A Couple Minutes

The song is built on a sample from "We Had True Love" (1971) by the band Hot Chocolate (from Cleveland, Ohio), written by Louis Ragland and James Hawkins. The song is influenced by the Motown sound^[1][2] and Clairo's album Charm.^[3] Over a violin instrumental,^[4] Olivia Dean sings about reconnecting with a past lover,^[4][5] exploring the intimacy of the moment, however brief it may be.^[5] She finds a silver lining in their unsuccessful relationship,^[2] suggesting that although they are now distant from each other, their mutual affection remains,^[4][5] and notes that "Love's never wasted when it's shared".^[2][4]

Thomas Smith of Billboard ranked "A Couple Minutes" as the sixth best song from The Art of Loving, describing that the soundscape "perfectly suits Dean's aesthetic and talents" and praising how the influences shape the song.^[3] Adele Julia of The Line of Best Fit wrote "it's in the album's quietest moment that Dean delivers her most compelling performance yet. Tucked between all the carefully-styled numbers rests 'A Couple Minutes' – a soft interlude that stands apart from the rest, feeling like a glimpse of calm after the grandiose spectacle of Saturday night. There's no disputing that Dean can float seamlessly between these two worlds, but there's an undeniable pull about her performance here; away from the orchestrated drama, her voice lilted under a soft spotlight, against a bed of raw harmonies. Almost like a lullaby, conjuring something oddly familiar from the distant past, she recalls a run-in with an ex."^[5]