The song was covered by British singer Karen Ramirez and released as her second single from the album, Distant Dreams in 1998 with the shorter title of "Looking for Love". This version peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart in June 1998 and topped the US Hot Dance Club Play chart in 2001. It additionally peaked at number five in Hungary and number 10 in Italy. On the Eurochart Hot 100, "Looking for Love" reached number 45 in August 1998.
Ramirez's version of the song was well received and garnered mainly positive reviews from critics. Coincidentally, while Ramirez never denied that the song was a cover version of an Everything but the Girl release, her version also drew comments from UK music critics of the era for its similarity to another Everything but the Girl release, "Missing", from 1995, as well as The Corrs' 1998 cover version of Fleetwood Mac's song "Dreams", both of which were remixed and produced by Todd Terry. Despite having several of the same Todd Terry hallmarks as the two aforementioned songs (most notably, a standalone introduction edited into the main song, and a recurring synth loop combined with a prominent drumbeat), contrary to popular belief in the UK music press at the time, Todd Terry had no involvement whatsoever in Ramirez's record.
Critical reception
Daily Record called "Looking for Love" a "strong R&B hit".[2] Richard Wallace from Daily Mirror stated that "the hypnotic cover" of Everything But The Girl's "I Didn't Know I Was Looking for Love" "was a beguiling introduction to the talents of Ms Ramirez".[3]Music & Media wrote that "this English soul singer first really made her mark as a lead vocalist for Italian dance production team Souled Out. After the project was finished, all involved concluded that the collaboration had been successful to such an extent that it deserved some kind of follow up. Work on Ramirez' debut album Distant Dreams accordingly began soon after. The first single Troubled Girl was reasonably successful and expectations for this underrated gem written by Everything but the Girl are justifiably high."[4]Smash Hits said that this remix could do for Karen Ramirez what Fatboy Slim's mix of "Brimful Of Asha" did for Cornershop. They added, "These housey beats increase the funk factor ten-fold without losing the delicious vocals or hummable tune. A rare dance choon that sounds just as good off the dancefloor as on it. Bangin'!"[5]
Music video
In addition to extensive dance club and radio airplay, the music video for the song (which featured Ramirez walking around a house on a continuous loop, each time seeing previous versions of herself walking around the house) also enjoyed heavy rotation on both MTV and VH-1 throughout the summer of 1998.[citation needed]
