Heart Attack (Demi Lovato song)

Background and release

"Heart Attack" was produced by Mitch Allan and Jason Evigan of "The Suspex", who co-wrote the song along with Lovato, Sean Douglas, Nikki Williams, and Aaron Phillips. Nikki Williams said the song was written two years prior to its release. She explained: "At the time I was going through some relationship stuff, and I was just so depressed, so when I got into the session I thought, 'You know what? I'm gonna pour it all out there, and get it off my chest'". The song was first intended for Williams, but her record label rejected it. Pia Toscano then recorded the song in 2011 intending it for her debut album with Interscope, but it did not materialize. When Lovato heard the song, she recorded it before altering a few lyrics. In interview to MTV, Evigan explained:

"A lot of people wanted the song. And then Demi came in to do another song called 'Two Pieces' and then we played her 'Heart Attack' and she freaked out about it. So she came in to record it and then she actually had a couple of lyric changes that were really good. She added that super high note at the end and she added some really cool things to it and she brought that song to life. Now it's taking off.

According with her the first version also contained a dubstep breakdown, which was removed for Lovato. He also stated, "Demi has magic to it where she has so much sass in her voice but yet so much power and all those really high notes at the end, she added that on the spot." Williams described the song, said: "It's about me being really scared to fall in love again after being rejected, after feeling so fragile and vulnerable all the time — thinking, I don't know if I can do this ever again!" Lovato told on MTV, about the song's lyrical address to "falling in love and taking that risk". But, she's terrified and, by 'she,' I mean me. But, I think everyone comes to a point where they feel very vulnerable in falling in love and that's what I'm talking about." She explained.

A trailer of "Heart Attack" was released on February 12, 2013. The song was originally set to premiere on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, but leaked online on February 24, 2013, springing Hollywood Records' marketing department into early action. "I was having an Oscar party at my house when [the leak] went down, so I had to excuse myself and have a conference call," said Hollywood Records' head of global marketing Robbie Snow. One day after its leaked online, Hollywood Records quickly made the song premiered on iTunes Store, Spotify and other streaming services on February 25, 2013; pushed out an official Vevo clip of the song the same day, asked Seacrest to link his Twitter followers to the track; and debuted a lyric video on March 1, 2015 Lovato prompted fans to unlock the video by tweeting song lyrics and the hashtag #UnlockHeartAttack, which became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.

Composition

"Heart Attack" is an electropop song, with a length of three minutes and thirty seconds. The song is composed in the key of F minor and features a moderate tempo of 87 beats per minute. Lovato's vocal range spans from the low note of F₃ to a high note of G#5. In the first verses, Lovato sings among a "booming" beat: "Never put my love out on the line/ Never said 'yes' to the right guy... When I don't care/ I can play 'em like a Ken doll/ Won't wash my hair/ Then make 'em bounce like a basketball." The song features a power pop chorus where Lovato sings accompanied by a guitar.

Critical reception

Sam Lansky from Idolator described "Heart Attack" as "a monster electropop track with some impressive Kelly Clarkson-esque wailing, a little drum-and-bass-inspired instrumentation on the chorus and a catchy guitar loop." Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "the song is a big one, with pounding beats, earnest wailing, and some interesting lyrical choices." Maggie Malach of AOL Music gave a positive review, stating "Demi's last album had a strong R&B influence, but this song indicates she is going for a dancier vibe!" Billboard wrote that Lovato's sequel to "Give Your Heart a Break" continues in the vein of her cardiologically-themed singles and "demonstrates her maturing vocal range." Robert Copsey from Digital Spy deemed the song a "rare case of textbook pop that leaves a lasting impression" and gave it four stars out of five. Adam R. Holtz of Plugged In complimented the lyrical content of the song and its "infectious lilt of Lovato's proven pop vocal chops slathered over an up-to-the-minute EDM sonic foundation." Reviewing the album Demi, Amy Sciarretto from Artist direct wrote: "Heart Attack" is easily one of Lovato's best overall, mixing synthy tension and her better-than-most voice, at least when it comes to the teen pop genre. She is a decidedly more capable vocalist than so many of her peers, and she doesn't require the heavy effects, the processing or the studio tricks that they do."

Commercial performance

The song made a debut on the Billboard Pop Songs chart at number 35. Billboard predicted the song would debut on the American singles chart, the Hot 100, on the following week on March 4, 2013, with an expected sales figure of 200,000 in first-week digital downloads, surpassing "Skyscraper" by Lovato in 2011. Having sold 215,000 digital copies in the first week, "Heart Attack" debuted at number 12 on the Hot 100 on the week ending in March 8, 2013 and at the time was the 2nd highest debut weel sales of 2013. Along with the lead single's Hot 100 position, it debuted at number four on the Digital Songs chart and number 70 on the Radio Songs chart, falling just under the top twenty on the newly implemented Streaming Songs chart. On April 27, 2013, "Heart Attack" became Lovato's third top ten hit in the United States, reaching number 10. In April 2013, "Heart Attack" was certified gold by the RIAA with sales brimming 500,000 in the space of only four weeks and as of 2014 has sold over 2,000,000 copies in the United States. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, "Heart Attack" debuted at number 3 becoming Lovato's highest charting single to date and received a silver certification for sales exceeding 200,000 units.

Music video

The lyric video was released on March 1, 2013. On the video, a series of hashtags was used by her fans on Twitter, with the lyrics of the song. Trevor Kelly, executive director of global digital marketing Disney Music Group, said: "We knew that we wanted to involve Demi's fans in the lyric video, both in terms of how it was discovered and how it looked creatively.... That was challenging to execute because the volume of trends she had created over the past year, but we ended up with a clip that was very unique and compelling to watch".

Regarding the video, Lovato described it as "fashion based" and thought it was "incredible to incorporate that with the music video". A teaser of the video was released on April 6, 2013. The music video was filmed on March 14, 2013, in Los Angeles, California and released on Vevo on April 9, 2013 and garnered over 430 million views to date.. It was directed by Chris Applebaum.

Live performances

Lovato first performed the song in Orlando, Florida on March 2, 2013, as well as on several live shows including The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Britain's Got Talent (series seven), Dancing with the Stars (season sixteen) and at the 2013 MuchMusic Video Awards.

On December 31, 2013, Lovato performed it at ET Canada's New Year's Eve televised show. Lovato performed the song along with "Give Your Heart A Break" and "Neon Lights" at the 2nd Indonesian Choice Awards, on May 24, 2015. She also performed the song on The Late Late Show with James Corden, during the Carpool Karaoke segment, which appeared online on May 16, 2016.

Certifications

Since May 2013 RIAA certifications for digital singles include on-demand audio and/or video song streams in addition to downloads.