"One Day, One Time" was Neil Arthur's debut solo single and his first release of new pop material since the split of Blancmange, the synth-pop duo he formed with Stephen Luscombe.

"[2] "One Day, One Time" failed to enter the top 75 of the UK Singles Chart, stalling at number 80,[3] but it was a radio hit.

[7] Upon its release, Alan Jones of Music Week described "One Day, One Time" was "a slightly deranged track that recalls, both vocally and in worldly influences, Talking Heads' David Byrne, as well as the Thompson Twins".

The reviewer felt that the "only saving grace" of the song is the "instrumental opening which could pass for the beginning of a Big Country track".

Writer Barry Page described it as "engaging" and noted that it was "not a radical departure from Blancmange's musical template".