Date: June 13, 1987
Weeks: 1
Ah, the pure cheesiness of a painfully sincere late-80s song. It wants so badly to be the definitive love song of its era. And I have to admit that its sincerity is actually kind of compelling.
The thing about this song that works best is the vocals. David Lewis and Barbara Weathers are the singers here. Atlantic Starr, and this song in particular, seem to be the biggest claim to fame for both of them. But they seem to be very talented, Weathers in particular. They aren't showy. They sing the song relatively straightforwardly, but they sing it well. They each solo well, but the best part of their vocals is their harmony in the chorus.
Unfortunately, the music doesn't support them as well as it should. This is one of those songs that has layered instruments on top of instruments without actually adding to the fullness of the overall sound. The percussion, in particular, is too imposing. That poundy 80s drum is completely out of place here. There's a plinky bell-like keyboard that conflicts with the rest of the sound. There's a bass that seems too powerful and inappropriate. All those parts make the song feel overproduced and rob it of its sincerity.
The song would have been better off stripped down to the parts that work. The vocals, the piano, and yes, I'll even acknowledge that the string section works here. I don't usually like strings in pop songs, but here it works and makes the song feel gentle, like the love song it wants to be.
The tempo in this song is way too slow. It goes way past deliberate, down to plodding. I think if it were stripped down to its core elements, the tempo might make it feel gentle and romantic. It makes me wonder if the song was originally intended as a gentle, romantic song with few instruments, and then they slapped a bunch of unnecessary extra sounds on top of it.
The lyrics are pretty generic love song lyrics. If anything, the song suffers from trying to be too big in scope. "I will love you so, for always." "We both know that our love will grow." It's not a bad sentiment, but it's almost like this is trying to be the ultimate love song that puts all other love songs to shame. Our love is perfect, eternal, ever-improving, and so on. It's not a bad sentiment, but they could have found a less generic way to express it. I might want to dedicate it to someone on the radio to impress them, but I'm not sure that makes it a good song.
My verdict: Don't like it. It has a lot of points in its favor, and it's definitely not a bad song. But it's overproduced and trying too hard to be bland, instead of trying to be unique.
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