I've seen numerous interviews with pop stars of yesteryear and many of their stories follow a similar pattern. They enjoy a few years being a big pop star having hit after hit but then their popularity starts to dwindle and the hits dry up, but that's when they really start to enjoy it because it gives them artistic freedom to make the music they want without the pressure of producing a hit.
This is the point we've reached here with Alison Moyet. She started out as singer of Yazoo in 1982, but they were finished by the end of 1983. Then came her solo career in 1984 which saw her enjoy a run of mostly Top 10 hits up to 1987.
In 1991 it had been 4 years since we'd last seen her in the Top 40 and we'd moved into a new decade in that time. Alison Moyet herself has said that by this point she was reluctant to record a radio-friendly "pop" album simply for the sake of creating chart hits.
This was the 3rd single to be released from the album, the first two never made the Top 40. In a way then she got the best of both worlds with this making number 40 i.e. writing the music she wanted to but still managing to scrape the Top 40.
Except was it? This record actually started out as the b-side to her "Love Letters" single in 1987 which would have been before she started writing the records she wanted to. That said, she seems to be fond of the record so maybe she was always giving some lenience from the labels when writing b-sides.
It was her penultimate Top 40 hit though with her final one to date coming 3 years later with "Whispering Your Name".
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