The single peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's ninth top-10 entry, as well as the fourth top-ten single from the parent album.[4] Additionally, it peaked at number 38 on the UK Singles Chart in 1988, after reaching number 76 two years earlier during its original release.[5]
The track functions as a love song that describes a new romantic relationship which falls into place without any interpersonal conflict or even real effort. The song's title phrase is employed twice: both when the narrator describes the new relationship as being like "nothin' at all" (compared to everything else that she's previously experienced) and additionally when she asks the song's subject what he did to make falling in love so easy (him giving the exact response of "nothin' at all").
The music video for "Nothin' at All" touches on the lyrical content of the song only abstractly and features a combination of comedic elements such as Ann and Nancy Wilson debating each other on fashion choices as well as numerous moments of a large black panther stalking different environments in a darkened building. The clip additionally displays band members either miming to the track or pretending to play instruments. As of December 2022, it has been well-received on YouTube, with the release featuring over nine million views.[6]
Reception
The U.S. publication Cash Box stated that "Ann Wilson’s ever exhilarating vocal force is dynamic as ever here, aided by sizzling rock guitar musicianship."[7]
Music critic Joe Viglione of AllMusic praised the track for how it "explodes off the turntable", in his view, and he additionally remarked that it incorporates a "mix which is arguably producer Ron Nevison's finest moment." He commented how, musically, the track represents an embrace of the new wave and power pop styles of radio-friendly rock songs of the early to middle 1980s by Heart, bringing the group in line with the spirit of contemporary U.S. bands such as The Cars.[1]
