It was first recorded by Australian singer Samantha Sang, whose version reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978.

When Sang arrived at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, instead of recording "(Our Love) Don't Throw it All Away", Barry Gibb offered her a new song called "Emotion".

On the session, Joey Murcia plays guitar, George Bitzer on keyboards, Harold Cowart on bass and Ron "Tubby" Zeigler on drums.

Feist had previously produced the song for Filipino singer Regine Velasquez for her album Drawn in 1998 and used exactly the same backing track for Destiny's Child.

[18] Several international formats of "Emotion" contain "8 Days of Christmas" as a B-side, which previously appeared on the US maxi CD single of "Independent Women Part I" (2000).

[19] "Emotion" continued Destiny's Child's streak of top-10 hits in the United States, peaking at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 on 1 December 2001.

The song's accompanying music video, directed by Francis Lawrence, featured a triple split-screen effect.

The music clip is featured as an enhanced video on the European editions of the CD single and on the 2004 Walmart-exclusive DVD titled Fan Pack.