"Giving Up on Love" by Rick Astley

Song#:  3866

Date:  04/15/1989

Debut:  89

Peak:  38

Weeks:  10

Genre:  Pop

Pop Bits:  Astley's second album, Hold Me in Your Arms, got kicked off in a good way with its first single "She Wants to Dance with Me" becoming his fourth consecutive Pop Top 10 (#6). Unlike his debut album that was nearly all written and produced by the Stock Aitken Waterman team, Astley had more control and wrote seven of the LP's ten tracks including that first single and this follow up. Unfortunately, the song would break his streak of Top 10s and peak just inside the Top 40. It would do better at AC where it topped out at #11. By this point in time, the album had already peaked at #19 and gone gold. Without a more significant second hit, the LP would miss out on platinum status, which was a significant decrease from the double-platinum level of his debut.

ReduxReview:  For a US pop audience, this track was probably a better choice than the one released in the UK (see below). Still, it wasn't a strong single candidate. It was a good pop tune written by Astley, but it wasn't nearly as catchy as his previous singles. Astley was trying to branch out on his own and prove he wasn't just an SAW puppet and I can appreciate that. However, he probably would have benefited from collaborating with another hit making writer/producer that could have helped in the transition. Astley just didn't have the skill level to consistently churn out tunes with hit potential and more exposure to someone who could do that might have helped him along. Again, this was competent pop tune that was a good album track, just not one that was going to burn up the chart.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  In the US and the UK/Europe, "She Wants to Dance with Me" would serve as the first single from Hold Me in Your Arms (the song got to #6 in the UK). However, the follow up singles for the territories were different. In the US, "Giving Up on Love" would be the second single followed by the cover tune "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." UK/Europe would get different tracks. The second single in those territories was the SAW written/produced tune "Take Me to Your Heart." It would reach #8 in the UK. It was possibly selected as the second single due to SAW's continued winning streak of hits in the UK. However, their manufactured sounds seemed to be going out of favor in the US and that perhaps prompted one of Astley's own songs to be issued as the second single instead. The third single in the UK/Europe would be another Astley composition "Hold Me in Your Arms." It would become Astley's seventh consecutive UK Top 10 reaching #10.

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