It’s 1984. Mick Jones is sitting in a room at 3 a.m., staring at a blank space, and suddenly, he isn't just writing a song; he’s channeling a prayer. Most people call it I want to feel what love is song, even though the official title starts with "know" instead of "feel." It doesn't really matter. Whether you're humming it in a grocery store aisle or screaming it at a karaoke bar, that specific yearning—that desperate, soaring need to finally understand human connection—is universal.
Foreigner was already a massive rock band by the mid-80s. They had hits like "Cold as Ice" and "Hot Blooded." But they were viewed as a "guy’s rock band." Then came this track. It wasn't just a pivot; it was a total emotional overhaul that nearly broke the band apart while simultaneously cementing their legacy forever.
👉 See also: Why The Walking Dead Jessie Anderson Deserved a Better Ending
Why I Want to Know What Love Is Still Hits Different
You've heard it a thousand times. But have you actually listened to it lately? The song starts with that icy, atmospheric synthesizer—a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, for the gear nerds out there—and Lou Gramm’s voice comes in sounding uncharacteristically vulnerable. He’s not the swaggering rock star here. He’s a guy who’s lost.
The brilliance of the I want to feel what love is song lies in its pacing. It starts as a lonely internal monologue and ends as a massive, communal exorcism. That’s thanks to the New Jersey Mass Choir. Bringing a gospel choir into a hard rock album in 1984 was a massive gamble. Mick Jones actually took a huge risk by including them because rock radio wasn't exactly known for embracing spiritual arrangements.
Honestly, the recording session was legendary for all the wrong reasons. Jones was a perfectionist. He pushed Gramm to the limit. There are stories of Gramm having to do take after take until his voice was raw, just to capture that specific "aching" quality that makes the chorus feel so real. It wasn't just studio magic. It was physical exhaustion turned into art.
The Gospel Connection and Jennifer Holliday
While the New Jersey Mass Choir gets the main credit, many fans don't realize the depth of the soul influence here. Jennifer Holliday, the Broadway powerhouse from Dreamgirls, was actually involved in the backing vocals. This added a layer of R&B grit that most "hair bands" of the era couldn't touch.
When that choir kicks in with "I want to know...", the song stops being about one man’s romantic troubles. It becomes a spiritual quest. It’s why the song works at weddings, funerals, and dive bars all at once. It’s a rare piece of pop culture that managed to bridge the gap between secular rock and sacred gospel without feeling like a gimmick.
The Friction Behind the Scenes
Success has a price. For Foreigner, the price was their internal chemistry. Mick Jones wrote the song largely on his own, which created tension with Lou Gramm. Gramm was a rock purist. He liked the loud guitars. He liked the grit. To him, this ballad felt like a departure from what Foreigner was "supposed" to be.
✨ Don't miss: Kristen Wiig SNL Audition: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes
- The song stayed at #1 for weeks in both the US and the UK.
- It pushed the album Agent Provocateur to triple platinum status.
- Ironically, the song's massive success made it harder for the band to return to their "rock" roots because the public now expected power ballads.
It’s a classic "be careful what you wish for" scenario. Jones found the universal truth he was looking for, but it shifted the band's identity so fundamentally that they struggled to find their footing in the years that followed. But hey, when you write one of the greatest songs in the history of recorded music, maybe that's a fair trade-off.
Common Misconceptions About the Lyrics
People often search for I want to feel what love is song because they misremember the hook. "Feel" vs. "Know." It's a subtle distinction, but it matters. "Feeling" is a sensation. "Knowing" is an epiphany. Jones was looking for the latter. He was coming off a period of intense personal reflection, and the song was his way of asking if love—true, selfless love—actually existed or if it was just a fairy tale told to sell records.
There’s also a weird rumor that the song is about a specific breakup. It isn't. Jones has stated in multiple interviews, including a deep dive with Songfacts, that it was more of a general spiritual searching. He felt "blindsided" by the melody. It came to him quickly, but the arrangement took months to perfect.
That 2026 Resurgence
In the last couple of years, we've seen a massive spike in younger listeners discovering the track through social media trends and cinematic placements. It has that "cinematic" quality that modern producers crave. It doesn't sound dated. Sure, the drums have that 80s reverb, but the emotional core is timeless.
If you look at the charts today, "vintage" sincerity is back in style. People are tired of over-processed, cynical pop. They want to hear someone actually sounding like they’re about to cry on the microphone. Gramm delivered that.
How to Truly Appreciate the Track Today
If you want to move beyond just hearing it on the radio, you have to look at the stems. Listen to the way the bassline stays steady while the synthesizers swirl.
- Listen on high-quality headphones: The layering of the choir is actually quite complex. There are about 30 voices in there, but they are mixed to sound like a thousand.
- Watch the music video: It’s a time capsule. It features the choir and the band in a way that feels very "of its time" but strangely grounded.
- Compare the covers: From Mariah Carey to Wynonna Judd, everyone has tried to tackle this. Mariah’s version brings out the R&B soul, but it’s hard to beat the desperate rasp of the original 1984 vocal.
The song is a masterclass in tension and release. It keeps you waiting. It builds. And builds. And then, when the choir finally explodes in the final third, it provides a catharsis that few other songs can match.
📖 Related: Where to Watch Ninja Assassin: Why This Bloody Classic is Hard to Find
Actionable Steps for Music Lovers
To get the most out of your journey into 80s power ballads and the history of this specific masterpiece, start with these steps:
Analyze the lyrics as poetry. Read the words without the music. You’ll notice the repetition of "I've got nowhere left to hide." It’s a song about vulnerability. If you're a songwriter, study how Jones uses simple, monosyllabic words in the chorus to make it easy to sing along to, while keeping the verses more complex.
Explore the Foreigner catalog. Don't just stop at the ballads. If you liked the emotional intensity of this song, check out "Waiting for a Girl Like You." But then, listen to "Juke Box Hero" to see the other side of the coin. Understanding the contrast between their hard rock and their ballads gives you a better appreciation for why this song was such a "shock" to the system in 1984.
Check out the New Jersey Mass Choir’s solo work. They are a legendary institution in their own right. Seeing how they brought their specific style to a British-American rock band is a fascinating study in musical crossover that paved the way for modern collaborations across genres.
The legacy of Foreigner's biggest hit isn't just in the royalty checks or the radio play. It’s in the fact that forty years later, people are still searching for the I want to feel what love is song because they are looking for that same connection. It’s a song that proves that sometimes, the most personal feelings are the ones that everyone else is feeling, too.