Put Your Hearts Up

"Put Your Hearts Up"
Single by Ariana Grande
Released December 12, 2011 (2011-12-12)
Format Digital download
Recorded 2011
Genre
Length 3:30
Label Universal Republic Records
Writer(s)
Producer(s) Matt Squire
Ariana Grande singles chronology
"Put Your Hearts Up"
(2011)		 "Popular Song"
(2012)

"Put Your Hearts Up" is the debut single by American singer Ariana Grande.[1] She released the single under Universal Republic Records on December 12, 2011. The song samples "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes.

Grande later said that she hated the song and its music video. She called it "the worst moment of my life" and "straight out of hell" in a Rolling Stone interview in 2014.

Background

Grande began working on her debut album while she was filming Victorious and formally started to work on it with a record label after she was signed to Universal Republic Records on August 10, 2011.[2][3] By September 10 of that year, Grande already had twenty songs prepared and was going through the process of narrowing it down to thirteen.[4] "Put Your Hearts Up" was written by Matt Squire, Linda Perry, and Martin Johnson. It was released the first single on December 12, 2011. It's a "50s, 60s doo-wop-inspired" bubblegum pop song which talks about making the world a better place.[5] The single was aimed at young audiences, perhaps intending to cater to Grande's core audience, which at that time was almost entirely made up by kids who knew her from Victorious.

Release and cover

Grande decided to let her fans be a part of choosing the single's artwork by showing four possible covers for the single via her account on Twitter.[6] After the fans voted, the cover was chosen and the release date for the single was announced via Ariana Grande's Twitter account on November 29, 2011. "Put Your Hearts Up" was originally going to be released on December 20, 2011, but was later decided to be released earlier. "Put Your Hearts Up" premiered on On Air With Ryan Seacrest on December 9, 2011 and became available for digital download through iTunes three days later.[7] Although Grande originally released this song as the lead single from her album, "The Way" replaced it. "Put Your Hearts Up" as well as the majority of the original songs intended for the album were scrapped and did not end up making Yours Truly.

The song debuted on the US iTunes Charts at number 61. After about one day it fell to number 87 and subsequently dropped off the US iTunes chart. It sold 120,000 downloads by March 2013.[8]

After release

In a 2012 interview she said, "'Put Your Hearts Up' is the first single [of my album] because it has a great message and, in some people’s opinion, is the best option for a newcomer, most commercial, yeah. You know, it screams 'newbie coming to town'. It’s kind of my, like, not like 'Genie In A Bottle', but it's my first single that is somewhat different and somewhat going with the flow for now."[9]

In March 2013, Grande released a new song titled "The Way" that replaced "Put Your Hearts Up" as the lead single for her debut album. During the promotion of that single, Grande publicly spoke of her disappointment with "Put Your Hearts Up" several times. She stated in an interview with KIIS-FM that "Put Your Hearts Up" was a "terrible first impression. ... I didn't want to promote it because I didn't like it and I wasn't confident about it and I hated the video and I didn't like anything about it. So I sort of gave up on it and wanted to pretend that it didn't happen before it already happened."[10] In an interview on Kidd Kraddick in the Morning she said, "It was a learning experience for sure. Sonically it's just not my vibe. I think it would've been a great hit song for somebody else maybe, but it's just not what I like to sing. It's a bubblegum pop record for sure, and I like to sing stuff that's a little more soulful. I love pop music, I'm a huge pop music fan, but I just didn't think that that record was right for me."[11] In an interview published in the August 2013 issue of Seventeen, Grande said, "It was bubblegum pop, which isn’t me, but it was something I thought my fans wanted."[12]

In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2014, Grande said that "Put Your Hearts Up" "was geared toward kids and felt so inauthentic and fake. That was the worst moment of my life. For the video, they gave me a bad spray tan and put me in a princess dress and had me frolic around the street. The whole thing was straight out of hell. I still have nightmares about it, and I made them hide it on my Vevo page."[13]

Music video

The music video for "Put Your Hearts Up" was shot on November 23, 2011. It was directed by Meiert Avis and Jeremy Alter. On February 14, 2012, the official music video was uploaded on YouTube under ArianaGrandeVevo at a length of 3 minutes and 49 seconds.[14] When "The Way" music video was released, the music video for "Put Your Hearts Up" was made private on Grande's VEVO account at Grande's request.[13]

Reception

Critical reception

The song received positive reviews. In a review for Hopeless Thunder, Nancy Hoang stated, "I predicted a pop album but her single, 'Put Your Hearts Up,' was so much more than just a pop single. It was a pop single with soul, heartbeat, substance. I rarely listen to pop songs, whenever I do, it’s in the car with my friends and I just block that out. 'Put Your Hearts Up' is a song I’d be happy to hear over the radio, anytime."[15] A review on Neon Limelight said, "Her first single, 'Put Your Hearts Up', pushes her in the right direction. It’s a saccharine-sweet, catchy ditty about changing the world one small, loving gesture at a time, and features Grande belting in Demi Lovato-meets-Kelly Clarkson-meets-Mariah Carey style on the 4 Non Blondes-sampling chorus."[16]

Commercial performance

By March 28, 2013, "Put Your Hearts Up" had sold a total of 120,000 copies to date. It was outsold by "The Way" in just 48 hours.[17] On July 20, 2014 it was certified Gold by the RIAA, for sales of 500,000 copies in the US.

Track listing

Digital download[18]

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[19] Gold 500,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ "Put Your Hearts Up – Single by Ariana Grande". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  2. ↑ Grande, Ariana. "Ariana Grande tweets picture of contract". Twitter. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "Universal Republic Records Announces the Signing of Ariana Grande". Reuters. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "Ariana Grande Talks Music at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2011". YouTube. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "Ariana Grande Debuts New Single, 'Put Your Hearts Up'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "First Look:"Put Your Hearts Up" Cover Art". BopAndTigerBeat.com.
  7. ↑ "Put Your Hearts Up". Amazon.com.
  8. ↑ Lipshutz, Jason (28 March 2013). "Ariana Grande Talks Breakout Hit 'The Way': Watch New Music Video". Billboard.
  9. ↑ "Limelight Spotlight Q&A: Ariana Grande". Limelight. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  10. ↑ "Ariana Grande radio interview 102.7 live with jojo 3/25/13". Youtube.
  11. ↑ Grande, Ariana. "Ariana Grande on Kidd Kraddick in the Morning". Youtube.
  12. ↑ Mateo, Ashley (August 2013). "Ariana Grande". Seventeen Magazine (August 2013): 90–94.
  13. 1 2 Grande, Ariana. "How Ariana Grande and Max Martin Made 'Problem' the Song of the Summer". Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  14. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apBZaIblmFU
  15. ↑ Hoang, Nancy. "Interview: Ariana Grande: "Put Your Hearts Up"". Hopeless Thunder. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  16. ↑ "Limelight Spotlight Q&A: Ariana Grande". Neon Limelight. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  17. ↑ Lipshutz, Jason. "Ariana Grande Talks Breakout Hit 'The Way'". Billboard. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  18. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/put-your-hearts-up-single/id487887301
  19. ↑ "American single certifications – Ariana Grande – Put Your Hearts Up". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 18, 2014. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH

External links

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