"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
pop song, it was written by
Per Gessle and originally demoed in January 1998 during sessions for their previous album Have a Nice Day (1999). The single was backed by an exclusive
B-side, "Entering Your Heart", along with several remixes by
StoneBridge.
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 entered the top 10 in Romania and Spain and charted moderately in several other European territories. Longtime collaborator
Jonas Åkerlund directed the song's music video, which was Roxette's most expensive and was criticised for negatively portraying women.[1]
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.[2]
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.[2] An extended version of the b-side, containing an extra verse, also appeared on Japanese editions of Room Service.[3] 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'.[2]
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 and was filmed over three days at
The Madonna Inn in California.[5] 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 and being certified platinum by the
Swedish Recording Industry Association for sales in excess of 30,000 copies.[7][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][11] The single became a top-twenty hit in Finland, where it charted at number 13,[12] and peaked within the top thirty in Austria,[13] Belgium,[14] and Switzerland.[15] The track peaked at number 31 and spent nine weeks on the
German Singles Chart.[16] It was not released as a single in Ireland or the United Kingdom.[2]
Track listings
All songs were written by Per Gessle.
CD single (Australia 8790312 · Europe 8791712)
"The Centre of the Heart" – 3:22
"Entering Your Heart" – 3:59
CD maxi – remixes (8792302)
"The Centre of the Heart" – 3:22
"The Centre of the Heart" (
StoneBridge Club Mix Edit) – 3:37
"The Centre of the Heart" (StoneBridge Club Mix) – 7:49
"The Centre of the Heart" (Yoga Remix) – 3:29
"The Centre of the Heart" (StoneBridge Peak Hour Dub) – 6:36
"The Centre of the Heart" (StoneBridge More Vox Dub) – 6:36