Dissecting "How Do I Live" by Trisha Yearwood & by LeAnn Rimes - 1997

1997 takes us back to a moment in time when it made sense for a Nicholas Cage movie to have two different divas record the same Diane Warren song for it. And we're taking advantage of the opportunity for a two-fer, as we look at both Trisha Yearwood's & LeAnn Rimes's parallel hits: 1997's "How Do I Live". Though the different renditions seemed like a big deal at the time, we admit that in hindsight, the two are nearly interchangeable, and neither is particularly "country" in any meaningful sense. But what does that fact tell us about Diane Warren's composition? And if this song doesn't follow many of the typical distinctives we've found in country music, what does it do that made it work at the time?