Jam commented that "That's the Way Love Goes" was the perfect introduction into what the album was going to be. At one point in the recording in December 1992, they took a two-week break for the Christmas holidays and Jackson went to Anguilla. She asked Jam to make a cassette of tracks they were already working on to take with her on the trip. Two weeks later in January 1993, she was excited about the track, requesting that her producers put the track on the album and explaining that she played it non-stop while she was traveling. The producer recalled, "At about one in the morning, the intercom went off in my bedroom. She goes, 'Jimmy? Are you awake?' I said, 'I am now'. She said, 'I've got the concept. It's going to be called 'That's the Way Love Goes'.' Throughout the whole project, it was our favourite record. [...] there was something about that song that we just thought was so different and really captured that part of her life". In retrospect, Jackson called the song "relaxed and carefree", being "easy and fun, soft and seductive". When Virgin heads went to Minneapolis, Jackson and her producers played a rough cut for "If" for them. The executives felt it would be the first release from the album, and Jackson shared this feeling. However, Jam and Lewis, still wanted the label to release "That's the Way Love Goes" first. Jam recalled,