“Listen to Your Heart” by Roxette
Per Gessle was inspired to write “Listen to Your Heart” after having a heartfelt discussion with one of his friends concerning the tumultuous divorce said friend was going through. This particular person was a male. However, the addressee of this track is a female. And what the singer (also a female, Roxette’s Marie Fredriksson) is telling her throughout is “listen to your heart”. Or more specifically, she should be receptive to the idea of hashing things out with her lover as opposed to terminating their relationship.
And the singer sympathizes with what the addressee is going through. She understands that the happy days of her romance now seem to be a thing of the past. But the underlying implication is that the addressee still cares for her husband. Or stated differently, her heart is telling her to reconsider ‘telling him goodbye’. And this is the particular inner voice which the singer is encouraging her to “listen to”.
So conclusively this song is based in both the past and present. And in that regard the former days, in relation to the featured romance, were definitely more-fulfilling than the current ones. But more to the point is with that reality being established, the singer is now pleading with the person she is advising, i.e. the addressee, not to call the relationship quits. And she feels that taking this course of action is more in line with what the addressee’s own conscious is telling her.
Facts about “Listen to Your Heart”
This track came out on 27 September 1988 as the second single from Roxette’s sophomore album, “Look Sharp!” And it was done so by EMI Records. FYI, the duo’s hit song “The Look” also appears on “Look Sharp!”
“Listen to Your Heart” was written by Mats Persson and Roxette member Per Gessle. And the track was produced by Clarence Öfwerman.
The music video to “Listen to Your Heart” was directed by Doug Freel.
This track is one of the handful of Roxette songs which actually topped the Billboard Hot 100. And it also reached number one on Canada Top Singles and in Poland.
And outside of those 3 countries, it also charted in over a dozen other nations.
“Listen to Your Heart” has gone down in history as being the first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 that was available exclusively as a cassette (as opposed to also being available via vinyl).
“Listen to Your Heart” also had a successful international run being covered by a Belgian group called DHT in 2004.
