I Want You Back

"I Want You Back" is a song by English girl group Bananarama from their fourth studio album, Wow! (1987). It was released on 28 March 1988 by London Records as the album's fourth and final single. The track was co-written and produced by the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) trio. It became one of Bananarama's highest-charting singles, peaking at number five on the UK Singles Chart. It also climbed into the top three in Australia and the top 10 in New Zealand. The single was not released in the United States. Andy Morahan directed its accompanying music video. Background and writing The song was initially titled "Reason for Leaving" and had a different chorus that Bananarama's members disliked; so they co-rewrote it and the song was retitled "I Want You Back". Both versions were originally recorded with Siobhan Fahey for the 1987 Wow! album. For the April 1988 single release, the song was re-recorded with Jacquie O'Sullivan, who had replaced Fahey in March 1988. "Reason for Living" was included on the deluxe version of Wow!, which was released in 2013. Elements of the original chorus can be heard in both the original Wow! version of "I Want You Back" and in the Extended European Mix of the 1988 single release. Critical reception A reviewer from Melody Maker wrote that the song is "quite the worst thing they have done for a couple of years." Neil Taylor from NME commented, "England's most successful female trio strut out their stuff aided and abetted by SAW. This single gets trapped in its own simplicity. Simplicity made these girls and whilst the lyrics here is suitably lightweight, the song has too many complicated musical twists and turns. In Bananarama's market, songs are neither here nor there and only stars count. This has got the stars, it just lacks the usual jazzy stripes." James Hamilton from Record Mirror said in his dance column, "Breezily jaunty (what else!) bpm thudding pop chugger with the girls' usual shrill trademarks". Betty Page of the same magazine stated that "I Want You Back" is "another SAW Hit Factory production, [althought] this seems not as immediate as "I Can't Help It" but even after one play it feels like you've been humming it for days". Retrospectively, in 2021, Classic Pop ranked "I Want You Back" number 29 in their list of "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs". Chart performance "I Want You Back" was among Bananarama's most successful singles on the worldwide charts.