It is a quartet song performed by Tracy, Link, Penny, and Seaweed, and is inspired by the duets of Motown artists Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell.
Link frees love interest and lead, Tracey Turnblad, from jail after unjustly being arrested for protesting against the exclusion of black performers from the "Corny Collins Show", and Seaweed frees love interest Penny from her mother tying her to her bed to prevent her from escaping after learning she, a white girl, is dating Seaweed, a black boy, in the racially segregated Baltimore in the 1960's.
"[2]CinemaBlend writes in a movie review that "we’ve lost some of the original picture's romance to the PG rating, so songs like “Without Love” don’t work as well".
[3] The New York Times named the song has "one of the film’s musical high points", explaining that "the two young couples express their yearning with the help of some ingenious and amusing special effects".
[4] The Washington Post said "Marc Shaiman's music is virtually wall-to-wall bliss, and some of the lyrics, written with Scott Wittman, particularly in the romantic quartet "Without Love", remain surprising and clever no matter how many times you've listened to them.