Have a Nice Day is an album by Swedishpop duo Roxette, released in March 1999. This was the first international Roxette release in 4 years and their first brand new studio album since 1994's Crash! Boom! Bang! Overall, the album featured a more modern-dance feel as opposed to the traditional guitar driven pop tunes present on Joyride and Crash! Boom! Bang! Nonetheless, the new slick sound still maintained the recognisable Roxette trademark feel. The return of Roxette in 1999 resulted in the album selling nearly 5 million copies around the world, 3 million of that in Europe, thanks mainly to the lead single Wish I Could Fly The album was released around the world apart from US (due to no record label). It was re-released later the same year, including three songs in Spanish (tracks 15-17). "Wish I Could Fly", "Anyone", "Stars" and "Salvation" were released as singles. "Wish I Could Fly" was one of the most frequently played songs in Europe during 1999, and is seen as a comeback single. The single peaked at #11 on the UK charts and Roxette performed the moody ballad live on Top Of The Pops. The second single to be released from Have A Nice Day was the Bacarach inspired ballad Anyone. Initially thought to be the lead single, Per and Marie felt it would be too obvious for a first single and they chose to run with Wish I Could Fly instead. Anyone failed to make any impact on the charts mainly due to the controversial video directed by long-time collaborator, Jonas Akerlund. The video shot in Portugal, ends with a distressed Marie Fredriksson committing suicide. The video was banned by MTV Europe thus halting any potential for the single to grow. The watershed track of the album was the European dancefloor hit "Stars". A pure techno-driven dance number that divided Roxette purists. Some applauded the brave new steps undertaken by Roxette, whilst others were critical of their more Pop/Rock departure. "Stars" became the album's 3rd single and was a hit in Sweden and most of Europe. Interesting to note though, that in future Roxette recordings, no album nor song contained the synth driven dance hooks of Stars ever again. "It Will Take A Long Long Time", the 6th track on the album appeared in the Julia Roberts and Richard Gere romantic comedy 'Runaway Bride'. Incidentally, the film was directed by Garry Marshall of Pretty Woman fame which featured the ballad "It Must Have Been Love". Unfortunately for Roxette, the lush acoustic ballad "It Will Take A Long Long Time" did not make the soundtrack and the chance to have another huge ballad movie hit, as they did 9 years ago, never eventuated. Have A Nice Day was the first ever Roxette album to feature a track solely written by Marie Fredriksson. Both the words and music to the 4th track Waiting for the Rain were penned by Fredriksson. Past albums featuring Fredriksson's songwriting contribution were usually as a co-writer with Per Gessle. Waiting for the Rain has a 1960's Beatles feel to it and was performed live during the band's 2001 Room Service World Tour. The album cover also had to be slightly altered for the Middle-East market as the presence of naked babies on the sleeve was deemed offensive. A special "Latin" edition of the album was eventually released to capitalize on Roxette's popularity amongst the Spanish speaking territories. The album also featured a slightly altered sleeve with sky blue replacing the hot pink featured on the standard release. Tracks "Wish I Could Fly", "Anyone" and "Salvation" all received a Spanish treatment. The success of the 'Have A Nice Day' album saw Roxette win the 'Highest Selling Scandinavian Act' at the 2000 World Music Awards. For the Awards Gala, Roxette chose to perform lead single "Wish I Could Fly".
