Nothing Hurts Like Love

"Nothing Hurts Like Love" is a single by jazz singer Riley Brendan. It is a cover of a single first recorded by Daniel Bedingfield, who released the song in 2004. The song was the second single to be released from Riley's debut album "Days Go By". The single was released on January 10th, 2011, following the album's release, and it charted at #6 upon release.

Background
"Nothing Hurts Like Love" was written by superstar songwriter Diane Warren, and was first recorded by British singer Daniel Bedingfield, who released the song as the lead single from his sophomore album. Riley did not originally know that Daniel was the original artist of the song, as when he was given song suggestions by his producer of what to sing for his album, the version presented to Riley was by Hugh Sheridan, an Australian singer and actor. Nonetheless, the piano-heavy version was a perfect fit for the direction Riley was taking his sound for the album, and so he recorded it and chose it to be the first single released. Riley signed to independent label Blacklight Records prior to the commencement of his promotional campaign, and as such was given a larger budget to work with on things such as cover artwork and music video production. Being Riley's first major industry release, a heavy promotional campaign was put together.

Reception
Some were sceptical over Riley's choice of cover song, after the single was first announced - although curiosity over the major contrast between Daniel's original version and Riley's piano-lounger version took precedent, with many wondering just how Riley was going to pull it off after a previous attempt to 'jazz up' a contemporary song backfired (namely, his version of "Call Me" by Blondie performed on URAPS Idol). The song received good reviews from music critics, but it took a little longer for the general public to warm to the song. Nevertheless, by the time it was released the single had been accepted, which allowed it to chart relatively highly on the chart. A fierce chart battle between Alesha and Taylor stifled the song's success, to a degree.

Promo CD

 * 1) Nothing Hurts Like Love (Album Version)
 * 2) Nothing Hurts Like Love (Instrumental)

CD1

 * 1) Nothing Hurts Like Love
 * 2) Tainted Love
 * 3) Nothing Hurts Like Love (Instrumental)

CD2

 * 1) Nothing Hurts Like Love
 * 2) My Funny Valentine
 * 3) Nothing Hurts Like Love (Paulo's Oversexxxed Bossa Nova Mix)
 * 4) Nothing Hurts Like Love (BreBOT's Warm It Up With Bremix)
 * 5) Nothing Hurts Like Love (The Alias Mixshow Edit)

Digital EP

 * 1) Nothing Hurts Like Love
 * 2) Tainted Love
 * 3) My Funny Valentine
 * 4) Nothing Hurts Like Love (Butterscotch’s Hardcore Fun Mix)
 * 5) Nothing Hurts Like Love (Venus’ Stargazer Dub)
 * 6) Nothing Hurts Like Love (Digital Dog Club Mix)

Music Video
The video opens with the sounds of the ocean, and we can see the tide moving in and out along the shore as the camera pulls back from the water. As the beach comes into view, we see Riley standing on the shore in his suit. The opening chords come in and Riley begins to sing as he walks along the beach. The camera pans out to the water as we see an image beginning to emerge from the waves, depicting Riley and an actress who looks like his first wife Meredith Gilsig. Riley stops to watch as these watery figures act out one of Riley’s memories of them together. Riley is distracted from this vision by a teenaged boy walking past, troubled by a break-up that occurred further down the beach. Riley is like a ghost to this boy, singing the chorus to him as the boy walks along the shore, not seeing Riley there. About halfway through the chorus, Riley removes his jacket but by the end of it has stopped following the boy. Riley then approaches a piano conveniently placed in the sand. He carelessly jumps his jacket on the ground as he sits down to play along with the song, continuing to sing as he does so. We see close-ups of his face and of his fingers on the keys.

As Riley continues to play the piano, we see it burst into flames. Riley continues to play through the second verse as it burns, but he has to stop partway through the next chorus as the flames are getting too close to his hands. He quickly moves away from the piano, removing his shoes, socks and vest so he can more easily bear the heat. Riley sees another vision of himself and his first wife through the flames. Picking up his discarded clothes, Riley wanders out further along the beach, continuing to sing as he leaves behind the burning piano. As Riley reaches the bridge, he puts his vest back on, continuing to sing as he walks along the shoreline. He stops to look out across the water, and sees another vision of his first wife, this time up in the sky. Riley is not in this vision; instead it is his ex-wife and her new lover, looking incredibly happy together. Feeling completely crushed, Riley removes his vest again, as well as the rest of his clothes (keeping his back to the camera, and when he removes his pants he is shot from the waist up) before curling up into the fetal position on the sand. He is doing this right as the tide has risen so he and all his clothes are swept away out to sea.

Chart Performance
'Nothing Hurts Like Love' charted at #6 on January 16th, 2011, with sales of 51,126 copies. Like its predecessor, it saw some minor success, selling more than "Haven't Met You Yet" even though it only spent 4 weeks on chart. Again, it did not sell enough to be certified. The song had a minor level of airplay, charting only in the lower portion of the chart. It saw some moderate activity on the download chart, with 33,674 digital copies sold in two weeks. In America, the song was a hit on the Hot AC and AC radio formats, reaching top 10 on both. The song peaked in the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 107,751
 * Week 1: #6 - 51,126
 * Week 2: #12 - 31,258
 * Week 3: #20 - 17,556
 * Week 4: #34 - 7,811