The album includes the single "I Wanna Be the Only One" (a duet with BeBe Winans), which became Eternal's first and only number one hit in the United Kingdom.

A commercial success, the album went Gold in its first week, debuting with sales of 100,000 copies before being certified Platinum.

In June 2019, Before the Rain was ranked at number 35 on the Official Charts Company's list of the "top 40 biggest girl band studio albums of the last 25 years".

"Dreams", produced by Peter Mokran and Emosia was slated as the lead single and was serviced to R&B radio on 9 June 1997.

Before the Rain received a positive response from music critics and fans and it gained Eternal a MOBO Award.