THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME

ON THE SURFACE, pop-soul sensations All-4-One and country star John Michael Montgomery have as much in common as Kathie Lee Gifford and Camille Paglia. Yet both Atlantic artists scored No. 1 hits in 1994 with the same song, the hyperromantic ''I Swear.'' The two earned separate Grammy nominations -- in the pop and country performance categories, respectively -- and sang the tune together at last year's Grammy Awards, though only All-4-One came away winners. This year, in a turn of events that hints at record-company dealmaking, both artists are, again, up for Grammys for the same song, the similarly lush ''I Can Love You Like That.'' ''It may be hard to believe, but it's definitely a coincidence,'' says All-4-One vocalist Delious. In 1994, it was Doug Morris, then co-CEO of Atlantic, who persuaded All-4-One to record the Montgomery hit ''I Swear.'' But this time, says new Atlantic chief Val Azzoli, it was pure serendipity. Or was it? Noting the crossover phenomenon of ''I Swear,'' the writers of ''I Can Love You Like That,'' Steve Diamond, Maribeth Derry, and Jennifer Kimball, made pop and country demos and sold them separately to the label mates. At first, no one at Atlantic knew that Montgomery and All-4-One had retraced their platinum steps. Then Azzoli played Montgomery's version for Morris. Azzoli recalls, ''Doug started shaking because he'd just gotten All-4-One's recording that day.'' Despite Azzoli's initial consternation, he says there's nothing unusual about artists from different genres pursuing the same song: ''I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.'' Even so, Delious insists All-4-One will be warier in the future. ''John Michael's cool,'' he says, ''but we don't want to be known as the guys that do country songs.''