Played on Pepper and to curb piracy, Michael Learns to Rock released the greatest hits album Paint My Love in October 1996, primarily in Asia; the album sold 3.4 million copies. The song, "Paint My Love", is an English version of "Kun med dig" by Danish singers Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft, which was composed by Jascha Richter. The band was also chosen as the headliner for the 'Celebrate Hong Kong' concert on 6 July 1997, marking the transfer of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China. The album also topped the charts in South Africa with sales of more than 350,000 copies in South Africa alone. Mainstream Success in Asia — Nothing to Lose, second Greatest Hits compilation — MLTR & Strange Foreign Beauty (1997–1999) They released their fourth studio album, Nothing to Lose, was released in September 1997, and also sold more than 1.1 million copies. In an incident that showcased Michael Learns to Rock's popularity in Asia, 20,000 fake tickets were sold (more than twice the number of real ones) for a concert in Hanoi, Vietnam, in December 1997 and while the concert was on, those outside with fake tickets tried to break into the concert hall through the windows causing riot police to be deployed. The band travelled to South Africa in January 1998, playing sell-out concerts in Johannesburg and Pretoria, consequently taking Nothing to Lose to the top of the charts in South Africa. Soon after, the band's members took a break to spend time with their families and to develop projects on their own or in collaboration with other performers. They also decided to re-brand the band under the simpler name of MLTR. During the break, Richter wrote some new songs for the band, one of which is "Strange Foreign Beauty" that was later added to the 1999 greatest hits album Greatest Hits – Strange Foreign Beauty. In a process undertaken by MLTR for the first time, the song was made by compiling the best details from recordings of ideas made individually by the four members. This album included their previous hits, either remixed or refined in some way by notable international producers such as Chris Lord-Alge (for "Someday", "Something You Should Know" etc.), Cutfather & Joe (for "Sleeping Child") and the Swedish producer Per Magnusson (for the MLTR top hit "The Actor'"). This greatest hits album went to the top of the