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Broken-Hearted Girl

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"Broken-Hearted Girl"
Song
B-side"Video Phone (Extended Remix)"

"Broken-Hearted Girl" is a song by American R&B recording artist, Beyoncé Knowles. It was written by Knowles, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen and was also produced by Knowles alongside the Norwegian production team Stargate. The song was released as the seventh overall single from her third studio album, I Am… Sasha Fierce.

It had preiously been announced as the sixth US and fourth worldwide single from the album alongside the US-Only single "Ego". However, at the last minute, "Sweet Dreams" was released instead while "Broken-Hearted Girl" was pushed forward as the fifth single to be serviced internationally and the seventh US single. Again its released was cancelled but this time, only in the US, where "Video Phone" was released instead and in the Netherlands, where "Radio" was used in different Dutch television commercials to promote local radio stations. The song was finally promoted internationally as the fifth single though it was not officially released in neither the United States nor the Netherlands.

The song was well received by critics which complimented the song's domination of piano and strings and Beyoncé's vocal performance. In this song, Knowles conveys the fear of love and placing one's heart in the hands of another. The video was directed by Sophie Muller who also directed "Déjà Vu" and "Ring The Alarm" for Knowles. The video features Knowles on a beach with a man, presumably her boyfriend, in a black and white theme. Its UK premiere was on September 19, 2009 on 4Music. It was included in the CD/DVD collection titled Above and Beyoncé – Video Collection & Dance Mixes which was released exclusively through Wal-Mart across America on June 16, 2009.

The single managed to reach the Top 40 in nearly all European countries and the Top 20 in Australia, Germany and Ireland.

Background and composition

"Broken-Hearted Girl" was originally lined up as the sixth US and fourth worldwide single from the album alongside the US-Only single "Ego". However, at the last minute, its release was scrapped. "Sweet Dreams" was released instead while "Broken-Hearted Girl" was pushed forward as the fifth single to be serviced internationally. Both tracks were taken from the Sasha Fierce disc, which contrasts with other joint-releases from this album where one track is taken from each disc.[1][2] In July 2009, it was confirmed on Knowles' official website that it was to be released as the seventh U.S. single from the album and fifth single for international markets.[3] It was later cancelled for a U.S. release, and was replaced with "Video Phone" as the seventh U.S. single.

The single was released physically in Australia on August 28, 2009.[4][5] The song was released in the UK on November 2, 2009, and its release coincided with that of the Platinum edition of the album. However, it premiered in the UK on September 19, 2009 on 4Music.[6] The song was not released instead and in the Netherlands where "Radio" was used instead in different Dutch television commercials to promote local radio stations.[7]

"Broken-Hearted Girl" is a R&B-pop song set in common time composed in a moderate tempo of 84 beats per minute,[8] in the key of D Minor with a vocal range from the tone of F4 to the note of F6.[8] It begins as a piano-and-vocal ballad, and then transcends into a minimalist beat.[9]

Critical reception

Colin McGuire of Pop Matters said that "The piano-balladry of 'Broken-Hearted Girl' is simply more Celine Dion than Aretha Franklin".[10] Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond of Village Voice called the song "romantic-comedy soundtrack fare".[11] Jennifer Vineyard of MTV News complimented the song's domination of piano and strings and stated "Her voice shows restraint, and singing in a lower register gives her more vocal power".[12] Nick Levine Digital Spy gave the single a mixed positive review stating "it features a pleasant mix of cascading piano and tender strings, and though it's let down somewhat by the hollowness of the drum sounds, it's still a classy, well-constructed pop ballad. Sadly, it doesn't quite have the magnetic pull of her best work, like 'Crazy in Love', 'If I Were a Boy' and those still-peerless Writing's on the Wall / Survivor-era Destiny's Child singles. Nevertheless, the emotion-filled vocals offer yet more proof that Beyoncé is one of the finest pop singers of her generation."[13]

Music video

File:Beyonce-Broken-Hearted Girl Music Video.jpg
Beyonce giving back a rose its original appearance in the video.

A video for the single was released on June 16, 2009 on the Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes.[14] The video was directed by Sophie Muller who also directed "Déjà Vu" and "Ring the Alarm" for Knowles. Its UK premiere was on September 19, 2009 on 4Music at 11:00am.[15]

It shows Knowles in a car crying after having an argument with her man. She is then shown walking on the beach staring into the sea. Scenes are shown of and her love interest playing around on the beach, which seem to be memories being recalled while in the car. Knowles is seen singing a line and pausing as if the lyrics are too painful to sing. Back in the car, she imagines holding hands with her love interest as a mans hand is seen holding hers. During the climax, the video transitions into full color, where she is in a green dress with a red rose. This scene is shot in reverse as to show her repairing the rose rather than pulling the petals off. The video returns to black and white with a few inter-cut scenes with her and the rose in color before the music video ends with Knowles wiping the tears from her face, smiling, and driving off.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

  • Vocals - Beyoncé Knowles
  • Executive Producers - Beyoncé Knowles
  • Vocal recorders - Jim Caruana
  • Mixed by - Mark "Spike" Stent
  • Mixing Assistant - Matt Green
  • Mastering - James Cruz, Tom Coyne
  • Instrumentation - Mikkel S. Eriksen
  • Enineer - Mikkel S. Eriksen, Jim Caruana
  • Management - Tim Blacksmith
  • Writers - Beyoncé Knowles, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Mikkel S. Eriksen
Source: CD Liner[22]

Chart performance

"Broken-Hearted Girl" debuted the UK Singles Chart at number 194 shortly after the release of I Am...Sasha Fierce.[23] Over a year later, (on September 27 2009) when the release of the single was announced, the song re-entered the chart at 56.[24] During its seventh week inside the UK top 100 singles chart (November 8, 2009) "Broken-Hearted Girl" climbed to #27 following the song's physical release on November 14, 2009[25] becoming her 16th top 30 hit in the UK as a solo artist. It has also so far peaked at #12 on the UK R&B Chart[26] The single first entered the Australian ARIA Charts top 100 on September 20, 2009 at #57 and then the top 50 the following week at #28.[27] It peaked at #14 for two consecutive weeks from October 11, 2009 to October 24, 2009.[28][29]

In Ireland, "Broken-Hearted Girl" debuted at number 39 on October 8, 2009.[30] On November 5, 2009 the single jumped 23 places to reached number 20 and peaked at this spot.[31] Although not commercially released in the U.S., the song managed to peak at #2 on the Billboard Under Hot 100 Singles Chart due to strong downloads.

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[27] 14
Australian Urban Singles Chart[32] 5
Austrian Singles Chart[27] 38
Belgian Tip Chart (Flanders)[27] 7
Belgian Tip Chart (Wallonia)[27] 9
Czech Airplay Chart[33] 15
European Hot 100 Singles[34] 37
German Singles Chart[35] 14
Irish Singles Chart[35] 20
Swiss Singles Chart[35] 79
Slovak Airplay Chart[36] 48
UK Singles Chart[37] 27
UK R&B Chart[26] 12

End-of-year charts

Chart (2009) Position
Australian Urban Singles Chart[38] 37
UK Singles Chart[39] 189

Release history

Country Date Format
Australia[4][5] August 28, 2009 CD single
Europe October 30, 2009 Digital download - EP
United Kingdom November 2, 2009[6] CD single
Germany[18][19] November 20, 2009

References

  1. ^ June 18, 2009 12:00AM (2009-06-18). "Beyonce Knowles Broken-Hearted Girl music video released". The Daily Telegraph. News Limited. Retrieved 2010-06-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ June 18, 2009 12:00AM (2009-06-18). "Beyonce Knowles Broken-Hearted Girl music video released". The Daily Telegraph. News Limited. Retrieved 2010-06-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ login or register to post comments (2009-07-22). "Platinum Edition CD +DVD di "I Am..Sasha Fierce" | The Official Beyoncé Site". Beyoncéonline.com. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  4. ^ a b c "Broken Hearted Girl". Sanity.com.au. 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  5. ^ a b c "Beyoncé - Broken Hearted Girl Cd Single". CD Online. 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  6. ^ a b "New Releases - UK Forthcoming Albums (Radio1 Rodos Greece ::: Top 40 Music Station ::: Promo Releases)". Radio1.gr. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  7. ^ "Radio 538: TV Commercial". YouTube. 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  8. ^ a b "Broken-Hearted Girl digital sheet music (Digital Download)". MusicNotes.com. EMI Music Publishing.
  9. ^ W.E. Phillips (2008-12-15). "Beyonce: I Am...Sasha Fierce". 24hourhiphop.com. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  10. ^ McGuire, Colin. (2009-02-06) Review: I Am... Sasha Fierce. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2009-11-11.
  11. ^ Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond (2008-12-17). "New York Music - On the Method Behind Beyoncé's Multiple-Personality Madness - page 1". Village Voice. Retrieved 2009-09-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer (2008-10-23). "Beyonce Album Preview: I Am ... Sasha Fierce Shines Light On B's Alter Ego - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News". MTV News. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  13. ^ Nick Levine (2009-11-01). "Music - Singles Review - Beyoncé: 'Broken-Hearted Girl'". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  14. ^ "Video: Beyoncé – 'Broken-Hearted Girl'". Rap-Up.com. 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  15. ^ [1]
  16. ^ a b "Broken-Hearted Girl: Beyoncé: Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Downloads". Amazon UK. Amazon Inc. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  17. ^ "music: Broken-hearted Girl (2009)". hmv.com. 2005-12-15. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  18. ^ a b "Broken-Hearted Girl: Beyoncé: Amazon.de: Musik". Amazon Germany. Amazon Inc. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  19. ^ a b "Broken - Hearted Girl von Beyoncé - Musik". Weltbild.de. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2009-11-30. [dead link]
  20. ^ "Broken-Hearted Girl: Beyoncé: Amazon.fr: Téléchargements MP3". Amazon France. Amazon Inc. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  21. ^ "Broken-Hearted Girl: Beyoncé: Amazon.fr: Téléchargements MP3". Amazon France. Amazon Inc. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  22. ^ Beyoncé Knowles - I Am... Sasha Fierce (Liner Notes). Columbia Records (2008)
  23. ^ "Chart Log UK: New Entries Update". Zobbel.de. 2008-11-24. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
  24. ^ "UK Singles Top 75 (September 27, 2009) - Music Charts". Acharts.us. 2009-09-27. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  25. ^ "Archive Chart". Theofficialcharts.com. 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  26. ^ a b "Archive Chart". Theofficialcharts.com. 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  27. ^ a b c d e Steffen Hung (2009-09-27). "Beyoncé - Broken-hearted Girl". ARIA Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  28. ^ Steffen Hung. "Australian charts portal". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  29. ^ Steffen Hung (2009-10-18). "Australian charts portal". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  30. ^ "Ireland Singles Top 50 (October 8, 2009) - Music Charts". Acharts.us. 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  31. ^ "Ireland Singles Top 50 (November 5, 2009) - Music Charts". Acharts.us. 2009-11-05. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  32. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Pandora Archive. 2010-01-04. pp. 4, 21. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
  33. ^ "RADIO TOP100 Oficiální". IFPI (in Czech). Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  34. ^ "Broken-Hearted Girl". Billboard. Nielsen Company. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
  35. ^ a b c "Beyoncé - Broken-hearted Girl - Music Charts". Acharts.us. Retrieved 2010-07-19. Cite error: The named reference "acharts" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  36. ^ "RADIO TOP100 Oficiálna". IFPI (in Slovak). Retrieved 2010-01-28.
  37. ^ "Beyoncé - Broken-hearted Girl". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  38. ^ "Pandora Archive" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. 2006-08-23. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  39. ^ "Charts Plus Year end 2009" (PDF). Charts Plus. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
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