Listen to Your Heart

"Listen to Your Heart" is a song by Swedish rock duo Roxette, which was originally released in Sweden in September 1988 as the second single from the duo's second studio album, Look Sharp! (1988). It was written by Per Gessle with former Gyllene Tider guitarist Mats "M.P." Persson. The song went on to become one of the most successful singles of 1989, reaching number one in both the United States and Canada around November 1989. The track was the first song to reach number one in the US without a commercially released 7-inch single. "Listen to Your Heart" originally peaked at number 62 in the UK when it was released there in October 1989. However, following the success of "It Must Have Been Love", the track was reissued as a double A-side with "Dangerous" in August 1990, upon which it reached a chart peak of number six on the UK Singles Chart. In 2005, Belgian trance act DHT released a remixed version of the song, which became a top 10 hit in numerous territories, including France, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. Composition and style Per Gessle described "Listen to Your Heart" in the liner notes of Roxette's 1995 greatest hits compilation Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! as "The Big Bad Ballad. This is us trying to recreate that overblown American FM-rock sound to the point where it almost becomes absurd. We really wanted to see how far we could take it." Its lyrics were inspired by a close friend of Gessle's, who was in "emotional turmoil, stuck between an old relationship and a new love. A year later, I call him up in the middle of the night after a few too many glasses of champagne, saying 'Hey, you're number one in the States.'" According to Ultimate Guitar, the track is an alternative rock ballad, with a moderately slow tempo of 86 beats per minute. The verses are made up of three repeating sequences of Bm–G–A and one additional sequence of Bm–G–Em. The first two choruses are composed of two repetitions of a Bm–G–D–A sequence, followed by an extended sequence of D–A–G–D–Bm–G–A–Bm. The bridge consists of E–C♯m–B–A–B–C♯. The final chorus has been modified up by two full tones it consists of two repetitions of D♯m–B–F♯–C♯, followed by a sequence of F♯–C♯–B–F♯–D♯m–B–C♯–D♯m–B, with the final four notes being repeated for the outro.