"The Promise of a New Day" is the second single (and lead-off track) from American artist Paula Abdul's album Spellbound. The song was written by Peter Lord and V. Jeffrey Smith. The single was released to radio while the hit "Rush Rush" was still at the top of radio airplay and the pop charts.

The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 14, 1991, becoming Abdul's sixth chart-topping single, and her last #1 hit to date.

The video for the song was recorded in front of a green screen in Hawaii. However, since Abdul was unable to film the clip due to other commitments, she shot the necessary scenes elsewhere, which were then edited into the video.

The video caused controversy when originally aired mainly because it appeared to make Abdul look thinner than she actually was. However, on Pop Up Video, VH1 (and Abdul in a filmed segment) secured that the clip had been edited in such a way as to make the dancers appear closer together.

In that same episode, Abdul admitted that she fell in heels during filming of the dance sequences.

US Promo 5" CD

UK 12" Record

US Cassette

The song was covered by American indie band Mirror Ball Associates for the album Covers Vol. 1, which features Paul Durham (lead singer of Black Lab) on vocals.