"Open Your Heart" is a song by British band

M People M People (stylised as ''M''People) is an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who form ...

, released in January 1995 as the second single from their third album, '' Bizarre Fruit'' (1994). It was written by bandmembers

Mike Pickering Mike Pickering (born 21 February 1954) is an English musician and DJ. Career Pickering was a DJ at The Haçienda's Nude and Hot nights, and later Shine. He worked for Factory Records, where he signed Happy Mondays, To Hell with Burgundy and ...

and Paul Heard, and produced by the band. The song peaked at number nine on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and was a top 10 hit also in Finland and Scotland. In the US, it reached number one on the '' Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart.

Background

released this single in a slight reshuffle, as " Search for the Hero" was meant to be the second single but the band were re-editing the '' Bizarre Fruit'' version to a more radio friendly edit so "Open Your Heart" was released instead. The band had been on holiday together over the New Year break in Grenada, while dance mixes of this single had been released early and on UK radio, Pete Tong had been rotating several mixes on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

Critical reception

William Cooper from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

noted that the song has an "obvious dance appeal" and a "touch of '70s R&B in the mix". Another editor, Jon O'Brien, called it an "uptempo" stomper. Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' constated that it "has already won the hearts of

die-hards at club level, and it sports a

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

that takes up instant residence in the brain upon impact." He added, "Maestros

and Paul Heard blur, with notable finesse, the timeline dividing current house music trends and vintage

Philly soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featu ...

, while singer

Heather Small Heather Margarita Small (born 20 January 1965) is a British soul singer and former lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, ''Proud'', was released in 2000. Career 1987–1998: Hot House and M People Small ...

continues to evolve into a smoky-voiced diva who may remind some of a club-minded

Anita Baker Anita Denise Baker (born January 26, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads, especially renowned for her work during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s. Starting her career ...

. Smashing." Geir Rakvaag from Norwegian newspaper ''

Dagsavisen ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

'' called it "heavenly". Kendall Morgan from '' Dallas Morning News'' felt that "she's the most fun when she's belting out guidance to a lover". In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote that it "appears to be doing little more than recycling a formula, making for a hit that is doubtless well produced and immaculately performed yet is somehow rather tedious." Howard Cohen from ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.Music & Media'' said that '' Bizarre Fruit'' "is the album title, not forbidden fruit. So take a bite of it Continentals, there's no risk of being banned from paradise. Their best since " Moving On Up"." Tim Jeffery from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

''s ''RM'' Dance Update deemed it "a rather bland album track", "but this is M People and the familiar vocal style and crisp production are certainly enough to carry this track up the club and pop charts." Another editor, James Hamilton, called it a "typically facile foghorn gurgled canterer". A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' noted the "classic good hooks" of the track and Small's "booming alto

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

is hard to shake and, like her

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

-shaped coif, impossible to ignore." '' Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' described it as "bass-bombing". Wayne Bledsoe from ''

Scripps Howard The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

'' felt that it "has Small storming out of the mix with Patti LaBelle-like authority". Andrew Harrison from '' Select'' deemed it a "severe disco pounder". Charles Aaron from '' Spin'' said about "Open Your Heart"/" Search for the Hero", that "this British disco collective is just a more conventional version of

Ten City Ten City (derived from ''intensity'') is an American, Chicago, Illinois-based R&B and house music act, that enjoyed a number of club hits and Urban radio hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was one of the first exponents of deep house. ...

, but their thumping anthems give you a lift over a scenic bridge to a homey chorus that opens up like a window shade on a sunny day."

Chart performance

The single entered the chart outside the top 10 at number 11, but ever growing airplay and the release of the exclusive second CD meant that sales surged from 63,000 copies in its first week to 78,000 copies in its second. The single climbed from number 11 into the top 10 at number nine where it peaked, providing the band with their seventh consecutive top 10 hit in just two years since the release of " How Can I Love You More". It spent in total four weeks in the top 10 and a total seven weeks on the Singles Chart. The '' Bizarre Fruit'' album also underwent a resurgence in sales, re-entering the Album Chart top 10 at number eight, so the band once again recorded simultaneous single and album top 10s, being at numbers nine and eight, respectively in the first week of February 1995 like the last two singles. It also became M People's second single to top the '' Billboard''

chart in the US in May 1995.

Airplay

Generally, radio support for the single grew relatively slowly, despite being serviced to radio in the first week of 1995, which is traditionally a very quiet time for single releases. Also predecessor "

Sight for Sore Eyes "Sight for Sore Eyes" is the tenth overall single from British band M People from their third album, '' Bizarre Fruit'' (1994). Written by bandmembers Mike Pickering, Paul Heard and Heather Small, and produced by M People, it was released as ...

" had remained in the airplay top 20 three months after entering. In the three weeks prior to airplay the single entered the chart at No. 195, scaling to number 35 and then moving to number 19. Only after physical release did the single enter the Airplay top 10 and peak at number five. "Sight for Sore Eyes" re-entered the Airplay 20 at number 20 when Open Your Heart peaked, and so for the first and only time, M People had two singles in the UK Airplay top 20. The single stayed in the chart for 13 weeks but peaked lower than any of the other ''Bizarre Fruit'' singles; "

": number two, " Search for the Hero": number one, "

Love Rendezvous "Love Rendezvous" is a song by British band M People, released in 1995 as the fourth single from their third album, ''Bizarre Fruit''/''Bizarre Fruit II'' (1994). Written by Mike Pickering, Paul Heard and Heather Small, and produced by M Peopl ...

": number four and "

Itchycoo Park "Itchycoo Park" is a song written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, first recorded by their group, the Small Faces. Largely written by Lane, it was one of the first music recordings to feature flanging, an effect at that time made possible ...

": number three.

Music video

The accompanying

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 promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Open Your Heart" was filmed over two days: 25/26 November 1994, before the Bizarre Fruit tour kicked off and was the most expensive video done to that point. Produced by Matthew Amos, this more adventurous offering showed the band in an elevator moving between floors and watching clubbers come in and out of the sliding doors exiting onto another dancefloor. Band members

, Paul Heard, and Shovell are in amongst the crowd dancing while Heather stands still singing in a red Oriental-style dress on the other side of the viewing glass, as people dance around her and then leave or even disappear as quickly as they arrived. As the video continues, the camera is continuously panning from right to left encircling the body of the elevator moving from the front where people can be seen dancing to the back where the mechanisms in the lift shaft can be seen.

Live performances

The band also performed this song in a stripped down acoustic version on various occasions, most notably when they performed their M People special with Jools Holland in March 1998.

Other promotion

With two dance singles lifted off ''Bizarre Fruit'' and a European Tour beckoning, M People were nominated for the category Best British Dance Act at the 1995

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for the second time. They won. They also performed with Best UK Male Artist winner Sting on his classic "

If You Love Somebody Set Them Free "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" is the first single released from Sting's solo debut album '' The Dream of the Blue Turtles''. It is also the opening track of the album, and is featured on '' Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994' ...

". The band went on to promote the album in Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Norway and Greece as well as Sweden and Germany for three months.

Artwork

The artwork for the single is a heart shaped tin can that half opened against a caustic bronze background. Photographed by Jason Tozer, it continues the metal artwork theme as seen on the artwork of previous single "Sight for Sore Eyes" with the corrugated metal sheets and the barbed-wire pear on the artwork of the ''Bizarre Fruit'' album.

Formats

This single was the first M People single to be available on two CD formats. CD1 was released on 23 January 1995 while CD2 was released on 30 January 1995 along with a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

and a

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debut ...

Remixes

With four remixes in total across both CD singles, from the likes of Armand van Helden,

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Lo ...

, Luv Dup and Brothers in Rhythm, "Open Your Heart" had a set of club versions. It also contained an exclusive re-mix of previous single "Sight for Sore Eyes" done bone by producers

E-Smoove Eric Miller (born in Chicago, Illinois) is an American house music DJ, record producer and remixer. As E-Smoove, he worked for a number of years with Steve "Silk" Hurley and Maurice Joshua, before he hit the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in ...

. For the first time, specifically for a remix, Heather went back into the recording studio for Brothers in Rhythm to re-sing both the verses and chorus in a different arrangement. The band had done all this during the promotion of "Sight for Sore Eyes" in the autumn of 1994.

Track listings

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1994 songs 1995 singles Deconstruction Records singles M People songs Songs written by Mike Pickering Songs written by Paul Heard