"Heart to Break" is a song by German singer-songwriter

Kim Petras Kim Petras (born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. Between 2016 and 2020, she released music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records, before signing with Amigo and Republ ...

. It was released on February 14, 2018. The music video was released on April 26, 2018. The track was produced by

Dr. Luke Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (born September 26, 1973), known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American record producer and songwriter. His professional music career began in the late-night television sketch comedy ...

and

Cirkut Henry Russell Walter (born April 23, 1986), known professionally as Cirkut, is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. He has co-produced and co-written for Dr. Luke, Katy Perry, Becky G, Ava Max, Nicki Minaj, R. City, The Weeknd, Kesha, Ciar ...

, and written by Luke, Cirkut, and Petras as well as Aaron Joseph and Jacob Kasher. It is the sixth of eleven singles that form the artist's unofficial project ''Era 1''.

Background and composition

In an interview with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', Petras stated " Heart To Break'was kind of summing up my heartbreak experiences but making a fun song about them. It's describing the part of you that is about to make a mistake and knows you’re making a mistake, but you don’t care because you still want to jump in and do it." Later in their review of the song, Bryan Kress described the song as an "

upbeat Up beat may refer to: *Upbeat, in music, the last beat in the previous bar which immediately precedes the downbeat *Anacrusis, a note (or sequence of notes) which precedes the first downbeat in a bar in a musical phrase * ''Upbeat'' (album), by t ...

, unabashed pop sound" that "ventures into new territory for the songwriter as she confronts a bad relationship while trying to squeeze as much fun from it while it lasts." He later states "The lyrical tightrope of the situation was no easy feat for Petras", who was inspired by " Heart of Glass" by Blondie and "

Lovefool "Lovefool" is a song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for Swedish Rock music, rock band the Cardigans' third studio album, ''First Band on the Moon'' (1996). It was released as the album's lead single in Sweden in mid-1996 and on 9 Sep ...

" by

The Cardigans The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows since 2 ...

Music video

In its coverage of the video premiere for the song, ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

'' wrote the video "imagines Petras as a modern-day princess pining for her prince in a surreal purple and blue crystal tower. Instead of being confined to the castle like

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( , ) is a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of ''Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Brothers Grimm's story developed from the French literary fairy tale of ''Persinette ...

was, however, Petras roams around the inky landscape outside, eventually having a dance-off with her love interest, breaking glass picture frames, and enticing him before eventually turning to glass and breaking herself."

Reception

''Billboard'' ranked the single as the best ''Era 1'' single, calling it "a master class" and pointing out that "if this is the quality of pop music she’s able to serve up so early in her career, we’re going to be paying attention to Petras for years to come". In 2018, Petras performed it at the Stern TV and at the VBuild Series along with "Hills", "Hillside Boys" and "Can't Do Better". In 2019, she performed the song at the Equality Awards along with "Icy" and " Sweet Spot". In 2020, Petras also performed it during

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Pride Live along with " Malibu" and "Blow It All".

Track listing

Charts

References

{{authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs Kim Petras songs Songs written by Kim Petras Songs written by Cirkut (record producer) Songs written by Dr. Luke Songs written by Jacob Kasher Song recordings produced by Cirkut (record producer) Song recordings produced by Dr. Luke