In 1994, Abdul took a break on her music career to focus on her personal life. Her marriage to Emilio Estevez ended with them filing for divorce, and she sought treatment for bulimia. "I was so sad, I just needed to be filled up. It was like I was trying to fill this big empty hole", she said. This experience gave her strength to work on a third album, Head over Heels, her most honest and personal project. "I took all the stuff I was afraid to face, and put it in my music", the singer said.[7] Abdul also stated that, "It's a completely different space and time for me. I've experienced some spiritual growth that has allowed me to really get back to what I enjoy doing best. And that's being totally connected to the creative source as a recording artist and dancer".[8]
For Head over Heels, Abdul decided to work with an array of different producers. According to her: "I've now experienced both sides. On my first album, I worked with seven producers; on 'Spellbound' I worked with only a few. Going into my third album, I wanted to again experiment with many different people and flavors". At the same time, "I went into this album thinking I didn't want to be in any compromising situations, as I was at times, on my last two albums. Going into the studio and creating an album is a very intimate experience. I'm now more involved in the production end of my songs. I'm unafraid to state what my feelings and opinions are. All my producers were so open to my input and they were very honest. They said, 'Thank God you thought of that'. It was a good feeling."[8]
Commercial performance
Head over Heels did not do as well as Abdul's previous albums, as it was much more experimental than her previous efforts and therefore had a difficult time finding an audience. It was a commercial disappointment in terms of chart performance and sales. It was Abdul's weakest selling album to date, only going gold; it was also Abdul's lowest peaking album on the Billboard 200 to date, peaking at number 18, and it quickly fell off the charts soon after.[9] The album managed to become her lowest selling studio album (in terms of international sales) in her career. After the relative failure of the album, Abdul left the music scene and ventured into acting and returned to choreographing.
Three singles were released from Head over Heels. The first single, "My Love Is for Real", was the only Top 40 single from the album, peaking at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.[10] The following single, "Crazy Cool" peaked at number 58[10]. However, both of them were more successful on the US Dance Club Songs chart, with the former topping it (her only song to do so).[11] The last single from the album, "Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up", reached number 12 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.[12] A fourth single, "If I Were Your Girl" was due to be released, but was cancelled after disappointing album sales and the failure of "Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up".
