The Centre of the Heart

"The Centre of the Heart" is a song by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, released on 19 March 2001 as the lead single from their seventh studio album, Room Service. An uptempo electropop song, it was written by Per Gessle and originally demoed in January 1998 during sessions for their previous album Have a Nice Day (1999), as it was also originally intended for that album before the song became an outtake. The song's music video was directed by longtime collaborator Jonas Åkerlund, and is the most expensive music video ever produced by Roxette.

"The Centre of the Heart"
Single by Roxette
from the album Room Service
B-side"Entering Your Heart"
Released19 March 2001
FormatCD
RecordedJanuary 1998; November 2000
StudioEl Cortijo Studios, Marbella;
Atlantis and Polar Studios, Stockholm
Genre
Length3:22
Label
  • Roxette Recordings
  • EMI
Songwriter(s)Per Gessle
Producer(s)
Roxette singles chronology
"Salvation"
(1999)
"The Centre of the Heart"
(2001)
"Real Sugar"
(2001)
Music video
"The Centre of the Heart" on YouTube

The track became one of the duo's biggest hits in their home country, spending four weeks on top of the Swedish Singles Chart. It also performed well in Spain, and charted moderately in several other European territories. The single was backed by an exclusive b-side, "Entering Your Heart", along with several remixes by StoneBridge.

Background and recording

The song was written by Per Gessle early in the development stages of Roxette's preceding studio album, Have a Nice Day (1999). It was first demoed in El Cortijo Studios in Marbella, Spain in January 1998, and is the only track on Room Service to feature a co-production credit for Michael Ilbert.[1]

Release and promotion

The song is officially titled "The Centre of the Heart", although multiple promotional singles were issued which titled the track "The Centre of the Heart (Is a Suburb to the Brain)". Non-album track "Entering Your Heart" appears as a b-side on most editions of the single.[1] An extended version of the b-side, containing an extra verse, also appeared on Japanese editions of Room Service.[2] A maxi single was also issued, containing four remixes of the song by Swedish DJ StoneBridge, as well as an additional remix created by Jens Bjurman and Per Kalenius, titled the 'Yoga Remix'.[1]

The StoneBridge Club Mix was featured in several Dance Dance Revolution video games from 2001 and 2002:

Roxette debuted "The Centre of the Heart" live on 23 February during an interval at the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2001.[4] The song's music video was directed by longtime collaborator Jonas Åkerlund,[5] and was filmed over three days at The Madonna Inn in California. It remains Roxette's most expensive music video to date, surpassing the budget of "Spending My Time" from their 1991 album Joyride.[6]

Commercial performance

The song became one of the duo's biggest hits in their home country Sweden, topping the Sverigetopplistan chart for four consecutive weeks,[7] and being certified platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association for sales in excess of 30,000 copies.[8] It ended 2001 as the 14th best-selling single in the country.[9] It was also a hit in Spain, topping the Spanish Airplay Chart and peaking at number seven on the national sales chart.[10] The song became a top twenty hit in Finland, where it charted at number 13,[11] and peaked within the top thirty in Austria,[12] Belgium,[13] and Switzerland.[14] The single peaked at number 31 and spent nine weeks on the German Singles Chart.[15] The song was not released as a single in the Republic of Ireland or the United Kingdom.[1]The single became Nr. 1 radio hit in Czech republic. It was also huge radio hit in Slovakia


Formats and track listings

All songs written by Per Gessle.

  • CD Single (Australia 8790312 · Europe 8791712)
  1. "The Centre of the Heart" – 3:22
  2. "Entering Your Heart" – 3:59
  • CD Maxi – Remixes (8792302)
  1. "The Centre of the Heart" – 3:22
  2. "The Centre of the Heart" (StoneBridge Club Mix Edit) – 3:37
  3. "The Centre of the Heart" (StoneBridge Club Mix) – 7:49
  4. "The Centre of the Heart" (Yoga Remix) – 3:29
  5. "The Centre of the Heart" (StoneBridge Peak Hour Dub) – 6:36
  6. "The Centre of the Heart" (StoneBridge More Vox Dub) – 6:36

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Pop Hits.[16]

Musicians

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Sweden (GLF)[8] Platinum 30,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. Thorselius, Robert (May 2003). The Look for Roxette: The Illustrated Worldwide Discography & Price Guide (1st ed.). Sweden: Premium Förlag Publishing. ISBN 978-9197189484.
  2. "Roxette – Entering Your Heart". Roxette.co. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  3. "Various – DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6th MIX Original Soundtrack". Discogs. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  4. "Melodifestivalen har hippat till sig" [Melody Festival Is Hip Again]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 20 February 2001. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  5. Nigel Williamson (3 February 2001). "Global Music Pulse | The Latest Music News From Around The Planet". Billboard. Vol. 113 no. 5. Nielsen Holdings PLC. p. 71. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. Ballad & Pop Hits - The Complete Video Collection (DVD liner notes). Roxette. EMI. 2003. 7243 4 90946 9 7.CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. "Swedishcharts.com – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  8. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2001" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  9. "Sverigetopplistan > Sök Alla Listar > Årslista > Singlar > 2001". Sverigetopplistan (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  10. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  11. "Roxette: The Centre of the Heart" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  12. "Austriancharts.at – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  13. "Ultratop.be – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  14. "Swisscharts.com – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  15. "Offiziellecharts.de – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  16. Lindström, Sven (2003). The Pop Hits (CD liner notes). Roxette. Capitol Records. 72435 8215-0 1.
  17. "Ultratop.be – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  18. "Italiancharts.com – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart". Top Digital Download. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  19. "Dutchcharts.nl – Roxette – The Centre of the Heart" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  20. "Lista Przebojów Trójki - Polskie Radio Online: Notowanie nr1001 - 6 kwietnia 2001". Polskie Radio (in Polish). 6 April 2001. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  21. "Romanian Top 100 | Top of the Year: 2001". Romanian Top 100. Nielsen Audio. Archived from the original on 9 December 2002. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
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