"30 Minute Love Affair" is a song performed by English recording artist Paloma Faith. It was released on 10 August 2012, by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

, as the second single from her second studio album '' Fall to Grace'' (2012). The song was written by Faith and

Chris Braide Christopher Braide (born 1973) is an English songwriter, record producer and singer, formerly based in Malibu, Los Angeles, California, United States. Braide is known for being a pianist. First signed as a solo artist by David A. Stewart in t ...

, while

Nellee Hooper Nellee Hooper (born Paul Andrew Hooper on 15 March 1963) is a British record producer, remixer and songwriter known for his work with many major recording artists beginning in the late 1980s. He also debuted as a motion picture music composer w ...

produced it. Faith explained that the concept of the song is based on a real-life encounter she had with a busker when she was fourteen. The singer said that she wanted the song to have a similar feel of freedom and escape that the 2011 film ''

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" * ...

'' evokes. The artwork for the song was released on 3 July 2012. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

, which was directed by Emil Nava and filmed at the Clapham Grand, was released on 9 July. It shows Faith performing "30 Minute Love Affair" in a

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

strip club and enjoying a brief relationship with another man, following an argument with her boyfriend. "30 Minute Love Affair" has received mostly positive attention from critics and it reached a peak position of number 50 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background

On 3 July 2012, Faith announced that "30 Minute Love Affair" would serve as the second single from her second studio album '' Fall to Grace''. Co-written by Faith and

and produced by

, the track was released in the UK by

on 12 August 2012. "30 Minute Love Affair" is based on a real-life encounter Faith had with a busker in

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicest ...

when she was fourteen. The singer explained "I asked him if he'd be there the next day and he said he would. When I went back he was gone, and I've never forgotten it." Faith commented during a behind the scenes video that it was sometimes better if you did not get to know certain people that you have a fleeting moment with because then they stay perfect in your memory, which they might not do if you get to know them. Faith stated that the single was "a definite nod" to the soundtrack of the 2011 film, ''

''. She wanted to give the song the same type of "80's road movie" feel and "a sense of freedom and escape" that the film evokes. The artwork for the song was also revealed on 3 July. It shows Faith in a blue Bernard Chandran long sleeve lace dress about to kiss a man.

Reception

Critical response

"30 Minute Love Affair" received mostly positive reviews. Robert Copsey from Digital Spy included "30 Minute Love Affair" in the website's "10 tracks you need to hear" playlist. Copsey commented "The blend of Faith's soul-drenched vocals with buzzing '80s synths results in a

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

-meets-''Drive'' number". During his official review of the single, Copsey gave it four out of five stars and stated "You'd be forgiven for thinking that she

aith Aith, ( Shetland dialect: Eid, Old Norse: ''Eið'', meaning Isthmus, cf Eday), is a village on the Northern coast of the West Shetland Mainland, Scotland at the southern end of Aith Voe, some west of Lerwick. Aith lies on the B9071 that runs ...

was alluding to something much seedier than she really is, particularly given the setting of Soho's red-light district for the accompanying music video. Fortunately, further investigation quickly tells otherwise." Colin Gentry of

4Music 4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The original incarnation was launched on 15 August 2008, and until 29 June 2022, showed a mix of music and entertainment programming. I ...

said "After the string-heavy heartbreak of 'Picking Up the Pieces', Paloma Faith has changed tack with her new single. '30 Minute Love Affair' is a love song about a fleeting romance, with more than a ring of

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a rec ...

about it." John Dingwall, writing for the '' Daily Record'', said "A superb soul effort backed by the sort of synth work that wouldn't be out of place on an early

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...

pop effort rekindled by

Stock, Aitken & Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

." A reporter for the '' Sunday Mail'' quipped that the track is "a powerful little number". While Nick Levine from the BBC called the song "

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

-style synth-pop." During her review of '' Fall to Grace'',

Contactmusic.com Contactmusic.com is an online magazine of cultural criticism based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, and ...

's Hayley Avron proclaimed "'30 Minute Love Affair' is possibly the worst offender. The concept of the song goes nowhere beyond the obvious connotations of the title and musically, it sounds as though the love affair lasted longer than it took to write the song." ''The Scotsmans Fiona Shepherd branded the song "dreary".

Chart performance

"30 Minute Love Affair" made its debut on the

before its official release. The song later rose from number 87 to a peak position of number 50, selling 7,414 copies.

Music video

The accompanying

, directed by Emil Nava, was released on 9 July 2012. It was filmed on location at the

Clapham Grand The Grand (previously The Grand Theatre) is a Grade II listed building on St John's Hill, near Clapham Junction in Battersea, South London. It was designed by Earnest Woodrow and was first opened in 1900 as The New Grand Theatre of Varieties. The ...

on 12 June 2012. In the video, Faith wears a bronze 50's inspired dress, which was co-designed by herself and her stylist, Karl Willett and made by Wendy Benstead. The dress is accessorised with a customised hair flower of the same colour and a faux fur stole. Faith commented that her look was inspired by a dress worn by

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

. Of the dancers featured in the video, Faith stated "This is a autobiographical piece, where I'm sort of including both types of dancers that I used to look at, that I found empowering, but also the types of dancers that I used to look at, that I found degrading, and sort of meshing it all into this hyper-real version of what was really the early days of my career." Nava added that he approached the video for "30 Minute Love Affair" with a view to making it simplistic and cinematic. The concept of the video is that Faith has had an argument with her boyfriend, played by the singer's real-life friend James, and stormed off to an underground strip club in London's

. She then meets another man, who distracts her. Faith performs "30 Minute Love Affair" on the stage at the club. The singer later disappears from the stage and has "an intensive" brief relationship with the man, who also played the piano for her during her performance. Faith then returns to her boyfriend. Becca Longmire of Entertainmentwise commented that the video is "very Paloma-esque!" While a

BT Vision BT TV is a subscription IPTV service offered by BT; a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group, and was originally launched as BT Vision in December 2006. As of the end of June 2019, BT TV had 1.9 million customers. ...

website writer called it "stylish". Digital Spy's Copsey stated "Soho's red light district is an apt setting for Paloma's latest clip, which is packed to the brim with vintage glamour." On 1 August 2012, an acoustic session video of "30 Minute Love Affair" was released. Filmed in black and white, it simply features Faith singing the track.

Live performances

Faith performed "30 Minute Love Affair" for the 2DAY show on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

on 10 May 2012. She later performed the track at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

's Le Baron club as part of an event sponsored by

Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 from the Swedish state. Absolut is one of the largest brands ...

. On 20 July, Faith gave a performance of "30 Minute Love Affair" on ''

Superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

''. The following month, she appeared on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's '' Sunday Brunch'' to sing and promote the track.

Track listing and formats

*Digital download #"30 Minute Love Affair" – 3:19 *30 Minute Love Affair (Remixes) – EP #"30 Minute Love Affair" – 3:19 #"30 Minute Love Affair" (M-Factor Remix) – 3:07 #"30 Minute Love Affair" (DC Breaks Remix) – 4:25 #"30 Minute Love Affair" (Hostage Remix) – 3:28

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from ''Fall to Grace'' album liner notes. * Paloma Faith –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

– songwriter *

– producer,

mixer Mixer may refer to: Electronics * DJ mixer, a type of audio mixing console used by disc jockeys * Electronic mixer, electrical circuit for adding signal voltages * Frequency mixer, electrical circuit that creates new frequencies from two signals ...

, keyboards, drums *

Jake Gosling Jake Gosling is an English music producer, songwriter, remixer, manager, and publisher best known for his work with artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, The Libertines, James Bay, Shawn Mendes, All Time Low, One Direction, Major Lazer, Christ ...

– keyboards, drums *

Simon Gogerly Simon Gogerly is a British audio engineer with credits including artists such as U2, Paloma Faith, No Doubt and Massive Attack. Gogerly started his career playing keyboards on tour in the 1980s for the new wave band Dead or Alive. He then we ...

–

mix engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

*Dave Miles –

audio engineering Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

Charts

Release history

References

External links

Paloma Faith's official website
* {{authority control 2012 singles Paloma Faith songs Songs written by Chris Braide Songs written by Paloma Faith Song recordings produced by Nellee Hooper 2012 songs RCA Records singles