Give Your Heart a Break


"Give Your Heart a Break" is a song by American singer Demi Lovato for her third studio album Unbroken. It was released on January 23, 2012 by Hollywood Records, as the second and final single from the album. The song was written and produced by Josh Alexander and Billy Steinberg. "Give Your Heart a Break" incorporates drums, violin and strings. The latter two, according to music critics, are reminiscent of those used in Coldplay's "Viva la Vida". Lyrically, the song chronicles the protagonist's attempt to win over her lover who has been hurt in a previous relationship and is fearful of committing again.
Music critics mostly praised the production and Lovato's vocals. The single debuted at number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 16 on the chart, as well as reaching number one on the Billboard Pop Songs chart. The song has debuted at number 33 in New Zealand and has peaked at number nine, marking the first time Lovato had two top 10 singles from one album in the country.

Background

Originally, it was announced the second single from the album "Who's That Boy", 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 C2–G–Am7 –D. Lovato's vocals span over two octaves, from E3 to F5.

Reception

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 for 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 and number 1 on the US Pop Songs chart. It also reached number 16 on the US Adult Contemporary chart and at number 21 on the US Digital Songs chart. In Belgium, 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 2017, it has sold 2.2 million digital copies.

Music video

The music video for "Give Your Heart a Break" was filmed in late February 2012 and is directed by Justin Francis. Three teaser trailers of the song's music video was released from March 23, 28 and 30, 2012 respectively. The video premiered on E! on April 2, and was released by Vevo on April 3, 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 video begins with Lovato and her boyfriend having an argument over the phone. After hanging up, she collects all the photos of them together from her apartment. Later that night, she walks to her boyfriend's apartment and pastes the photos on a wall across the street from his front door. 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. The music video on YouTube has 330 million views as of October 2018.
A lyric video was released on December 23, 2011, 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. On January 11, 2012, Lovato performed the song at the People's Choice Awards, where she also received the "Best Pop Artist" award afterwards. On March 15, 2012, Lovato performed the single from the results show episode 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 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. Three days later, Lovato performed the song with Fifth Harmony on the second-season finale of The X Factor. Lovato performed the song along with "Heart Attack" and "Neon Lights" at the 2nd Indonesian Choice Awards on May 24, 2015. Lovato performed the track during her headlining concert tours A Special Night with Demi Lovato, The Neon Lights Tour, Demi World Tour, Future Now Tour, and the Tell Me You Love Me World Tour.

Credits and personnel

Recording and management
Personnel
Credits adapted from Unbroken liner notes.

Awards and nominations

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
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Honduras 21
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Lebanon 11
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Turkey 19
UK Singles 194
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Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history