"I Love I Hate" is a song by English singer and musician Neil Arthur, released on 24 January 1994 as the lead single from his debut solo studio album, Suitcase (1994).[3] It was written by Arthur and produced by Marius de Vries. It reached No. 50 in the UK and remained on the charts for two weeks.[4]
Upon its release, Music & Media wrote, "The ex-frontman of Blancmange returns at almost the same point where he left seven years ago. His synth-flavoured new wave of the early '80s is spiced up with dance beats."[9] Alan Jones of Music Week considered it to be "pleasant commercial fare from Arthur, albeit not as startlingly innovative as some of his work with Blancmange or the West India Company". He felt the song was a "likely Top 40 contender" which "should find favour with radio in its regular mix, while The Grid's deeper dance interpretations tie up the club end of things".[10] Jim Lawn of The Lennox Herald remarked that Arthur "delivers a reasonable single with a nice hook and some radical dance remixes by The Grid".[11]
Penny Kiley of the Liverpool Echo described it as a "pleasant electro-pop song that is less quirky than his previous work". She felt the inclusion of "Living on the Ceiling" as a bonus track on the CD issues of the single "suggests Neil may not be so confident in his new stuff".[12] Terry Staunton of NME was critical of the song, stating it "has 'ordinary' tattooed right across its forehead" and calling Arthur "a poor man's Pet Shop Boy if ever there was one" who "made a couple of decent records as half of Blancmange". He added, "A plain, tinny, synthetic backing track with the dullest of vocals across the top. Not in the least bit good in any way at all."[13]
In an article on 1980s New Wave band comebacks, Keith Creighton of Popdose described the song as "positively epic".[14] Barry Page of The Electricity Club, in a feature titled "30 Lost Songs of the CD Era", considered the song to be "rather pedestrian" in comparison to Arthur's "engaging" debut single "One Day, One Time".[15]
