"Heaven" is a song by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

band

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

, released as the lead single from their thirteenth studio album, ''

Delta Machine ''Delta Machine'' is the thirteenth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 22 March 2013 by Columbia Records and Mute Records. It is the band's first album released under Columbia. Recorded in 2012 in Santa B ...

'' (2013). Written by

Martin Gore Martin Lee Gore (born 23 July 1961) is an English songwriter, musician, singer, record producer and DJ. He is one of the founding members of the electronic rock band Depeche Mode and is the band's main songwriter. He is the band's guitarist an ...

and produced by

Ben Hillier Ben Hillier is an English songwriter and pop-rock record producer who is part of the creative team 140 dB. He produced the notable albums ''Playing the Angel'', ''Sounds of the Universe'' and ''Delta Machine'' by Depeche Mode, ''Think Tank' ...

, the song was world-premiered on

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

's morning show ''

Kevin and Bean ''Kevin and Bean'' was the morning show on KROQ-FM, an alternative rock-format radio station in Los Angeles, California. It was hosted by Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter. The show was on the air from 1990 to 2019 and interspersed music and n ...

'' on 30 January 2013. The single was released digitally in most territories on 31 January 2013, and physically on 1 February. In the United Kingdom, "Heaven" was released digitally on 17 March 2013 and physically the following day. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"All That's Mine" was written by

Dave Gahan Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

and Kurt Uenala. An accompanying music video for "Heaven" was directed by Timothy Saccenti and premiered on

VEVO Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

on 1 February 2013. In June 2013, the single was certified gold by the

Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when major corporate labels left the previously exist ...

(FIMI), denoting downloads exceeding 15,000 units in Italy. In the UK, by contrast, the single reached #60, the first initial single from a Depeche Mode album to fail to reach the UK Top 40.

Background and Composition

According to

in an interview "'Heaven' was written on a piano. I had all the chords, and everything all worked out on the piano and the whole vocal melody, and the lyrics worked out before I went anywhere near a computer." Additionally,

Andy Fletcher Andrew Fletcher may refer to: Government * Andrew Fletcher, Lord Innerpeffer (died 1650), Scottish judge * Andrew Fletcher (patriot) (1655–1716), Scottish writer, politician and patriot * Andrew Fletcher, British Member of Parliament for Hadding ...

also says that the demo wasn't too different to the final and "Pretty much, apart from Dave's voice instead of Martin's voice, the actual finished song is pretty similar

o the demo O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

has expressed his appreciation to the song in the same interview, expressing. "Of all the incredible songs that Martin has written over the years that I have been lucky enough to sing and perform, once in a while a song comes along - hopefully I'll write one of those myself one day - that's something I have to sing. It's something I want to sing." He further states. "To me, 'Heaven' is one of the reasons why I still make music."

Music video

The music video for "Heaven" was directed by Timothy Saccenti and filmed in November 2012 at the

Marigny Opera House Marigny Opera House, also known as the Church of the Arts, is an opera house and performing arts center in Faubourg Marigny, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Marigny was originally a Catholic parish church known as Holy Trinity Catholic Church. It was ...

, a former Catholic church in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Faubourg Marigny The Faubourg Marigny ( ; sometimes called The Marigny) is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Its boundaries, as defined by the City Planning Commission, are North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue to the n ...

. Previously, Saccenti had directed the "In-Studio Collage 2012" video for "Angel" that premiered at the band's press conference in Paris on 23 October 2012. The video's look was inspired by

Terrence Malick Terrence Frederick Malick (born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. His films include '' Days of Heaven'' (1978), '' The Thin Red Line'' (1998), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenp ...

's 2011 film ''

The Tree of Life ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', with its beautiful yet twisted, dark imagery. "Mainly it's a performance video, which we haven't done in a long time", Gahan stated. The video debuted on

on 1 February 2013.

Formats and track listings

* CD and iTunes singleCD maxi single and iTunes EP Limited 12" single This is the first Depeche Mode single since

The Meaning of Love "The Meaning of Love" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode from their second studio album, ''A Broken Frame'' (1982). It was released on 26 April 1982 as the album's second single. Background The single version of "The Mean ...

(

Little 15 "Little 15" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 16 May 1988 as the fourth single from their sixth studio album, ''Music for the Masses'' (1987). The song was never intended to be a single; in fact, it barely made ...

was an exception, a single released in UK as import), that the label of the singles doesn't have the BONG and the number, the first single to have this was

Leave in Silence "Leave in Silence" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, ''A Broken Frame'' (1982), on 16 August 1982. Recorded at Blackwing Studios, the single became the ba ...

(BONG1), and the last single was the Personal Jesus 2011 (BONG43).

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from CD single liner notes."Heaven" (CD single liner notes).

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. 2013. 88765461572. * Christoffer Berg – programming *

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner"' ...

– design, photography *

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

– mixing *

– production * Rob Kirwan – mix engineering * Ferg Peterkin – engineering * Bunt Stafford-Clark – mastering * Kurt Uenala – additional programming, vocal recording

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

Single information from the official Depeche Mode web site

Allmusic review
{{authority control 2013 singles 2013 songs Columbia Records singles Depeche Mode songs Number-one singles in Hungary British soft rock songs Song recordings produced by Ben Hillier Songs written by Martin Gore