Half A Woman, Half A Shadow

www.dailyroxette.com/rox40

Closing off the ‘Look Sharp!’ ‘singles’ era with perhaps one of the most overlooked songs in the Rox catalogue. The wonderfully understated ‘Half A Woman, Half A Shadow’.

Disclaimer: This artwork is an unofficial fan-made mock-up created in good faith for editorial and creative discussion only – there could possibly be mistakes, no one's perfect. The mock-up does not represent an official Roxette release, past or present, and is not endorsed by Roxette, their Management, or Record Label. No physical or digital products exist and nothing shown here is for sale, ever. All images, names, and likenesses are used for illustrative purposes only and remain the property of their respective copyright holders. No copyright infringement is intended, and no commercial use is made or implied. Here's a list of almost all our mock-ups so far. Enjoy! Thanks!

Written by Per, with music by Marie to Per’s lyrics. Amazing. You may even recognise some similarities here and there with Marie’s solo track, ‘Efter Stormen’?

While it might not have been 100% single material, the song demonstrates their collective range and proves Roxette were not just hook and single machines.

Beneath the lacquered pop exterior, there’s introspection and ambiguity. If ‘The Look‘ is the flash of a camera, ‘Half A Woman, Half A Shadow’ is the moment after the flash, when your eyes adjust and you notice what’s actually there. It’s emotional, effortless, pop with heart.

We love it at TDR, and not only is it overlooked, it’s also something of an oddity within the Roxette catalogue:
To date, we only have ONE version. No demo, or indeed demos. No live recordings. No acoustic versions. No remixes. It stands alone, yet still manages to shine.

Currently on Streaming

01 Half A Woman, Half A Shadow (Album Version)

* we know one track is not an EP, we’re merely highlighting the oddity of it being alone.

Missing from Streaming

What’s missing? Well, your guess is as good as ours at the moment. We got a brief glimpse of what appears to be an acoustic rehearsal backstage in the brilliant ‘Roxette Diaries’ documentary, which sounded fantastic. However, nothing more ever surfaced.

There was also a long standing rumour that it was played in Vienna during the ‘Look Sharp!’ Tour. Alas, we can confirm, now having the full concert bootleg in our possession, that sadly this wasn’t the case and it never featured in the Vienna setlist. A shame, especially considering the incredible performances of ‘Listen To Your Heart’, ‘I Call Your Name’ and ‘Silver Blue’ from that gig.

For now, ‘Half A Woman, Half A Shadow’ ironically remains in the shadows.

Maybe #ROX40 will finally bring it back into the light? The song carries even deeper meaning now.

Two Covers for this one, seeing as it needs some love and attention. Go give it a play. It deserves it.

We also loved re-reading the track-by-track commentary in the Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary booklet, especially the story of Jonas being tipsy on red wine during the recording of the track. Brilliant

We asked Per too only this morning for his own memories on the track:

“Nothing special to remember about this one. Marie didn’t write English lyrics at that time, so she got a bunch from me. Half A Woman, Myth, Turn To Me, Voices, etc. She made beautiful music for all of them. It stood out nicely from my style”. PG/3rd March 2026.

Alas, still no OFFICIAL confirmation as to what, if anything exists in The Roxette Vault, for this otherwise solitary track.

It remains very lonely out there in the world, and still in the shadows…