"That's What Love Can Do" is a song by American female pop group

Boy Krazy Boy Krazy was a New York City-based girl group that saw brief fame in 1991, and again in 1993 with their hit single "That's What Love Can Do". Career The group was put together through auditions by a management company in New York. Boy Krazy f ...

, written and produced by British hitmaking team

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as the Hit Factory) 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 throug ...

, and first released in 1991 as Boy Krazy's debut single. Lead vocals were performed by group member Johnna Cummings. This was the only single in which group member Renée Veneziale would be involved, leaving the band in 1991 soon after its release. The song did not become a hit, peaking at number 86 in the UK; however, it reached number 18 in US.

Background and writing

"That's What Love Can Do" was said to be originally written for

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

's fourth album, but rejected after Minogue expressed her desire to change her style on her third album '' Rhythm of Love''. However, Boy Krazy's version sounded like Minogue's first singles since vocalist Johnna Lee Cummings used the same Calrec Soundfield Microphone which heavily double tracked her voice. The B-side was a cover of "One Thing Leads to Another", originally by the SAW-produced boyband Yell!. The lyrics were slightly rewritten on Boy Krazy's version to reflect the gender change. The original 1991 release featured Renée Veneziale singing the second verse; this was re-recorded by Josselyne Jones in the 1993 version, which can be found on the 1993 single and the ''

'' album.

Cover versions

"That's What Love Can Do" was also recorded by

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from Crouch End in North London. She has appeared on reality television shows and has occasionally worked as a television presenter and actress. Fox beg ...

for her '' Just One Night'' album from 1991; however, the song was not completed in 1991, left unfinished and was eventually released with an additional 2012 production on the ''Just One Night Deluxe Edition'' in June 2012. In 1993, the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese female group Giri Giri Girls released a

Japanese-language is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. ...

cover of the song, entitled "Your Cool Shore" (あなたの事ですずしい渚 ''Anata no koto de suzushii nagisa''). In 1999

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, and television personality. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman production and songwriting team, he co-wrote and co-produced many UK hit singles. An av ...

produced a remake of "That's What Love Can Do" performed by session singers Cheryl (aka Sheryl) Jay (lead), Vicky Dowdall (later in Girls@Play), and Nikki Wheeler and credited to Toutes Les Filles. The track was issued in August 1999 and, promoted by a video mostly shot on the Spanish seaside and also by numerous television spots, "That's What Love Can Do" by Toutes Les Filles charted higher in the UK than the Boy Krazy original while still failing to become a major hit peaking at number 44. The television promo for the single included an appearance by Toutes Les Filles on a program hosted by

Jonathan Wilkes Jonathan Wilkes (born 1 August 1978) is an English television presenter and singer. Early life and career Jonathan Wilkes was born in Baddeley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, to Eileen Wilkes and Graham Wilkes, and spent most of his childhood in Pa ...

who maintained contact with group member Nikki Wheeler with the couple eventually marrying.

Critical reception

Kenny Thomas reviewed the song for ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'', commenting that it "sounds like Kylie", that Waterman "used that pop formula of his one time too many" and that "it's better than the

Bananarama Bananarama is an English pop group formed in London in 1980. The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when ...

record .e. "Tripping on Your Love"">Tripping_on_Your_Love.html" ;"title=".e. "Tripping on Your Love">.e. "Tripping on Your Love" but not much better really". Retrospectively, in 2017, Christian Guiltenane of British magazine ''

Attitude'' considered it a "good" song "that those few who did get to hear it still relish it to this day". In 2020, Daniel Griffiths of ''musicradar.com'' listed it as one of the five songs by SAW that producers need to hear, adding that it was "an oddity - and one of SAW's best tracks". 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 35 in their list of 'Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs', adding that "it remains a firm fan favourite", and considered Fox's version as being "inferior".

Chart performance

At the end of 1992, "That's What Love Can Do" became successful in North American nightclubs, and radio airplay soon followed, prompting a re-release in early 1993. For this reissue, the song was remixed (the radio edit being an edit of the Hot Tracks remix, which was popular at nightclubs). The song was a success this time round, becoming the group's signature song, and peaking at number 18 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also reached number one in Pop airplay on the '' Billboard Hot 100">''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also reached number one in Pop airplay on the '' CHR/Pop chart, and number two on the Top 40 Mainstream">Radio & Records'' Contemporary hit radio">CHR/Pop chart, and number two on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. Excluding songs that charted after the Hot 100 rule changed to allow airplay-only songs to be eligible to chart, "That's What Love Can Do" is the lowest-peaking song on the Hot 100 that went number one in Pop airplay on the Radio and Records chart. In the UK it was still not a big hit, peaking at number 80.

Music video

Three videos were filmed: the 1991 video has the girls in a revolving scenario, the five girls sitting in swivel chairs, radiators, and also holding an electric fan or on a phone booth, among other things. Then, the 1993 American video shows the girls in a bar, intercut with some scenes of the girls choreographing the song. Last, the 1993 British video mixed both previous video clips (with Renée Veneziale edited out of the parts containing the original video), with additional footage from the 1993 American video in it.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

{{Authority control 1991 singles 1993 singles 1999 singles Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Pete Waterman 1991 songs PolyGram singles