"Love's About to Change My Heart" is the third single from ''

Another Place and Time ''Another Place and Time'' is the fourteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer, released on March 13, 1989 by Atlantic Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by the successful British production team Stoc ...

'', the 1989 album by

Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

. The song was released on August 14, 1989 by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. It was written and produced by British production team Stock Aitken & Waterman. Released as the second single in the US, the song was a hit on the dance charts, but failed to repeat the Top 40 success it enjoyed in Europe. In contemporary interviews, Summer described the track as one of her favourite cuts; tying only with " Breakaway" as the best from the LP. The late singer's husband,

Bruce Sudano Bruce Charles Sudano (born September 26, 1948) is an American musician and songwriter noted for creating songs for artists such as Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and his wife, the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer. Sudano i ...

, said that both he and Summer were very enthusiastic about the track because of its quality, her powerful vocal performance, and the song's deference to her strongest work with

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

, saying, "It's a full showcase on every level".

Critical reception

When reviewing the single, Stephen Duffy of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'' simply wrote: "Not as good as Kylie and that's a terrible thing to say...", which refers to his review of

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

's " I Just Don't Have the Heart" (on the same page) in which he stated the same thing and asked: "How will he moonwalk to this?" In the same magazine, the Civillés & Cole 12" mix was praised by

James Hamilton James Hamilton may refer to: Dukes *James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606–1649), heir to the throne of Scotland *James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658–1712), Scottish nobleman *James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–1743), Sco ...

, considering that this "vastly superior 0-124 bpm remix turns ummer'smost recent, rather limp, Stock Aitken Waterman creation into a superb solidly bounding and soaring stormer in the classic "disco" style of a decade ago". Retrospectively, in a 2016 review of the album, ''Pop Rescue'' stated that "Love's About to Change My Heart" "opens sounding a bit like a

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

80s song, before absolutely roaring into a hi-NRG bass/keyboards/beats track", and added positively that "Donna's vocals sit confidently on top of this, and at times it gives a wonderful nod to her

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

era". In 2019,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

wrote that "Love's About to Change My Heart" is "a brooding mid-tempo track. Summer's vocals wound themselves subtly around the melody, reaching for a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

-inspired climax that in truth never quite arrived in the expected manner". In 2020, Daniel Griffiths of ''musicradar.com'' wrote that "this ever-building homage to Summer's own cake-anthem MacArthur Park is our cream of the crop". In 2021, British magazine ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' ranked the song number 24 in their list of 'Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs', calling it a "sumptuous" single from ''Another Place and Time'' and expressing sadness about its commercial failure in the United States.

Chart performance

In US, "Love's About to Change My Heart" peaked at number 85 on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s Hot 100. Despite the lack of chart success in the US, it was a solid top 20 hit in the UK and it became a favorite among Donna Summer fans due to her strong vocal performance and the fact that it had a slow beginning, reminiscent of several of Summer's

hits of the 1970s, during which time she was the most successful female of that genre. The song was remixed from its original album version for release as a single. Notably the European single remix was different from the one found in the U.S. It reached number three on the U.S. Dance Chart and number 20 on the UK Singles Chart. The video was directed by Dieter Trattmann.

Cover versions

The song was covered by Spanish singer

Mónica Naranjo Mónica Naranjo Carrasco (born 23 May 1974) is a Spanish singer widely popular in Spain and Latin America and recognised as one of the most powerful voices of the Spanish and Latin American music scenes. She has performed with singers such as Lu ...

in her debut album. She made a Spanish-language version called "Fuego de pasión".

Track listings

* UK 7" single # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Edit)" - 3:47 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Instrumental)" - 3:47 * UK 12" single / UK CD # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Extended Remix)" – 6:23 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Instrumental)" – 5:10 # "Jeremy" - 4:40 * UK second 12" single # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Clivilles & Cole 12" Mix)" – 7:40 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Dub 2)" – 7:10 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Clivilles & Cole 7" Mix)" – 4:20 * US 12" single (Atlantic 0-86309) # "Love's About to Change My Heart (PWL 12" Mix)" - 6:23 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (PWL 7" Mix)" - 3:45 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Clivillés & Cole 12" Mix)" - 7:40 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Dub)" - 7:10 # "Love's About to Change My Heart (Clivillés & Cole 7" Mix)" - 4:20

Charts

References

{{authority control 1989 singles Donna Summer songs Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Pete Waterman 1989 songs Dance-pop songs Warner Records singles Atlantic Records singles Music videos directed by Dieter Trattmann