Ric Wake | Through the Shattered Lens

There’s something timeless about Taylor Dayne’s “Love Will Lead You Back.” It’s one of those late‑’80s power ballads that seems to wrap you in equal parts heartbreak and hope. The production has that cinematic touch — sweeping keys, smooth percussion, and Dayne’s powerhouse vocals soaring right at the emotional peak. You can practically imagine it playing in the background of a classic movie breakup scene, the kind where one person turns away but everyone watching knows they’ll find their way back to each other.

What really hits about this song is how honest it feels about love’s cycles — that idea that no matter how far two people drift, fate has a way of reconnecting them when the time is right. Dayne’s delivery balances vulnerability and strength; she’s not begging, she’s believing. The lyrics have that emotional confidence that was so characteristic of ballads from that era, blending idealism and maturity in a way that feels comforting even decades later.

Listening to it now, the song carries a kind of nostalgic magic. It brings you back to a time when love songs weren’t afraid to be grand and achingly sincere. Maybe it’s the warm analog production or the fearless emotion in Dayne’s voice, but it reminds you how music used to make you stop for a moment — just to feel. It’s a track that doesn’t just tell you love will lead you back; it makes you believe it.

Love Will Lead You Back

Saying goodbye is never an easy thing
But you never said that you’d stay forever
So if you must go, well darlin’, I’ll set you free
But I know in time that we’ll be together

Oh, I won’t try to stop you now from leaving
‘Cause in my heart I know

Love will lead you back
Someday I just know that
Love will lead you back to my arms
Where you belong
I’m sure, sure as stars are shining
One day you will find me again
It won’t be long
One of these days our love will lead you back

One of these nights
Well, I’ll hear your voice again
You’re gonna say
Oh, how much you miss me
You’ll walk out this door
But someday you’ll walk back in
Oh, darling I know
Oh, I know this will be

Sometimes it takes
Some time out on your own now
To find your way back home

Love will lead you back
Someday I just know that
Love will lead you back to my arms
Where you belong
I’m sure, sure as the stars are shining
One day you will find me again
It won’t be long
One of these days our love will lead you back

But I won’t try to stop you now from leaving
‘Cause in my heart I know, oh yeah

Love will lead you back
Someday I just know that
Love will lead you back to my arms
It won’t be long
One of these days our love will lead you back

“Is this really love or just a game?”

This question was brought up by a song which debut during my freshman year in high school. That song was Taylor Dayne’s “Tell It to My Heart”. A question that probably still perplexes teens today as it did over twenty years ago.

Dayne was part of the freestyle and dance pop wave that was hitting the U.S. during the mid-80’s. Their songs was easy to digest, made one’s feet start a-tappin’ and one couldn’t help but want to go out and start dancing. Well, I wasn’t one of them but I still love this song. Dancing was the sort of activity that I wasn’t so keen on during my first two years in high school. Hell, it’s still not something I go out of my way to do, but I’m not as gun shy when at an event where dancing is a possibility.

I think what attracted me to this song was the video itself. Taylor Dayne made for a fine figure of a woman and she definitely came off a quite fierce in this song’s video. It might be due to the huge hair plus the bangs crimped up, but this video and Dayne still works even two decades removed from seeing it for the first time.

Though I will say that the acid-wash jeans jacket and pants her back-up dancers wear don’t quite make the cut. I’m so glad I never owned a pair even when they were “popular” back in the day.