Listen to Your Heart (Roxette song)


"Listen to Your Heart" is a song by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, which was originally released in Sweden in September 1988 as the second single from the duo's second studio album, Look Sharp!. It was written by Per Gessle with former Gyllene Tider guitarist Mats "M.P." Persson. The song went on to become one of the most successful singles of 1989, reaching number one in both the United States and Canada around November 1989. The track was the first song to reach number one in the US without a commercially-released 7" single.
"Listen to Your Heart" originally peaked at number 62 in the UK when it was released there in October 1989. However, following the success of "It Must Have Been Love", the track was reissued as a double A-side with "Dangerous" in August 1990, upon which it reached a chart peak of number six on the UK Singles Chart. 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.

Composition and style

described "Listen to Your Heart" in the liner notes of Roxette's 1995 greatest hits compilation Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! 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." Its lyrics were inspired by a close friend of Gessle's, who was in "emotional turmoil, stuck between an old relationship and a new love. A year later, I call him up in the middle of the night after a few too many glasses of champagne, saying 'Hey, you're number one in the States.'"
According to Ultimate Guitar, the track is an alternative rock ballad, with a moderately slow tempo of 86 beats per minute. The verses are made up of three repeating sequences of Bm–G–A and one additional sequence of Bm–G–Em. The first two choruses are composed of two repetitions of a Bm–G–D–A sequence, followed by an extended sequence of D–A–G–D–Bm–G–A–Bm. The bridge consists of E–C♯m–B–A–B–C♯. The final chorus has been modified up by two full tones it consists of two repetitions of D♯m–B–F♯–C♯, followed by a sequence of F♯–C♯–B–F♯–D♯m–B–C♯–D♯m–B, with the final four notes being repeated for the outro.
Seven different versions of the song were released: the original album version; the "Swedish Single Edit", a slightly edited version included on subsequent greatest hits compilations; the "US Remix", used in the music video; the "AC Mix", which is similar to the 'US remix' but with the guitar in the bridge replaced by a midi saxophone; shorter edits of the aforementioned 2 versions, which cut some parts from the last refrain; and the 7" single version, which fades out shortly after the last refrain, omitting most of the outro.

Music video

Doug Freel directed the song's music video, which was filmed during a live performance at the Borgholm Castle ruin on the Swedish Baltic Sea island of Öland. Freel and the video's production crew believed the ruin to have been created especially for the video. Gessle said: "It took some time to convince them that the place actually was for real."
The song has been performed on all of Roxette's concert tours. On the Look Sharp! Live Tour and Join the Joyride! Tour, it was performed in its original, power ballad style, although it has been performed in an acoustic version on all tours since the Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour in 1994.

Formats and track listings

All lyrics by Per Gessle; all music by Gessle, except "Listen to Your Heart" by Gessle and Mats Persson and "Half a Woman, Half a Shadow" by Marie Fredriksson.
  1. "Listen to Your Heart" – 5:12
  2. " Give You Up" – 3:59
  1. "Listen to Your Heart" – 5:12
  2. "Half a Woman, Half a Shadow" – 3:33
  1. "Listen to Your Heart" – 5:14
  2. "Dressed for Success" – 3:56
  3. " Give You Up" – 3:58
  4. "Neverending Love" – 3:31
  1. "Listen to Your Heart" – 5:12
  2. "Dangerous" – 3:46
  3. "Listen to Your Heart" – 4:53
  4. "Dangerous" – 3:46

    Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Ballad Hits.
Musicians

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
Australian Digital Tracks 31

Year-end charts

Certifications

DHT version

In 2005, Belgian dance group DHT's cover of "Listen to Your Heart" became an international club hit after being released as single from the album of the same name. Originally released in Belgium in 2003, the various mixes of the song reached American clubs in late 2004, and it was released in the United States in November of that year.
By June 2005, the song had reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart and the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight in August. Worldwide, the cover reached the top 10 in the Czech Republic, France, and the United Kingdom while becoming a top-twenty success in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Norway.
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

  1. "Listen to Your Heart" — 4:32
  2. "My Dream" — 3:55
  1. "Listen to Your Heart" — 4:32
  2. "Listen to Your Heart" — 3:50
  3. "Listen to Your Heart" — 7:11
  4. "Listen to Your Heart" — 4:54
  5. "Listen to Your Heart" — 7:11
  6. "Listen to Your Heart" — 7:29
  1. "Listen to Your Heart" — 4:32

    Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australia 91
Australia Dance 10
UK Singles 160

Certifications

Yuridia Spanish version