Written and composed by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, it became the second consecutive number-one pop single from the Supremes' album The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland and the group's ninth overall chart-topper in the United States on Billboard Hot 100, peaking March 1967.

[1] The song, which depicts a relationship in the beginning stages of breakup ("You persuaded me to love you/And I did/But instead of tenderness/I found heartache instead"), features several spoken sections from lead singer Diana Ross, who delivers her dialogue in a dramatic, emotive voice.

Matching the song's drama influences is an instrumental track, featuring a prominent harpsichord and strings, which recalls both a Hollywood film score and The Left Banke's recently popularized "Baroque rock.

[3] The girl group performed the hit record on NBC's The Andy Williams Show on Sunday, January 22, 1967,[4] going to number one seven weeks later.

Cash Box said the single is a "bright, rhythmic, pulsating Motown-sound excursion" in which the Supremes are "at the top of their form.