Jared Braden A healthy obsession with pop music!Although she is best known for her ’80s dance-pop smash “Two of Hearts,” Stacey Q first grabbed my attention in 1993 with her airy disco infused “Two Hot For Love.” The song featured production work from Carlo Zanella, who would later produce Katalina’s 1996 underground club hit “D.J. Girl”.
By the time Stacey Q ventured into the studio to record “Two Hot For Love”, she had three Top 100 hits under her belt. However, it had been five years since Stacey released her last minor hit, 1988’s “Don’t Make a Fool of Yourself”.
With no accompanying music video and zero promotion, it came as no surprise that “Two Hot For Love” went largely unnoticed by the general pop music loving community when it released in 1993. I was one of the lucky few who randomly stumbled across it. As I did countless times in the ’90s, I purchased the single from Blockbuster Music based solely on the artwork and an insatiable curiosity about all remixes. After hastily unwrapping the single, I took a short drive on I-20 to listen to the song and the remix. I was hooked. So, the single earned a highly coveted spot on the passenger’s seat in my car — you know, for easy access.
“Two Hot For Love” could be heard blaring through the blown speakers in my 1989 Ford Mustang for the entire summer. Actually, you’re likely to hear it being played in my car today. It’s odd how a cheesy pop song can cause long forgotten feelings to resurface. Just listening to the song instantly transports me back to a time when I had so much going on. At the time, my life was an utter mess and I was wrestling with coming out to my family. Thankfully, for those four minutes of listening to Stacey Q’s “Two Hot For Love” I was able to escape all that confusion and turmoil around me and just enjoy the sugary-sweet melody. I look back at that time with a strange fondness. Sure, it was a chaotic few years, but I made it through with just a few visible scars.
