Heartbreaker (Mariah-Carey-Lied)
| "Heartbreaker" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Datei:Mariahcareysingle heartbreaker.jpg | ||
| Single by Mariah Carey featuring Jay-Z | ||
| From the album Rainbow | ||
| Released | 1999 | |
| Format | CD single CD maxi single Cassette single 7" single 12" single | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 4:46 | |
| Label | Sony | |
| Writers | Mariah Carey Jay-Z Jeff Cohen Narada Michael Walden Shirley Elliston Lincoln Chase | |
| Producers | Mariah Carey DJ Clue | |
| Director (album version) |
Brett Ratner | |
| Director (remix) |
Diane Martel | |
| Certification | Platinum | |
| Chart positions | #1 (USA) #5 (UK) #10 (AU) | |
| Mariah Carey singles chronology | ||
| "Do You Know Where You're Going To (Theme From Mahogany)" 1999 |
"Heartbreaker" 1999 |
"Thank God I Found You" 2000 |
"Heartbreaker" was the first single released from Mariah Carey's ninth album, Rainbow, released in November 1999.
Song information
The original version of "Heartbreaker" is among one of Carey's most popular songs to date and was arguably her most popular song from the latter half of her career, prior to the massive success of "We Belong Together" recently. The single was co-written by Carey and is built around a sample of the Stacey Lattisaw song, "Attack Of The Name Game". The single was co-produced by Carey and DJ Clue and features a rap by Jay-Z. The song is self explanatory and features Carey lamenting over a man who has broken her heart.
By the late 1990s, Carey was beginning to receive criticism from fans, radio programmers, and industry insiders alike, many of whom had decried the more urban direction she had chosen to take her music in with her 1997 Butterfly album, essentially alientating many of her pop and adult contemporary fans in the process. Where urban-leaning releases from that album such as "Breakdown", "The Roof", and "Butterfly" were relative flops by Carey's standards, the more pop-oriented sound of "Heartbreaker" was seen by many as an attempt to win over her older fans again.
However, many of Carey's former critics were now dismissing "Heartbreaker" for being too formulaic, and several noted that it shared striking similarities, in name as well as in melody and lyrical content, to many of her previous albums' debut singles: 1993's "Dreamlover" off of Music Box, 1995's "Fantasy" off of Daydream, and 1997's "Honey" off of Butterfly. People who closely followed the Billboard charts were also becoming irritated with what many of them viewed as manipulatative tactics that Carey and her record company had been using in order to amass Carey a slew of chart records. To these people, the poppy and formulaic "Heartbreaker" and its urban-leaning remix were simply crafted to ensure Carey continued chart success. Eventually, this notion caught on with American radio programmers as well as the general public, which is one of the reasons why Carey's next couple of albums flopped commercially, but not before "Heartbreaker" became a big hit.
Chart performance
"Heartbreaker" was one of Carey's last international hits before her first two singles from her fourteenth album, The Emancipation Of Mimi, "It's Like That" and "We Belong Together" in 2005. Although largely successful on the surface in the USA, it was a critical flop and through examination, it is believed its chart success was partially as a result of chart manipulation and most definitely through commercial sales.
"Heartbreaker" reached number one in the USA, earning Carey a record-breaking fourteenth number-one pop hit and her first new number-one hit after her collection of all her previous number one hits, known as #1's, had been released a year earlier, as none of the singles released from the album had been able to reach number one. It also made Carey the only artist to have a number-one single in every year of the 1990s and also every year since she made her debut in 1990, which she would extend by a further year. All her lead singles that had been commercially released from albums had also reached number one in the USA: "Vision of Love" from Mariah Carey, "Emotions" from Emotions, "I'll Be There" from MTV Unplugged, "Dreamlover" from Music Box, "Fantasy" from Daydream, and "Honey" from Butterfly. When "Heartbreaker" spent a second week on top of the Hot 100, Carey had spent a total of sixty weeks at number one, beating the Beatles by one week (from 1964 to 1970 they had managed fifty-nine weeks). She was now only behind Elvis, who holds the record with seventy-nine weeks.
The song was one of Carey's last bona fide hits until 2005, with strong receptions in both areas of radio airplay and commercial CD-single sales. It debuted at sixty-one, and its airplay was strong enough to propel it to sixteen on the Hot 100. Its peak on the Hot 100 Airplay was a relative improvement in comparison to her past singles, at number eight. It became her best showing since "Always Be My Baby" reached number two on that chart in 1996; however, it is known that this airplay was received through garnering small amounts of airplay from a combination of different formats and not through steady continuous play like her previous singles had gained their high peaks. It topped the Hot 100 Single Sales causing the single to jump from sixteen to number one on the Hot 100, making it the fifth biggest gain to number one in Hot 100 history. It was one of the last singles in America to achieve platinum certification with the birth of the Napster/free mp3 craze in December 1999.
The song was a huge international hit topping the Canadian and Japanese charts, becoming her sixth and fifth chart toppers there respectively. It peaked in the top ten of most singles markets, becoming one of only four top-ten hits for her in Germany. It became Carey's last solo top-five single in the UK until 2003. It gained large amounts of radio and video play across the world, with a very expensive and popular music video and its popular remix with its own music video also helped boost the popularity of this song. However, as the millennium turned and the popularity of "Heartbreaker" declined, so did Carey's career.
Music video
The music video of the song, directed by Brett Ratner, ranks among one of Carey's most complicated and expensive videos, as it features all sorts of special frills and intricate choreography. An MTV special in year 2000 estimated "Heartbreaker" to be the third most-expensive video of all-time, costing over $2.5 million to make, less only than the costs of P. Diddy's "Victory" and Michael Jackson's "Scream". The video's concept is Carey's friends urging her to confront her cheating man, played by Jerry O'Connell, who is inside a movie theater, on a date with Carey's alter ego, Bianca.
Initially, when the video was released, due to contractual reasons that he could only appear in a certain number of other artists' videos at a time, Jay-Z was not allowed to partake in the video. At the time, the Roc-a-Fella Records rapper was under the terms of a short-term exclusive deal with Epic Records, for which he recorded the single "Girl's Best Friend" for the Blue Streak soundtrack, and could not appear in any videos except that one. During the part of the song that Jay-Z raps, an animated sequence featuring cartoon versions of Carey and her friends was shown in lieu of Jay-Z. After the contract expired, a new scene, containing Jay-Z, appeared in the video in place of the animated scene. Jay-Z's scene paid homage to the bathtub sequence in Scarface. Other movie references in the video included a scene with Carey in a pillowfight as a homage to Grease and a catfight in a washroom between Carey and Bianca which channels the music and essence & spirit of Bruce Lee and his movie, Enter The Dragon.
The music video was released to consumers on the DVD/video version of #1's.
Remixes
"Heartbreaker" also features one of Carey's most famous remixes, known simply as the "Heartbreaker" remix. Although the song structure is kept basically the same, Carey resings her vocals and a new sample is used; this time, Snoop Dogg's "Ain't No Fun". The remix was produced by Carey, Duro, and DJ Clue (who introduces the remix), and features rapped parts by Da Brat and Missy Elliott.
There was also a music video for the "Heartbreaker (Remix)", which seemed to cause minor controversy. The video, shot entirely only in black and white, features scenes deemed by Carey to be innocent fun, but which have been deemed by many critics to be sexually suggestive. The scenes include Carey having a jello catfight with Bianca, skating around in a skimpy bikini, and washing the car of Snoop Dogg (who makes a cameo appearance) suggestively. Besides Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliot, Da Brat, Mariah's alter ego, Bianca, and DJ Clue also make guest appearances.
The remix version of the music video was released to consumers on the DVD/video version of #1's.
Besides the "Heartbreaker (Remix)" with Missy Elliot and Da Brat, dance remixes exist of the song as produced by Junior Vasquez (and carey) and are ranked among Carey's best remixes. These remixes take a stand against the usual dance remix formula and actually also feature interpolations of the hit disco song, "If You Should Ever Be Lonely".
In early statements for the film, Glitter, Carey had declared that there would be yet another remix of "Heartbreaker" on the album. In lieu of it, however, Carey performed yet another remix of "Heartbreaker", called "Heartbreaker/Love Hangover", on the VH1 2000 Divas Live Tribute to Diana Ross. The song, which was the only performance of it, features Carey singing "Heartbreaker" over the background music of Ross's "Love Hangover", along with "Love Hangover" itself and bits and pieces of Donna Summer's "Love to Love You, Baby".
Comprehensive charts
USA
"Heartbreaker" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at sixty, and was ranked thirty-fourth on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end charts (1999); it remained in the Billboard Hot 100 for twenty weeks.
"Heartbreaker" was Carey's fourteenth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, her eighth on the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales, her sixth on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, her seventh on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales, and her fifth on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales.
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot 100 | #1 (2 weeks) |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales | #1 (2 weeks) |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | #8 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | #1 (2 weeks) |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales | #1 (2 weeks) |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay | #9 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | #1 (8 weeks) |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | #2 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Top 40 Tracks | #16 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Mainstream Top 40 | #21 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | #3 |
International
"Heartbreaker" was Carey's sixth number-one single on the Billboard Canadian Singles Chart and her fifth on the Tokyo Hot 100.
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | UK Singles Chart | #5 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Billboard Canadian Singles Chart | #1 (1 week) |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | ARIA Singles Chart | #10 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Tokyo Hot 100 (chart for radio station J-Wave) | #1 (3 weeks) |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Germany Singles Chart | #9 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Sweden Top 60 Singles | #18 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | France Top 100 Singles | #4 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Switzerland Top 100 Singles | #7 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Netherlands Top 100 Singles | #7 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Italy Singles Chart | #8 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Brazil Singles Chart | #5 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | Norway Top 20 Singles | #14 |
| 1999 | "Heartbreaker" | ORICON (Japan) Top 200 Singles | #37 |
Official remixes/versions list
- "Heartbreaker" (album version) featuring Jay-Z
- "Heartbreaker" (radio edit) featuring Jay-Z
- "Heartbreaker" (no rap version)
- "Heartbreaker" (remix)^ featuring Missy Elliot and Da Brat
- "Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely" (Junior's club mix)^^
- "Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely" (Junior's club dub)^^
- "Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely" (Junior's Hard mix)^^
- "Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely" (Junior's Hard dub)^^ (on 12" vinyl only)
- "Heartbreaker/Love Hangover" (live)^^^
All songs follow writing credits as listed above unless otherwises stated:
- ^Remix produced by Carey, DJ Clue, and Duro; written by Carey, Da Brat, Missy Elliot, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg, Warren G, and R.E. Brown
- ^^Remix produced by Carey and Junior Vasquez; written by Carey, Val Young, and F. Jenkins
- ^^^Remix written by Carey, Pamela Sawyer, and Marilyn McLeod