}} }} On 28 November 2016, it was announced that
Steps would be performing at
G-A-Y on New Year's Eve to celebrate twenty years since they formed in 1997, with the
Official Charts Company speculating that the group would mark the anniversary with celebrations throughout 2017. On 6 March 2017, the group confirmed the release of a new single, album and tour to commemorate twenty years of Steps. They confirmed the title of the lead single to be "Scared of the Dark" and that it would precede the parent album,
Tears on the Dancefloor, which was released on 21 April 2017, and be supported by the accompanying
Party on the Dancefloor Tour in November and December 2017.
Claire Richards added that Andersson approved of their cover, saying "Benny really liked our take on it. He said it’s almost as good as his version!” On 12 May, Steps released a five-track remix
extended play which includes a radio mix and a club mix produced by Cutmore, as well as a new 7th Heaven club remix. Steps recorded their vocals separately due to difficulty of scheduling recording time for five members at the time same due personal schedules and other commitments, in addition to keeping their twentieth anniversary plans a secret from the public and the media. Aside from "Story of a Heart", having been written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA for Andersson's band, Steps had previously covered songs by Andersson and Ulvaeus, "
I Know Him So Well" from their musical
Chess and ABBA's "
Lay All Your Love on Me", as well as the medley "
Thank ABBA for the Music", for the
ABBAmania tribute album (1999), They also covered "
Dancing Queen" as a bonus track for their second
greatest hits album
The Ultimate Collection (2011). Brandon Veevers of
Renowned for Sound wrote that Steps covering another ABBA song, or a song written by some of its members, as "destined to happen at some point during the Steps story" and that it seemed right that they accepted Andersson's offer for them to record "Story of a Heart". He also wrote that compared to the lead single "
Scared of the Dark", and the promotional single "You Make Me Whole", "Story of a Heart" "sounds most like the Steps fans grew to love in the late '90s." Writing for
Gay Times, Lewis Corner praised the track, describing it as "soaring" and "nostalgic". Shaun Kitchener of the
Daily Express noted that "Story of a Heart" is the closest song to a ballad on the album but does not interrupt the overall tempo. The track garnered a mixed response from Hannah J. Davies of
The Guardian, writing that it is "a crooning cover of an already crooning number by Abba’s Benny and Björn." Steps have performed "Story of a Heart" live on ''
Big Brother's Bit on the Side, Weekend and Lorraine''.
Formats and track listings Digital download - Remix EP • "Story of a Heart" (Cutmore Radio Mix) – 3:31 • "Story of a Heart" (7th Heaven Club Mix) – 7:38 • "Story of a Heart" (Cutmore Club Mix) – 4:51 • "
Scared of the Dark" (7th Heaven Club Mix) – 6:56 • "Scared of the Dark" (
Wideboys Step It Up Club Mix) – 4:26
Tears On The Dancefloor - The Singles Collection (4CD Box Set) CD2 - Story of a Heart • "Story of a Heart" – 4:17 • "Story of a Heart" (7th Heaven Club Mix) – 7:39 • "Story of a Heart" (7th Heaven Radio Mix) – 3:33 • "Story of a Heart" (Cutmore Club Mix) – 4:51 • "Story of a Heart" (Cutmore Radio Edit) – 3:31 • "Story of a Heart" (Cutmore Dub) – 4:31 • "Glitter & Gold" (Rescue Rangerz Radio Mix) – 4:00 • "Glitter & Gold" (Rescue Rangerz Club Mix) – 5:16 • "Firefly" (Ste Ingham Radio Edit) – 3:36 • "Firefly" (Ste Ingham Club Mix) – 5:37
Credits and personnel • Lead vocals – Faye Tozer, Claire Richards, Lisa Scott-Lee • Background vocals – Lee Latchford Evans, Ian "H" Watkins • Songwriting – Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus • Production – The Alias • Keyboards and programming – Julian Gingell, Barry Stone, Carl Ryden • Guitars – James Nisbet • Mixing – Pete Hofmann Credits adapted from the liner notes of
Tears on the Dancefloor.
Charts Release history ==References==