Remembering Baby Baby 2.0

After hitting international crossover pay dirt with the innocent 1991 No. 1 hit “Baby Baby,” Amy Grant‘s career was definitely in motion. The Heart In Motion album from the contemporary Christian singer, containing the breakout hit, even yielded a number of Top Ten favorites. The pressure to cook a second batch of sound-a-likes were in order from A&M, which gave birth to her follow-up album House of Love.

“Lucky One,” the album’s lead single and the first of the batch, could easily be coined a easy-bake sequel to “Baby Baby.” It featured the same production team (Keith Thomas) and almost the same dreamy bubblegum pop flavor. The strategy of smart songwriting, sympathetic to the heart of Christian bookstores, is also implemented (“You’re the kind that I want to be with in the dark and you’re the kind/Who is capturing my heart”). When Grant wants to wander away like the Prodigal Son, she turns to sweet “doo doos” to cover up those carnal lusts. But judgmental conservatives were already putting two and two together; “Lucky One” was her love letter to reigning country king Vince Gill, who joined her for a duet on the album’s title track. This was a bit of a no-no to that audience, since Grant was still married to Christian singer Gary Chapman (Gill too was married). The bubbly pop song didn’t match the international fervor of “Baby Baby,” but it came pretty close as it soared to the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1994. It would be Grant’s last time seeing that kind of pinnacle on the Hot 100.