Stephanie Mills, Never Knew Love Like This Before | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 193rd edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Never Knew Love Like This Before” by Stephanie Mills.   

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 193^rd edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Never Knew Love Like This Before” performed by Stephanie Mills.

“I never knew love like this before / Now I’m lonely never more / Since you came into my life.” Aww, Stephanie Mills, I’m so glad to hear it! She adds In the first verse of  “Never Knew Love Like This Before”, “Once I was lost and now I’m found / Then you turned my world around / When I need I call your name.” Ooh-wee! “Never Knew Love Like This Before” is the seventh track from Mills’ 1980, gold-certified album, Sweet Sensation.  Despite the album’s success, it is unavailable to stream and hard to come by in physical form. That’s a bummer.  However, Mills’ signature, gold-certified track graces multiple greatest hits compilations, including Gold from 2006. Her highest charting hit, “Never Knew Love Like This Before” peaked at no. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980. It also won the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. James Mtume and Reggie Lucas penned and produced the R&B gem.

“Never Knew Love Like This” is sublime in every facet.  The musical accompaniment is groovy and lush, characteristic of the R&B of the early 80s. We expect no less with James Mtume involved! The cool yet energetic sounds marvelously fuel Mills’ vocal fire.  Mills sings with ease. For much of the song, she sounds as if she never breaks a sweat.  Even with a cool, calm, and collected performance, the authenticity, energy, and passion are still piping hot.  This person is extra special to Mills, undoubtedly. In the second verse, she asserts, “You are my sunlight, and my rain / And time could never change / What we share forevermore.” Word. The chorus sums up the impenetrable love:

“‘Cause I never knew love like this before

Open my eyes

Cause I never knew love like this before

What a surprise

Cause I never knew love like this before.”

By the outro, Mills ‘lets it rip’ with sickening vocal ad-libs and riffs. “Never Knew Love Like This Before” is a timeless R&B song and the ‘ace-in-the-hole’ in Mills’ catalog.

Stephanie Mills // Gold // UMG Recordings, Inc. // 2006

Stephanie Mills, Never Knew Love Like This Before: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 193 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; UMG Recordings, Inc.; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]