Va - Walt Disney Records Presents- Love Hits -1998- 1 Instant

Where else in 1998 would you find sitting next to a song about a mermaid? This track was from The Mirror Has Two Faces —an MGM film. But Disney owned the distribution rights? Or maybe they just needed to fill 72 minutes. Regardless, hearing Streisand’s adult belting immediately followed by "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" created a jarring, wonderful whiplash.

Then there is the Air Bud soundtrack entry. Yes. Air Bud . The movie about a basketball-playing golden retriever. Somehow, a love ballad from that film—likely titled something like "Kicking & Screaming"—is on this record. This album argues, convincingly, that the love between a boy and his dog is indistinguishable from the love between a prince and a princess. What makes Love Hits so deeply melancholic in retrospect is what it doesn't have. VA - Walt Disney Records Presents- Love Hits -1998- 1

There is a specific, almost sacred corner of the late 90s that doesn’t smell like teen spirit or sound like a boy band’s falsetto. It smells like Chlorox wipes and stale popcorn, and it sounds like a slightly warped cassette tape playing through the auxiliary speakers of a Ford Windstar minivan. Where else in 1998 would you find sitting

Three magic carpets out of five. 🧞‍♂️ Or maybe they just needed to fill 72 minutes

This implies there was going to be a Love Hits Vol 2 . To my knowledge, it never came. At least, not in this exact compilation format. Disney pivoted to Disney Mania and Radio Disney Jams . The "Love Hits" concept was a brief, soft-rock aneurysm the company had right before the turn of the millennium.