Only Love Can Hurt Like This is one of Paloma Faith’s defining songs, even though she did not write it herself. Released in May 2014 as the second single from A Perfect Contradiction, the song was written by Diane Warren, one of the most successful pop songwriters of the last four decades.
The track peaked at number six on the UK Official Singles Chart, making it Paloma Faith’s highest-charting solo single at the time.
“Nobody says no to me. I’m Diane Warren.”
Speaking on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Paloma Faith explained how she was first approached by Warren, whose catalogue includes hits for Cher, Whitney Houston, Céline Dion and Toni Braxton.
“They said to me, ‘Diane Warren wants to meet you in LA.’ I was like, ‘Why does she want to meet me? How does she even know I exist?’”
Faith arrived expecting a formal industry meeting. Instead, she was met by Warren’s blunt confidence and famously colourful language.
“She swears a lot. Her favourite word was the C-word. I won’t use that word, let’s just substitute the worst word in the English language for “tuppence”. She said, ‘Hey, tuppence, I wrote a song for you. Wanna sing it?’”
Faith declined on the spot, explaining that she usually only sang songs she had written herself.
“I said, ‘I don’t really sing songs written by other people, so probably not.’
And she said, ‘Nobody says no to me. I’m Diane Warren.’”
Faith still walked away without hearing the song. Nine months later, Warren called her again.
“She rang me and said, ‘Hey, tuppence, it’s Diane. Have you thought about that song yet?’ I said, ‘I haven’t even heard it.’
She played it to me down the phone. She’s not pitch perfect. She sang it herself, and I just melted. I honestly thought to myself, you can call me what you want, babe. This is the best song I’ve ever heard.”
As a thank-you, she had a necklace made for Warren, engraved with Warren’s favourite swear word, a gesture that neatly summed up the songwriter’s reputation and their now-solid bond.
Why the song resonated so deeply
In a separate piece to camera, Faith explained why the lyrics struck such a nerve when she finally listened.
“I was in a long distance relationship with someone in New York and I live in London. I really thought that he was it and the one I wanted to be with. And I kept pretending to myself that it wasn’t as significant as I deep down knew it was. I thought that I’d met the one that I was going to be with, but could never be with.”
She described being in emotional pain while trying to downplay the seriousness of the relationship, something the song articulated with uncomfortable accuracy.
“That song really summed up that moment in time for me.”
The BRIT Awards performance
The song reached a wider audience following Paloma Faith’s performance at the 2015 BRIT Awards, where she sang Only Love Can Hurt Like This in a staged downpour, accompanied by dancers from the Wayne McGregor Company.
Years later, Faith explained the practical limits of the spectacle.
“It was a bit mad because we could only have the water raining on me for 30 seconds because of health and safety. I might get electrocuted.”
The performance was also personally significant. Wayne McGregor had mentored Faith when she was a teenager, making the appearance a full-circle moment in her career.
UK critics praised the performance for its restraint and emotional clarity, often citing it as one of the strongest live moments of the ceremony.
