Due to the success of rival boy band NSYNC's album No Strings Attached selling over 2.4 million copies in its first week, there were high expectations from industry experts and fans that the Backstreet Boys' next album Black & Blue would break the first week sales of No Strings Attached. "Shape of My Heart" was widely anticipated as the lead single of Black & Blue, which would follow their previous singles "Quit Playing Games ", "Everybody ", and "I Want It That Way".
Composition
"Shape of My Heart" is stated to be "the sound of a boy band becoming a group of men". It consists of a bubblegum chorus, clean pop structure, along with various vocal harmonies from Max Martin's production. It also contains soft-pop guitar, low-key percussion, and a lyrical emphasis on the reflection of past mistakes. The song is performed in D major with a key change to E major at the third chorus.
Critical reception
Craig Seymour of Entertainment Weekly gave the song a C- in his review, stating that the "mid-tempo ballad is more a joyless retread than a maturing makeover." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard considered the song to be a disappointment, stating that it was a muted mid-tempo reflection on mistakes and weaknesses, as well as being "miscast as a flashy comeback that would return serve against *NSYNC and hijack pop radio for months".
Chart performance
The song debuted at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, while reaching number 8 on the US Mainstream Top 40 chart. It also topped the charts in Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland as well as the top 10 in several other countries.
Music video
Background
The music video for "Shape of My Heart" was directed by Matthew Rolston at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The entire video is shot in monochrome with a blue tint, creating a black and blue atmosphere in reference to the album's name. Rolston was inspired by "classic photography", utilizing the blue tint to evoke earlier periods of photography, as well as showcasing a mature side of the band in place of their previous over-the-top videos. On MTV's Total Request Livethe music video broke the Backstreet Boys' own record for longest-running number-one song, which was previously held by "Larger than Life". The video spent 61 days at the top position. As of February 2020, the music video has over 172 million views on YouTube.
Synopsis
The video shows the Backstreet Boys rehearsing lines for a production titled The Shape of My Heart, printed on a script around an empty theater in places such as the backstage wall, and on the stage. The actress and the actor rehearse on the stage while another couple watches from a desk in front of the audience. Each of the people introduced are also featured alongside the Backstreet Boys as they rehearse.
Legacy
The song was the last single by the Backstreet Boys to peak in the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as they outgrew their teenage years. Jason Lipshutz stated that the song's influence spread to future Backstreet Boys singles such as "Incomplete", "Show 'Em ", and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", concluding that although it wasn't a smash, it has become "an important inflection point for one of the era’s biggest groups".
Cover versions
In 2008, one of the song's writers, Lisa Miskovsky, released her own version of the song, "Another Shape of My Heart" on her 2008 album Last Year's Songs: Greatest Hits.
