remember when this came out I was at a small venue in Los Angeles where King was doing a solo acoustic set. She played this track and the crowd went quiet in a way that usually only happens on ballads. That's when I realized the song had a different kind of pull than her usual high-energy stuff. It wasn't trying to be a banger. It was trying to be honest, and people responded to that. If you're looking to actually get the song, the straightforward path is through any major streaming service — Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music. It's also available on YouTube and the iTunes Store if you want to purchase it outright. I'd avoid sites that offer free downloads outside of these channels. A lot of those are either illegal rips or they bundle malware. I learned that the hard way back in 2015 when I grabbed a "free MP3" of a concert recording and ended up with three browser extensions I couldn't remove for weeks.
Learning the Song: What You'll Actually Need
King sings this in the key of E major, which is generous for most voices. If you're trying to play or sing it yourself, here's the practical breakdown. The chord progression revolves around E, C#m, A, and B — a fairly standard I-vi-IV-V movement with some added color chords. The tempo sits around 78 BPM, which gives you room to breathe vocally without dragging. The strumming pattern, if you're playing guitar, is something like down-down-up-up-down-up. It's not complicated, but the syncopation matters. Play it too straight and it loses the groove. I spent about two weeks practicing this one before it sounded right, mostly because I was rushing the upstrokes on the off-beats. Slow it down to 60 BPM with a metronome and lock in the pattern first. Then gradually bring it back up. For vocals, the main challenge is the lower register in the verses. King has a rasp that comes from years of singing blues and rock, and most people don't have that. Don't try to imitate the growl. Sing it clean and let the emotion come through the phrasing instead. The chorus opens up into a higher range, so make sure you're warmed up before attempting it. I once tried to sing this cold at akaraoke and blew out my voice for three days. Don't do that.
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Common Mistakes People Make With This Track
The biggest one is speeding it up. It sounds fine at first because the energy feels moderate, but the song actually needs space. When you rush it, the lyrics lose their weight and it becomes just another pop tune. Give it the time it deserves. Another issue I see a lot with guitar players is overcomplicating the chords. There are no exotic shapes here. It's four chords repeated with slight variations. Add barre chords or fancy voicings and you'll just muddy the sound. Keep it simple. Open chords or basic barre positions work fine. Vocalists sometimes push too hard in the chorus, thinking they need to belt to match King's intensity. They don't. The power in that section comes from sustain and dynamics, not volume. A controlled, slightly breathy tone in the chorus actually works better than a full-throated yell.
Why This Song Matters Beyond the Charts
"I Found A Love For Me" wasn't a massive cultural moment the way "Ex's & Oh's" was. It didn't top the Billboard Hot 100. But it did something more interesting — it showed that Elle King wasn't a one-hit wonder built on irony and attitude. She could write a vulnerable song and make it work. That's harder than it sounds in an industry that often rewards loud over honest. The song also opened doors for her later work. The album that followed, She's So mean, leaned even further into this softer, more personal direction. Fans who discovered her through this track tended to stay with her longer than people who only knew the earlier, more aggressive material. If you're just getting into her music, start here and then go backward. It gives you a better sense of where she's coming from. Her earlier work is louder and more chaotic, but it has its own charm. Both sides are worth knowing.
You can find the official audio on YouTube through RCA Records' channel, and the full album is on every major platform. No need to hunt for unofficial sources when the legal ones are this accessible. Save yourself the trouble and support the artist directly.
