Songfacts®:

• In this sensual, R&B-influenced ballad, Savage Garden tell the story of two lovers trying to figure out what they want in a relationship. Darren Hayes, the vocalist/lyricist of the duo, told Apple Music how the song fit into the overall scheme of the album, saying: "A lot of this record, when I'm speaking in the first person, lyrically, is really just 'Wow, I've got all these big feelings, I don't know who I am. I didn't know what's going to become of my life and I'm just going to jump in the deep end.' And it might be why that record connected the way that it did with young people. Because when I looked out into the audience, I saw young people that looked like I did and they dressed like I did. It was when the internet first exploded and chat rooms first exploded and you could have this kind of identity and you could hide behind an avatar. That you could express what you really felt. 'Universe' is talking about that. It's a song about second-guessing your own emotions and just really young, youthful love, innocent, naive love, and insecurity, which we were all buckets full of."
• According to Daniel Jones, the composer/guitarist half of Savage Garden, this started out as a guitar-based groove that "sounded like Eric Clapton had met Joe Satriani in a pub and said, 'Let's go home now and write a song.'" Once Hayes got involved, the singer started bringing in R&B elements inspired by Smokey Robinson and Janet Jackson. Jones said the tune was indicative of a band that hadn't yet found their sound. "'Universe' was a little bit of a 'we aren't 100% sure who we are so lets have a go at writing this R&B-like, sultry, sexual beautiful song that you'd want to make love to.' And I think it was a little bit of Darren's R&B flavor that he has and then it was probably fused with my English big -sweep synthesizers and kind of ambient seductive feel. It was really a song that was a bit of an experiment because we were trying to figure out who Savage Garden were at the time because it was undiscovered."
• This appears on the duo's self-titled debut album. It was also released as a single in their native Australia, where it peaked at #26.
• The album propelled the Aussie duo to international fame, landing in the Top 10 in several countries, including the UK (#2) and the US (#3). Despite their success - or because of it - Savage Garden split up after one more album. Jones was uncomfortable with the spotlight and Hayes wanted to pursue a solo career.