One Hit Wondering – Donna Lewis

One Hit Wondering is a series of columns where I listen to the album of a one hit wonder, and find three songs, other than the hit, that people should hear. 

In the spring of 1996 Donna Lewis took America by storm.

It seemed like the Wales-based artist’s charming pop hit “I Love You Always Forever,” which was released in April of that year, was being played everywhere … and that’s because it was. In fact, with her opening salvo she wound up achieving a feat no artist had done before.

While spending a whopping 13 consecutive weeks at #1 on the radio airplay chart, “I Love You Always Forever” became the first single in history to receive more than one million radio spins.

There’s debuting with a bang, and then there’s debuting with the most played single in history.

For as popular as the song was, it never reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking instead at #2, and staying there for nine consecutive weeks.

What, you may ask, could’ve possibly kept such a monster hit in the runner up position for over two months?

The answer to that can be summed up in two words – Hey Macarena!

In a blatant case of one hit wonder on one hit wonder crime, “I Love You Always Forever” never reached the top spot because the entire time it was at #2, Los del Río’s “Macarena” (Bayside Boys Remix) was in the midst of spending 14 consecutive weeks at #1.

I’m sure each time Lewis and her people received the latest edition of the Hot 100 this caused them to say “Hey Macarena” in a slightly different tone than the song.

The story of “I Love You Always Forever” starts with a novel, Love for Lydia by H. E. Bates, which is where Lewis drew her inspiration for the song. The chorus is actually a quote taken directly from the book – “I love you always forever, near and far closer together” – and Lewis originally titled the song “Lydia.”

With no mention of anyone named Lydia in the lyrics, Lewis ultimately decided to change the name of the song to “I Love You Always Forever,” wisely sidestepping a lifetime of having to answer the question, “Who’s Lydia?”

“I Love You Always Forever” would become Lewis’ demo, and when Atlantic Records heard it they immediately knew they had a hit on their hands, and offered her a deal.

Hot on the heels of the success of the song, Lewis’ debut album, Now in a Minute, was released in May of ’96.

The album peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200, and ultimately achieved platinum status (one million copies sold).

Everything was going exceedingly well, but a major question was about to present itself – how do you follow up the most played single in history?

As any artist I’ve written about for this column can tell you, following up a gigantic hit can be an equally gigantic challenge, and for Lewis, she hasn’t reached that rarefied air a second time.

That being said, she’s still had quite a few moments of success. Notably, in 1997 she teamed up with Richard Marx for the song “At the Beginning,” which was on the Anastasia soundtrack. The song peaked at #45 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was huge in the adult contemporary world.

The collaboration reached #2 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart, and was #1 on Radio & Records’ Adult Contemporary Chart, but only for a solitary week. Much like with “I Love You Always Forever,” “At the Beginning” would run into an absolute juggernaut as competition.

The song that bumped it from the top spot was Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” which then stayed at #1 for 19 consecutive weeks.

In a bit of irony, Lewis and Marx were sunk by Titanic.

This begs the question – were it not for “My Heart Will Go On,” would “At the Beginning” have been racking up all those weeks at #1, and achieved legendary status?

As of now it remains the last song for either Lewis, or Marx to chart on the Hot 100.

In 1998, after releasing her second album, Blue Planet, Lewis parted ways with Atlantic Records, and just two years after having the most-played single in the history of radio, she went the independent route.

Lewis has continued to release albums throughout the years, and in the early 2000s she became a favorite of the EDM scene, appearing as a guest vocalist on a number of trance, and house music singles.

2021 was supposed to be a big year for Lewis, as she was hoping to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “I Love You Always Forever” in grand fashion, including a tour, a live TV special, and remixes of the song. The global pandemic in 2020, however, put a lot of that on hold.

After the world opened up again, Lewis’ shut down in a far different way – she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She spent the majority of 2022 receiving treatment, but continued writing and recording music, and right before ringing in 2023 she received the news that she’d won her battle, and beaten cancer.

A happy new year indeed!

Healthy, and ready to work full time again, Lewis connected with with Nick Gale, aka Digital Farm Animals (who’s worked with Dua Lipa, Louis Tomlinson, Bebe Rexha, and Charli XCX, among others). The two of them teamed up to create the 2023 version of Lewis’ mega-hit, titling their collaborative version “ILYAF (I Love You Always Forever).”

In addition to the song, Lewis became an ambassador for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, a position she still holds today.

Just this past year Lewis released her sixth album, Rooms with a View, and it’s her most personal effort to date, with each song documenting an aspect of her year-long battle with cancer.

The album is collaboration with Washington D.C.-based electronic artist Holmes Ives, aka Perceptual Outer Dimensions, whom Lewis met after he’d reworked one of her previous songs.

An interesting side note is that Rooms with a View was done remotely, and as of the writing of this article, Lewis and Ives have yet to meet in person.

One month after the release of Rooms with a View, UK artist Romy, of band The xx, collaborated with Fred Again, and Joy Anonymous for a song titled “Always Forever,” which samples Lewis’ classic hit.

So while Lewis wasn’t able to do all the things she’d planned in regards to the 25th anniversary of her landmark single, others have been keeping the song alive.

Rewinding back to when “I Love You Always Forever” was on the radio all the time, I gave Now in a Minute a spin, and found three songs, other than the legendary hit, that you should hear.

“Without Love”

 

“Without Love” was the follow up to “I Love You Always Forever.” With a more mature vibe that included both world music, and slight downtempo influences – perhaps an early indication of her eventual connection to the electronic music world – it really did make sense to have this song be the second single from the album.

While it didn’t crack the Top 40, peaking at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100, it’s some top notch mid-‘90s pop, and an indicator that Lewis was ready, willing, and able to spread her wings musically.

“Love & Affection”

 

“Love & Affection” is a song that goes in a lot of different directions. It begins with a bluesy pop-rock sound, morphs into a decidedly pop chorus, then dials it down to a darker pop fare, before eventually taking the listener on a roller coaster of all of those influences, and more.

It probably wouldn’t have worked as a single, but it’s a wonderful find as an album cut.

“Fool’s Paradise”

I’m not sure how many people join me in the tiny part of the Venn diagram where “people listening to Donna Lewis’ 1996 debut album,” and “people who attended Warped Tour in the 2010s” overlap, but “Fool’s Paradise” has a moment for us.

There’s a small section at the beginning of the song, which gets repeated after the chorus, that immediately reminded me of the PVRIS song “Holy.” It’s kinda wild, because it isn’t like PVRIS sampled it, it’s just a very similar sequence of sounds.

Crazy coincidence aside, “Fool’s Paradise” has a timeless quality to it. You really can’t tell what decade it’s from, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Until next time, here’s to discovering more great music from one hit wonders!