Va - Walt Disney Records Presents- Love Hits — -1998- 1

Where else in 1998 would you find sitting next to a song about a mermaid? This track was from The Mirror Has Two Faces —an MGM film. But Disney owned the distribution rights? Or maybe they just needed to fill 72 minutes. Regardless, hearing Streisand’s adult belting immediately followed by "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" created a jarring, wonderful whiplash.

And maybe that’s fitting. The love we felt in 1998 was a specific, fleeting kind. It was the love before cell phones, before text messaging, before you could Google the lyrics to figure out why Jon Secada sounded so desperate. It was a love you had to listen to on a CD, on repeat, until the disc scratched. If you find a rip of VA - Walt Disney Records Presents- Love Hits -1998- 1 on a dusty hard drive or an old YouTube playlist, do not listen to it on your high-end speakers. Listen to it on a pair of cheap earbuds. Close your eyes. VA - Walt Disney Records Presents- Love Hits -1998- 1

Love Hits wasn’t just an album; it was a Trojan horse. It tricked parents into buying a "safe" Disney record while exposing their 10-year-olds to the anxieties of adult contemporary love. Where else in 1998 would you find sitting

This was the Pocahontas track that was cut from the theatrical release and restored later. For a kid listening in 1998, this song was terrifying. It wasn't about flying carpets or talking candlesticks. It was about existential gratitude. "If I never knew you, I'd be safe but half as real." That’s heavy philosophy for a fifth grader trying to pass a note in class. The "Not-Quite-Disney" Paradox The most fascinating tracks on Love Hits Vol 1 are the ones that have absolutely nothing to do with animation. Or maybe they just needed to fill 72 minutes

This implies there was going to be a Love Hits Vol 2 . To my knowledge, it never came. At least, not in this exact compilation format. Disney pivoted to Disney Mania and Radio Disney Jams . The "Love Hits" concept was a brief, soft-rock aneurysm the company had right before the turn of the millennium.