Heart Attack (Enrique Iglesias song)

"Heart Attack" is the second English (and third overall) single from Enrique Iglesias' tenth studio album, Sex and Love. The song was produced by The Cataracs, who also produced the album's first single "Turn the Night Up", and was written by Iglesias, Niles Dhar, Marty James and Rome Ramirez. The song had its radio premiere on 17 September 2013 and officially impacted contemporary hit radio in the U.S. on 1 October 2013. It was made available for purchase as a digital download in North America on 8 October 2013.[1]

"Heart Attack"
Single by Enrique Iglesias
from the album Sex and Love
Released24 September 2013 (2013-09-24)
Genre
Length2:49
LabelRepublic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Cataracs
Enrique Iglesias singles chronology
"Loco"
(2013)
"Heart Attack"
(2013)
"El Perdedor"
(2013)

Background

edit

After reaching moderate success with the song "Finally Found You" and very minor success with "Turn the Night Up", Enrique announced "Heart Attack" as his new single. Enrique premiered the song on 24 September 2013. Speaking to Ryan Seacrest, Iglesias explained the writing process, saying, "I don’t know why we do that. I think both girls and guys, we do that to ourselves. But it's happened to all of us and it's a story we can all relate to … and you think you've learned your lesson and it can happen over and over and over again. The way I look at music and write songs, it's like when you go to the movies, and some songs are more real and some songs are more fantasy."[2]

Composition

edit

"Heart Attack" was written by Enrique Iglesias, Niles Hollowell-Dhar, Marty James and Rome Ramirez,[3] with production being handled by The Cataracs, being his second consecutive song written and produced by them. "Heart Attack" is a midtempo dubstep and electropop ballad,[4] with lyrics like, "I thought I never want you back / But I don’t wanna live in a world without you."[2] Lyrically, the song talks about losing someone and it hitting you like a heart attack. In the chorus, he sings, "Yeah-yeah-eh…feeling like a fool-oo-ooh…hit me like a heart attack."[5]

Critical reception

edit

The song received favorable reviews from music critics. Kevipod of Direct Lyrics called it "a billion times better than 'Turn The Night Up'," writing that "there's piano, there's guitar, and there's also dubstep in this song, which I wonder if The Suspex produced, because it's giving me some Demi Lovato 'Heart Attack' teas. [...] The build to the chorus is amazing."[4] Patrick Bowman of Idolator called it, "a track that marries his seductive Latin pop sensibilities with the bass blaring weirdness of dubstep."[6] Kevin Camilo of Sound and Motion wrote that "the hook is quite captivating and catches one’s attention especially with the big dub step sounds around it."[7]

Andrew Le of Renowned for Sound gave the track only 1 out of 5 stars, writing that the result is "a track that sounds like a poor cover version of the songs it rips off. Listeners can easily sing Taylor Swift’s 'I Knew You Were Trouble' (‘Oh! Oh! Trouble! Trouble! Trouble!’ during the choruses) and Miley Cyrus’ 'We Can't Stop' (as this and Heart Attack feature piano in the verses) over this piece of derivative garbage. Enrique sounds unrecognizable too. The autotune and over-driven vocals snuff out his usually sensual tone and slight accent, as well as any personality left in this track."[5]

Music video

edit

The music video was directed by Colin Tilley[8] and visual effects were created by GloriaFX. The official music video was released on 25 October 2013 on Enrique's official VEVO account. Camilla Belle is shown as Iglesias's love interest. The video has over 94 million views since its release.[9]

The actual storyline of the music video is revealed that Belle has cheated on Iglesias, the pieces coming together at the end of the video. The bloody hand is the result of catching Belle and her man-on-the-side in bed together, which ended with Iglesias beating him up, almost to death in a fit of rage and Belle, choosing her injured lover over her boyfriend, telling Iglesias to leave, and as could be assumed the contemplated suicide is a result of the split. The video ends with Iglesias deciding whether or not to end his life by jumping from perilous heights while Belle watches him from behind, ending with what appears to be images of Iglesias taking one step backwards.

On 16 October 2013, Iglesias released the lyric video of the single. The video reached 300,000 views in a span of 20 hours.[10] An official sneak peek of the video aired on ABC show Good Morning America.[11]

On 22 October 2013, Iglesias organized an official competition via Universal Republic. Fans were able to send their self made videos of the new single; the top 25 videos selected by Iglesias were posted on his official Vevo account on YouTube.

Live performances

edit

Iglesias has performed the song on Good Morning America on 28 October 2013,[12] the TeenNick HALO Awards on 17 November 2013 at the Hollywood Palladium,[13] and the season 17 finale of Dancing with the Stars.[14] Enrique performed the song on The X Factor USA on 12 December 2013.[citation needed]

Chart performance

edit
Chart (2013) Peak
position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[15] 83
Canada CHR/Top 40 (Billboard)[16] 45
US Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[17] 95
US Billboard Hot 100[18] 88
US Pop Airplay (Billboard)[19] 26

Release history

edit
Country Date Format Label(s)
United States 1 October 2013 Contemporary hit radio Republic
8 October 2013[1] Digital download
Canada
Mexico

References

edit
  1. ^ a b iTunes references:
    • "Heart Attack - Single". iTunes (CAN). Apple Inc. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
    • "Heart Attack - Single". iTunes (US). Apple Inc. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Enrique Iglesias on New Single 'Heart Attack,' His Writing Process". RyanSeacrest. 24 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Heart Attack - Enrique Iglesias | Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  4. ^ a b Kevipod. "New Music: Enrique Iglesias - "Heart Attack" [Review]". Direct Lyrics. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  5. ^ a b Le, Andrew (24 October 2013). "Renowned for Sound - Single Review: Enrique Iglesias - 'Heart Attack'". Renowned for Sound. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  6. ^ Bowman, Patrick (20 September 2013). "Enrique Iglesias Drops The Bass On "Heart Attack": Hear The Dubstep-Infused Track". Idolator. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  7. ^ Camilo, Kevin (7 January 2014). "Single Review: Enrique Iglesias-Heart Attack". Sound and Motion. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  8. ^ "Heart Attack (2013)". IMVDb. 25 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Enrique Iglesias - Heart Attack". EnriqueIglesiasVEVO. 25 October 2013.
  10. ^ Video on YouTube
  11. ^ Good Morning America [@GMA] (23 October 2013). "On now: @enrique305's video for #HeartAttack--tune in!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ Good Morning America [@GMA] (23 October 2013). "If you loved @enrique305's clip for #HeartAttack, just wait until he performs LIVE this coming Monday!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ "TeenNick HALO Awards: Kevin Jonas to Co-Host, Enrique Iglesias to Perform (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 12 November 2013.
  14. ^ http://m.enstarz.com/articles/29801/20131126/dancing-with-the-stars-season-17-finale-spoilers-lady-antebellum-enrique-iglesias-colbie-caillat-ylvis-to-perform-as-top-3-compete-video.htm [dead link]
  15. ^ "Enrique Iglesias Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  16. ^ "Enrique Iglesias Chart History (Canada CHR/Top 40)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  17. ^ "Enrique Iglesias Chart History (Digital Song Sales)". Billboard.
  18. ^ "Enrique Iglesias Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  19. ^ "Enrique Iglesias Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 November 2013.