Warwick garthered material from songwriters and producers such as Barry J. Eastmond, Harvey Mason, Siedah Garrett, Dianne Warren, and Blue Zone lead singer Lisa Stansfield.

[1] In hopes of providing current material without changing Warwick's trademark sound, Arista Records head Clive Davis consulted Barry J. Eastmond to produce the majority of the album.

[1] Friends Can Be Lovers marked Warwick's first collaboration with both Elliott and her cousin, singer Whitney Houston, who contributed vocals to the duet song "Love Will Find a Way.

He found that "Here lies the pleasant balance between Dionnesque pop anthems ("Age of Miracles" and "I Sing at Dawn"), ballads (Sting's "Fragile" and a duet with Whitney Houston on "Love Will Find a Way"), down-right funk on "Much Too Much" and shameless lust on "Where My Lips Have Been".

"[11] Her colleague, Billboard writer Paul Verna, named Friends Can Be Lovers "a sterling set of R&B-spiced pop ballads" and cited single "Sunny Weather Love," Warwick's duet with Houston and Stansfield's title track as highlights on the album.

"[12] Entertainment Weekly's Amy Linden was unimpressed by "Sunny Weather Love," but liked Stansfield's contributions to the album "whose sexy, grown-up grooves fit Dionne Warwick's burnt-umber pop stylings like a glove on Friends Can Be Lovers.