Half A Woman, Half A Shadow

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’.

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“Wash my pain away…”

Written by Per, with music by Marie to Per’s lyrics. 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 asked Per 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”.

Per Gessle, A quick chat with TDR, March 2026

We also giggled 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 love the song here 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 version. No remixes. It stands alone, yet it still manages to shine.

We did get 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.

Alas, still no OFFICIAL confirmation as to what, if anything, exists in The Roxette Vault, for this otherwise solitary track. Maybe #ROX40 will finally bring it back into the light? The song carries even deeper meaning now.

It remains very lonely out there in the world, and still half a shadow…

★ Currently on Streaming

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

* Yes! We know one track is not an EP, we’re merely highlighting the oddity of this one being all alone in the world.

★ Missing from Streaming

Well, your guess is as good as ours at the moment.