Monday, January 23, 2023

"Love's About to Change My Heart" by Donna Summer

Song#:  4034
Date:  09/16/1989
Debut:  89
Peak:  85
Weeks:  3
Genre:  Pop, Dance


Pop Bits:  Summer was able to score one last major comeback hit with "This Time I Know It's for Real," the first single from her Stock Aitken Waterman produced album Another Time and Place. It was her first Pop Top hit is six years. To follow it up, her US label, Atlantic Records, chose to go with this album-closing track. While it would do well at Dance reaching #3, the tune couldn't make any headway on the Pop chart and it stalled near the bottom after a minor three weeks. Without a second major hit to promote it, the album would peak at #53. A third single would not be released in the US. However, in the UK where "This Time I Know It's for Real" broke first, the LP would spawn six singles. Two would be Top 10 hits while this song would get to #20. The album would get to #17 and go gold.

ReduxReview:  In the UK, the second single from the album was "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt." The standard SAW track would do well getting to #7. Logic would dictate that it probably should have been the second single in the US. Instead, Atlantic decided to go with this throwback to Summer's disco days. Written by the SAW team, you can tell they catered it directly to Summer with the tune sounding like something that could have been on one of her 70s albums. I think it was the wrong move. People were finally letting Summer back in after the big disco backlash and this reminder of those times wasn't what was needed and indeed it tanked. The label may have been afraid of pushing too much of the SAW sound, but I think "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt" would have done better. Still, Summer was able to notch that comeback with the terrific "This Time I Know It's for Real."

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Summer would return with another album for Atlantic in 1991. For Mistaken Identity, Summer would work with producer Keith Diamond, whose career really took off when he worked with Billy Ocean. It featured edgier tracks that included current sounds such as new jack swing. Its first single, "When Love Cries," would only get to #77 Pop/#18 R&B. A second single didn't do anything and that left the album not charting. Summer would move over to Mercury for a '94 holiday album along with an official release of her shelved '81 album I'm a Rainbow. She would not record a studio album again until 2008 when she released Crayons. While none of the LP's singles would make the Pop chart, three tracks would hit #1 on the Dance chart while another song would get to #30 at AC. That action helped the album get to #17, which was her best showing since '83. In 2010, Summer would release the stand-alone single "To Paris with Love." It would reach #1 at Dance and be her final charting singles prior to her death in 2012 from lung cancer. The following year she would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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