"Cold Hearted" is a 1989 song by American singer

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

from her debut album, ''

Forever Your Girl ''Forever Your Girl'' is the debut studio album by American singer Paula Abdul. It was released on June 21, 1988, through Virgin Records. The album was Abdul's breakthrough into the music industry after being a choreographer for high-profile art ...

'' (1988). It was written and co-produced by

Elliot Wolff Elliot Marvin Wolff (January 1956 – June 2016) was an American musician, songwriter, and music producer. Born in Oklahoma, he was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. His music catalog is represented by Downtown Music Publishing. Career Wolff ...

, and hit number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the album's third song to top the US chart.

Composition

"Cold Hearted" is written in the key of

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...

and follows a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 122 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of GmEmaj7Dm7, and Abdul's vocals span one-and-a-half octaves, from F₃ to B₄.

Music video

The official

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Cold Hearted" was directed by

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director. Fin ...

and spent more than three weeks on top of

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's video rotation list. The inspiration for the video came from

Bob Fosse Robert Louis Fosse (; June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American actor, choreographer, dancer, and film and stage director. He directed and choreographed musical works on stage and screen, including the stage musicals ''The Pajam ...

's choreography of the "Take Off with Us" scene in the movie '' All That Jazz''. Abdul dances for music executives with a group of semi-nude dancers. Abdul was wearing a black fishnet dress which exposed her

belly button The navel (clinically known as the umbilicus, commonly known as the belly button or tummy button) is a protruding, flat, or hollowed area on the abdomen at the attachment site of the umbilical cord. All placental mammals have a navel, although ...

and was sporting a German police hat. The dance floor included scaffolding where Abdul and her dancers hang and dance suggestively.

Chart performance

"Cold Hearted" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for one week in September 1989, ending

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary music, adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's Richard Marx (album), self-titled debut album went tri ...

's three-week run at the summit with "

Right Here Waiting "Right Here Waiting" is a song by American singer and songwriter Richard Marx. It was released on June 29, 1989, as the second single from his second album, ''Repeat Offender''. The song was a global hit, topping charts in many countries around ...

". "Cold Hearted" ranked sixth in ''Billboards Year-End Hot 100 of 1989. It spent a total of eight weeks within the ''Billboard'' top ten. "Cold Hearted" was the final UK release from ''Forever Your Girl'' in 1990.

Personnel

*Paula Abdul: Vocals *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...

: Guitars *Elliot Wolff: Keyboards, synthesizers, drum programming

Production

*Arranged and produced by Elliot Wolff; co-produced by Keith "KC" Cohen *Recorded and mixed by Keith "KC" Cohen

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

References

{{authority control Paula Abdul songs 1989 songs 1989 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Elliot Wolff Music videos directed by David Fincher Virgin Records singles