The Meaning of Love (Michelle McManus song)

Last updated
"The Meaning of Love"
Meaningoflove.jpg
Single by Michelle
from the album The Meaning of Love
A-side "The Meaning of Love"
Released5 April 2004 (2004-04-05)
Recorded2004
Genre Pop
Length4:24(album version)
3:10 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriters
Producer Steve Robson
Michelle singles chronology
"All This Time"
(2003)		"The Meaning of Love"
(2004)		"Take You There"
(2012)

"The Meaning of Love" is the second single from Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus, released under the mononym "Michelle" on 5 April 2004. [1] It did not match the success of her chart-topping debut single "All This Time", reaching number 16 in the United Kingdom [2] and number 29 in Ireland. [3] Soon after the single's commercial failure, BMG dropped McManus from the label. [4]

Contents

Reception

Daily Record critic John Dingwall called the song a "great ballad"; [5] a colleague of his, however, wrote: "Michelle's going to have to aim much higher... 'The Meaning of Love', while good, isn't great." [6] Writing for AllMusic, journalist Sharon Mawer described the track as "a charity sounding record without the All Saints rhythm [of 'All This Time'], without the multi-vocals, and without much of a tune either". [7]

Commercial performance

Following its release, the song debuted at number sixteen on the UK Singles Charts, remaining in the top forty of the charts in the United Kingdom for a further week. It spent an additional two weeks within the Top 100, before last appearing at number sixty-four before falling out of the chart entirely. [8] In her native Scotland, it performed better, debuting at number seven on the Scottish Singles Charts, remaining within the Top 100 of the singles charts in Scotland for five weeks. [9] In the Republic of Ireland, it spent one week on the Irish Singles Charts following a debut appearance of twenty–nine. [10] Overall, the single did not chart as well as expected and achieved moderate commercial success in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, whilst in Scotland, it achieved significantly better commercial success. Despite this, it was considered a flop, with sales of only 8,000 in its first week, one newspaper drew comparisons of McManus' fortunes to Popstars: The Rivals rejects One True Voice. [11]

Track listing

UK CD single

  1. "The Meaning of Love" (radio edit)
  2. "Believe"
  3. "Tell Me Now"
  4. "The Meaning of Love" (enhanced section including music video)

UK digital download

  1. "The Meaning of Love" (album version)

Charts

Charts (2004)Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA) [3] 29
Scotland Singles (OCC) [12] 7
UK Singles (OCC) [2] 16
UK Physical Singles Chart (OCC) [13] 16

References

  1. ↑ "Datafile". Music Week . 3 April 2004. p. 19.
  2. 1 2 "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  3. 1 2 "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Michelle". Irish Singles Chart.
  4. ↑ English, Paul (4 September 2010). "Michelle McManus: How I fought back from Pop Idol rejection to sing for the Pope". Daily Record . Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Dingwall, John (11 February 2004). "The Razz: 'Chelle: We hear new album first". Daily Record . Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "The Razz: Singles and Albums". Daily Record . 9 April 2004. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  7. ↑ Mawer, Sharon. "Michelle McManus – "The Meaning of Love"". AllMusic . Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  8. ↑ "THE MEANING OF LOVE". Official Charts. 17 April 2004. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  9. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart on 16/5/2004". Official Charts. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  10. ↑ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
  11. ↑ "Top of the flops". Birmingham Mail . 12 April 2004. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  13. ↑ "THE MEANING OF LOVE". Official Charts. 17 April 2004. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.