"I Think It's Love" by Jermaine Jackson

Song#:  2633
Date:  02/22/1986
Debut:  74
Peak:  16
Weeks:  15
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  After nine solo albums with Motown, Jermaine Jackson left his long-time home label for Arista. His first effort for them was a self-titled LP that featured a pair of Pop Top 20 hits including "Do What You Do," which topped the AC chart (#13 Pop/#14 R&B). Following a couple of low-charting soundtrack singles, Jackson returned with his second Arista album, Precious Moments. This first single was issued out and once again it was able to crack the Pop Top 20. It did nearly the same at R&B reaching #14 while hitting the Top 10 at AC (#5). The song was co-written by Jackson, producer Michael Omartian, and superstar Stevie Wonder.

ReduxReview:  I really liked this song when it came out. I thought it had everything going for it - jammin' production, great chorus, blasts of horns, a third-act key change, and lovely chords/melodies that were taken from the Stevie Wonder playbook. I was certain it would take the Top 10 by storm. Yet it stopped just inside the Top 20 and I could never figure out why. My only guess was that it leaned a little too far towards the adult side of pop, hence the Top 10 showing at AC. It just may not have appealed to a younger audience. I still think its a great song, but in retrospect it may have been a bit overproduced. I've always wondered what this song might have sounded like if performed by Michael Jackson and produced by him and Quincy Jones. I think they could have done something pretty cool with the tune.

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia:  After Jackson moved over to Arista, his talents as a producer were quickly put to use. He would end up producing two songs that would appear on the debut album of soon-to-be superstar Whitney Houston. Neither track would be issued out as a single. Thanks to those collaborations and being label-mates, Jackson was then able to secure Houston for a duet for his own album. The pair would perform the track "If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful." While the song was never issued out as a single, it did garner some radio airplay at a time when Houston was on a streak of #1 hits. It proved to be popular enough for the song to appear on Houston's first compilation LP, 2000's Whitney: The Greatest Hits.

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