Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Listen to Your Heart (Roxette song)

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Released
  
27 September 1988

Genre
  
Pop rock

Format
  
7" 12" CD

B-side
  
"(I Could Never) Give You Up"

Recorded
  
1988 at EMI Studios in Stockholm

Length
  
5:28 (album version) 5:14 (Swedish radio edit)

"Listen to Your Heart" is a song by the Swedish pop duo Roxette. The song was originally released in September 1988 in Sweden as the second single from their second studio album, Look Sharp! (1988). It went on to become one of the most successful singles of 1989, reaching number one in both the US and Canada. The song was written by Per Gessle and former Gyllene Tider guitarist Mats "M.P." Persson. The song was released in the UK in October 1989 and originally peaked at number 62, but was re-issued in August 1990 as a double A-side with "Dangerous" and reached number six, following the success of their previous single "It Must Have Been Love". In 2005, Belgian trance act DHT released a remixed version of the song, which became a top 10 hit in numerous territories, including France, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.

Contents

Production and video

According to Gessle, the song was conceived as:

"The Big Bad Ballad. This is us trying to recreate that overblown American FM-rock sound to the point where it almost becomes absurd. We really wanted to see how far we could take it."

Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!

Three different versions of the song are available: the original; a slightly modified version that was included on subsequent greatest hits compilations; and the "US Remix", which is used in the music video. Roxette recorded the video for "Listen to Your Heart" in the Borgholm Castle ruin on the Swedish Baltic Sea island of Öland.

Accolades

In 2008, the song had reached four million American radio plays. The D.H.T. dance cover (see below) is included in the total of plays. The song has been voted The Best Roxette Song ever by readers of fan-site The Daily Roxette. In 2014, the song had reached five million American radio plays.

Live versions

"Listen to Your Heart" has been performed on all of Roxette's concert tours. In 1988 and in 1991, on the Look Sharp Tour and the Join the Joyride Tour respectively, in its original, power ballad style, and on the following tours in an acoustic, unplugged form. However, since their return to excessive touring in 2010 after a long hiatus due to Fredrikssons illness they opt to perform the song with full band again.

At the Wembley Arena gig on their 1991–92 Join the Joyride/The Summer Joyride World Tour, before playing this song as part of the encore, Per said "We can't leave you tonight without playing you this absolutely true story."

Formats and track listings

All music by Per Gessle, except "Listen to Your Heart" by Gessle and Mats Persson; "Half a Woman, Half a Shadow" by Marie Fredriksson and Gessle. All lyrics by Gessle.

  • EU 7" single (Sweden 1363237 · UK EM108)
  • EU cassette (UK TCEM108)
    1. "Listen to Your Heart" – 5:12
    2. "(I Could Never) Give You Up" – 3:59
  • US 7" single (B-50223)
  • US cassette (4JM-50223)
    1. "Listen to Your Heart" – 5:12
    2. "Half a Woman, Half a Shadow" – 3:33
  • CD single (UK CDEM108)
    1. "Listen to Your Heart" (Single Mix) – 5:14
    2. "Dressed for Success" (New Radio Mix) – 3:56
    3. "(I Could Never) Give You Up" – 3:58
    4. "Neverending Love" (Live) – 3:31
  • CD single (1990 UK and Ireland reissue) (UK CDEM149)
    1. "Listen to Your Heart" (Swedish Single Version) – 5:12
    2. "Dangerous" – 3:46
    3. "Listen to Your Heart" (US Mix) – 4:53
    4. "Dangerous" (U.S. Club Edit) – 3:46

    DHT cover

    In 2005, Belgian dance group DHT's trance cover of "Listen to Your Heart" became a worldwide club hit after being released as single from the album Listen to Your Heart. Originally released in Belgium in 2003, the various mixes of the song reached U.S. clubs in late 2004. The song was released in the U.S. in November 2004. By June 2005, the song reached number one on Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart and the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number eight in August. The same year, the group also released the "Edmée's unplugged vocal edit", an acoustic ballad version of the song, which also received substantial airplay.

    Track listings

  • CD single
    1. "Listen to Your Heart" — 4:32
    2. "My Dream" — 3:55
  • CD maxi
    1. "Listen to Your Heart" (Edmée's unplugged vocal edit) — 4:32
    2. "Listen to Your Heart" (Furious F.EZ radio edit) — 3:50
    3. "Listen to Your Heart" (Uniting Nations remix) — 7:11
    4. "Listen to Your Heart" (Furious F.EZ extended mix) — 4:54
    5. "Listen to Your Heart" (Hixxy remix) — 7:11
    6. "Listen to Your Heart" (Friday Night Posse remix) — 7:29
  • Digital download
    1. "Listen to Your Heart" — 4:32

    Other cover versions

  • In 1990, Greek singer Sofia Vossou released a cover called Akou tin kardia (Listen to the heart)
  • Hong Kong pop singer Shirley Kwan released a Cantonese version of the song called "這是我心裡對白" (English: This is the Monologue of My Heart) in her 1990 album True Love.
  • "Habla El Corazón", a Spanish version of the song, was released in March 2007 by Mexican artist Yuridia, who covered the track for her second album of the same name. This version peaked at #44 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart.
  • In 2008, Finnish Gothic metal band Reflexion recorded a cover version of the song as a bonus track on their EP Twilight Child, and later released the cover as a bonus track on their 2008 album Dead to the Past, Blind for Tomorrow.
  • In 2009, Scottish power metal band Ascension recorded a cover and released it as a single.
  • In 2009, Filipino singer Sarah Geronimo recorded a cover version of the song for her album Music and Me.
  • In 2010, Lebanese-German singer Fady Maalouf included a cover of the song on his album Into the Light
  • In 2011, Tommy Johansson of the band ReinXeed covered the song for the compilation Swedish Hitz Goes Metal.
  • In 2013, Former Celtic Woman member, Chloë Agnew performed a live version with Hamden, Connecticut-based Pop/New Age artist, The 465 CT Transit driver during The Arrivals Ceremony at Newark Liberty International Airport.
  • This song is also covered by Schnuffel Bunny's counterpart Snuggelina.
  • In 2015, Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) and Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) covered the song for the 11th episode of sixth and final season of Glee.
  • Also in 2015, Wakefield, Massachusetts rap star Ben Mader released a cover of the song on his YouTube channel.
  • In 2017 Electronic Music artists Dash Berlin and Christina Novelli combined to create both a dance and acoustic version.
  • Also in 2017 Swedish dj INÉZ released a tropical house flavored version of the song..

    • Sampling

  • In 2009, rapper Juvenile sampled the song for his album Cocky & Confident and renamed it "Listen".
  • In 2014 Danish electro-pop duo Electric Lady Lab sampled the song on "Hurts".
  • In 2016 English hip hop artist Lowkey sampled the song on his single "Ahmed".

    • Appearances in other media

  • "Listen to Your Heart" was used by the dissident political party Civic Forum in its television advertisements for the 1989 Czechoslovakian elections, one of the first elections in Eastern Europe that came with collapse of communism.
  • "Listen to Your Heart" was likewise used in election broadcasts by the then right-wing liberal party Fidesz led by Viktor Orbán for the 1990 Hungarian elections.
  • The song appeared in a 1989 episode of the Brazilian soap opera O Sexo dos Anjos by Globo TV.
  • The song was used in the Cold Case first season episode "Maternal Instincts" which aired in 2004.
  • In 2005, the song was featured on the TV show Reunion.
  • The song can be sung in the 2008 Xbox 360 video game, Lips.
  • The song was featured in the second episode of the fourth season of The Goldbergs.

    • References

    Listen to Your Heart (Roxette song) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA