Give Your Heart a Break

Background

Originally, it was announced the second single from the album "Who's That Boy" (featuring Dev), but later was scrapped due to Dev's pregnancy. "Give Your Heart a Break" was written and produced by Josh Alexander and Billy Steinberg, who are known for their work on The Veronicas' sophomore studio album, Hook Me Up, as well as JoJo's "Too Little Too Late". Alexander is credited with having a bigger hand in the song's production, handling all the instruments while programming, recording and engineering the song. Chris Garcia shared engineering credits with Alexander while Scott Roewe is credited with providing logic and pro tools technology. According to MTV, Lovato explained that despite the play on the word "heartbreak" in the title, the song is about the exact opposite. "Last year I began working on a song about a different kind of love," she said. "It's a song about showing someone you love that you're the one right in front of them. This is a song about faith."

Composition

"Give Your Heart a Break" is three minutes and twenty five seconds long. The song uses the instruments such as the suspenseful strings that sounds similar to that used in Coldplay's "Viva la Vida". According to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com by Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., "Give Your Heart a Break" is written in the key of G♭ major. It is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 123 beats per minute. The song follows the chord progression of C♭2–G♭–A♭m7 (add 4)–D♭. Lovato's vocals span over two octaves, from E♭₃ to F♯₅.

Critical reception

Joe DeAndrea of AbsolutePunk praised "Mistake" and "Give Your Heart a Break" as ballads going "far and beyond anything in Lovato's prior arsenal. It sets a mark as to what should be expected from similar artists such as her, but in the process, distancing herself from being grouped with them becoming a solo entity." Jason Scott of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted that the song, along with "Mistake" and "Hold Up", feature "electrically forceful instrumentation". Jocelyn Vena of MTV complimented it as a smart dance song, along with "Hold Up".

In another extensive review, Laurence Green from musicOMH praised the track, calling it an "exceptionally brilliant track," while commenting that she "becomes the true pop heroine; backed up by infinitely bigger, better choruses." Sam Lansky, a writer and editor from MTV's Buzzworthy Blog, lauded the recording for presenting Lovato's vocals as a masterpiece and praised the production as "superb".

Chart performance

The song peaked Billboard Hot 100 at number 16, making Lovato's fifth highest peaking song. Also, it has peaked at number 12 on the US Adult Top 40 chart, number 1 on the US Pop Songs chart and became the longest climb by a female artist to #1 in the Pop Songs chart history. It also reached number 16 on the US Adult Contemporary chart and at number 21 on the US Digital Songs chart. In Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders), the song peaked at number 32, her first appearance and highest position on the chart and spent nine weeks on the chart. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 33, her third song to chart on the top 40 and has so far peaked at number 9, marking the first time Lovato had two Top 10 singles from one album in the country. In April 2014, the song was certified three-times platinum by the RIAA; as of October 2014, it has sold 2.1 million digital copies.

Music video

The music video for "Give Your Heart a Break" was filmed in late February 2012 and was directed by Justin Francis. It was premiered on E! on April 2, 2012. According to Lovato about "the new music video, i'm basically trying to convince a guy that i didn't break his heart, and we get into a fight and i try to win him over again" and "So I do something special for him at the end of the song".

The music video begins with Lovato and her boyfriend (portrayed by Alex Bechet) having an argument over the phone. After hanging up, she starts to recollect pictures and remember the memories of them together. Later, she walks to a place where her boyfriend in an apartment and pasting the photos collected by her on a wall. Each picture has a memory behind it, which is recounted by her. Lovato's boyfriend looks out the window as he sees a large collage of pictures, depicting a picture of them smiling. The video ends as Lovato walks away, as she turns around and smiles, confident that her plan has worked.

A lyric video was released on March 20, 2012, which features Lovato is sitting on the swing and writing the lyrics in a journal, right next to a waterfall and firepit, presumably writing her thoughts in the form of the song. At the end of the video, Lovato closes her journal and leaves it on the swing.

Live performances

On December 31, 2011, Lovato promoted the song at the MTV New Year's Eve's concert, which she co-hosted with Tyler Posey. Lovato performed the song at the People's Choice Awards on January 11, 2012, where she also received the "Best Pop Artist" award afterwards. On March 6, 2012, Lovato sang the single on Today. On March 15, 2012, Lovato performed the single from the top eleven results of American Idol season 11. The song was included on Lovato's set list for a free concert on July 6, 2012 as part of Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series. Lovato performed the song at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show on September 6, 2012. On September 25, 2012, Lovato performed the song on Katie Couric's talk show Katie. Lovato performed the song at the VH1 Divas 2012, with the theme dance party on December 16, 2012. Lovato performed the song with Fifth Harmony on the second-season finale of The X Factor on December 19, 2012. Lovato performed the song along with "Heart Attack" and "Neon Lights" at the 2nd Indonesian Choice Awards on May 24, 2015.

Credits and personnel

Mixed at Cryptic Studios in Los Angeles, California

Credits adapted from Unbroken liner notes.