The single is a big departure from the sleazy rock characteristic of the previous two albums, and has a far more warm and acoustic sound to it. The single had various producers: "Positivity" was produced by John Leckie, "One Love", "Superstar" and "Colours" were produced by Stephen Street, "Simon" was produced by Suede and Ken Thomas, "Cheap" was produced by Suede and Dick Meaney while "Campfire Song" was produced by Suede and Alex Silva. Initially Brett Anderson liked the song and considered it one of his favourites on the album prior to its release. However, his views on the song would later change, saying: "When I first wrote it I thought it was a masterpiece but soon realized that many people were genuinely offended by it." On the meaning of the song, Anderson said it's about "someone who's really close to me, who doesn't have much in life but manages to deal with it incredibly well." The video for the title song was directed by Julian Gibbs.
Critical reception
The single garnered mixed reviews from fans and critics. Paul McNamee of NME felt that the song lacked the "affected social commentary" of the songs from Coming Up and that Anderson's lyrics were of a lower standard. In conclusion, he offered the band the following advice: "For the love of God chaps, you still have fans. Go quietly now, and they'll remain true." Ben Gilbert of Dotmusic rated the song four out of ten. He wrote: "'Positivity' finds Anderson, who now looks more like a body builder than a smack-infested rock'n'roll poet, using credit card as a rather desperate metaphor for love. There is precious little here to suggest Suede have anything left in the tank, amidst a lame swathe of breezy strings." Julie MacCaskill of the Daily Record contrasted the single with their earlier material, which she described as being "so miserable they had a black cloud following them all the way up the charts." However, her views on "Positivity" were more promising, saying: "the band return with an altogether more upbeat approach to life, the universe and music. As the title suggests this is a substantially chirpier Suede, and it's a very welcome reinvention." Despite the negativity surrounding the song, "Positivity" reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart and number one in Denmark, making it the third European number-one single by the band after "Trash", which topped the Finnish Singles Chart in August 1996; and "Beautiful Ones", which topped the Icelandic Singles Chart in November 1996.
