"That's What Love Can Do" is a song by American female pop group Boy Krazy, written and produced by British hitmaking team Stock Aitken Waterman, and first released in 1991 as Boy Krazy's debut single.[1] 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'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.[2] The B-side was a cover of "One Thing Leads to Another", originally by the SAW-produced boyband Yell!.[1] 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 Boy Krazy album.
Cover versions
"That's What Love Can Do" was also recorded by Samantha Fox 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 Japanese female group Giri Giri Girls released a Japanese-language 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 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 who maintained contact with group member Nikki Wheeler with the couple eventually marrying.
Critical reception
Kenny Thomas reviewed the song for Smash Hits, 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 record [i.e. "Tripping on Your Love"], but not much better really".[3] 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".[4] 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".[2] In 2021, British magazine Classic Pop 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".[5]
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.[1] 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 Radio & RecordsCHR/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
1991 weekly chart performance for "That's What Love Can Do"
