Released June 15, 1989 (US) Label Virgin | Length 3:51 Writer(s) Elliot Wolff | |
Format CD Maxi
7"
12" Maxi
Cassette Genre Dance-pop
new jack swing | ||
"Cold Hearted" is a 1989 song by American singer Paula Abdul from the album Forever Your Girl, written and co-produced by Elliot Wolff. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the album's third song to top the US chart.
Contents
In the video for "Cold Hearted", Abdul dances for music executives with a group of semi-nude dancers, with Abdul wearing a fishnet dress which exposes her belly button. The scenery includes scaffolding upon which Abdul and her dancers hang and grind. The video was directed by David Fincher and spent more than three weeks on top of MTV's video rotation list. The inspiration for the video came from Bob Fosse's choreography of the "Take Off with Us" scene in the movie All That Jazz.
Composition
"Cold Hearted" is written in the key of G minor and follows a tempo of 122 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of Gm – E♭maj7 – Dm7, and Abdul's vocals span one-and-a-half octaves, from F3 to B♭4.
Charts
"Cold Hearted" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in September 1989, ending Richard Marx's three-week run at the summit with "Right Here Waiting". "Cold Hearted" ranked sixth in Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 of 1989. It spent a total of eight weeks within the Billboard top ten.
"Cold Hearted" was the final UK release from Forever Your Girl in 1990. It was issued in remixed form unlike in the US and elsewhere, where an edit of the album version was released instead. It charted on 29 September 1990 at #55, going on to peak at #46 the following week. This remixed version was the follow to the Shep Pettibone remix of "Knocked Out" which had reached #21 three months previously.
Track listings and formats
US/Euro 12"/Euro CD single
- Cold Hearted - 12" Extended mix 6:51
- Cold Hearted - House mix 6:42
- Cold Hearted - Dubstramental 5:43
- Cold Hearted - Percapella 3:54
- One or the Other - album track 4:10
UK CD single
- Cold Hearted - Chad Jackson 7" mix 3:51
- Cold Hearted - Chad Jackson Extended mix 5:43
- Cold Hearted - 12" Extended mix 6:51
- Cold Hearted - 7" mix 3:35 (unlisted)