The original song was released in 1987, which was followed by the most successful incarnation, a slightly edited and overdubbed version, omitting the Christmas references, created for the soundtrack to the 1990 film Pretty Woman.
During a run of increasingly successful singles from the duo's 1988 album Look Sharp!, Touchstone Pictures approached Roxette and their label about contributing a song to the soundtrack of the upcoming romantic comedy release Pretty Woman, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.
Per Gessle continues to demonstrate his uncanny ability to compose exceptional pop melodies and Marie Fredriksson makes the words and music jump through the speakers.
He added that "Fredriksson's genius is in delivering the title line clean and stoic, rather than with tortured vibrato, to show that she's resigned to her fate.
[17] Refinery29 included it at number 39 on their list of The Saddest Breakup Songs of All Time, saying the track "represents the perfect ratio of schlock to sentiment.
In someone like Celine Dion's hands, this would have been a complete disaster, but the Swedish duo gaze off to 'where the water flows' and 'where the wind blows' without sounding like '90s Disney characters".
[18] Brendon Veevers from Renowned for Sound noted the song as a "timeless power ballad that has aged like a fine wine".
It was not the first single released from the Pretty Woman soundtrack, but it became the most successful, spending two weeks at the top spot of the US Billboard Hot 100 in June.
It stayed on the UK Singles Chart for 14 weeks,[22] and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales and streams in excess of 400,000.
[23] The song was re-released in the UK and Ireland in September 1993 to tie in with the TV premiere of Pretty Woman,[24] peaking at number ten in both countries.
According to Fredriksson, shooting this video was a surreal experience, as Freel "wanted all movements in slow motion, so I had to lip-sync the vocals at double speed.
It consisted of twelve of their down-tempo singles and album tracks, which were translated by Spanish songwriter Luis Gomez-Escolar, who would later co-write the Ricky Martin hit "Livin' la Vida Loca".
An adapted version of "It Must Have Been Love", titled "No Sé Si Es Amor", was released in early 1997 as the album's second and final single.
[83] This single included the Pretty Woman version of the song, backed with the original 1987 release and the Los Angeles-studio performance (minus the live intro recorded in Santiago, Chile) from their 1992 album Tourism.
[86][87] The song was recorded twice in Portuguese, by the duo Gilberto e Gilmar as Outro dia nasceu[88] in 1992, and by the forró band Moleca 100 Vergonha ‘’não sou feliz mais‘’ in 2012.