"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song by American singer

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...

. Originally written for inclusion on TLC's third studio album ''

FanMail ''FanMail'' is the third studio album by American girl group TLC, released on February 23, 1999, by LaFace and Arista Records. The album title is a tribute to TLC's fans who sent them fan mail during their hiatus. ''FanMail'' debuted at numbe ...

'', it was later recorded by Houston after TLC rejected the song. It was released as the second single from Houston's 1998 album '' My Love Is Your Love''. The song prominently features R&B singers

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American singer and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al ...

and Kelly Price during the choruses and bridge. The song reached number two on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and peaked at number one on ''Billboard''s

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart on February 2, 1999. "Heartbreak Hotel" was certified platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(RIAA). It was also a hit in many countries worldwide. The song received two nominations at the

2000 Grammy Awards The 42nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1999. Nominations were announced on January 4, 2000. Santana was the main ...

for

Best R&B Song The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record four times, while Bab ...

and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The video, directed by Kevin Bray, was nominated for Best R&B Video at the

1999 MTV Video Music Awards The 1999 MTV Video Music Awards (stylized as 9999 MTV Video Music Awards) aired live on September 9, 1999, honoring the best music videos from June 13, 1998, to June 11, 1999. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at the Metropolitan Opera House in N ...

Composition

"Heartbreak Hotel" is written in the key of

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 67 beats per minute in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

. The chords in the song alternate between Em7 and Am7, and the vocals in the song span from G₃ to A₅.

Release

It is the second single released from Houston's '' My Love Is Your Love'' album. It holds the distinction as being one of only three songs to be on both discs for Houston's 2000

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

collection, in its original and remixed formats. It is absent on both 2007's '' The Ultimate Collection'', and the standard edition of 2012's '' I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston'', though some regions were given a deluxe edition of the latter album, in which the song is included.

Reception

Critical reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' magazine reviewed the song very favorably saying, " t'sa highly effective setting for Houston, who wears her emotions on her sleeve and serves up one of the most effective performances on the album. Price and Evans sell themselves grandly as empathetic sisters alongside their pained friend, soaring with emotion and helping keep the timeless artist identifiable to a new generation of R&B fans. Of course, R&B radio will give this a hug in an instant." '' NME'' also reviewed the song positively: "Although the appeal of this oddly-paced mid-tempo relies heavily on the 'girls united in rejection' ethos, it works because the guest vocalists appearing with Houston - Faith Evans and Kelly Price - are two enormously talented singers who have carved out careers specializing in soulful balladry. Their respective abilities to wring emotion out of the written word means that anything they sing is seen as sincere. ..But the risk of having three individually successful singers collaborate on one track is that the song could drown in the weight of competitive vocal acrobatics. But Houston, Evans and Price are secure in their gifts Confident without being cocky, emotive without being melodramatic, they've made a tidy meal of this track

Commercial performance

"Heartbreak Hotel" entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at number 84 with airplay alone as there was not yet a retail single; issue date of December 26, 1998. On its first week that retail release impacted the song's chart position; it leaped from number 55 to 29, and spent three weeks at #2 behind "

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

" by

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

on the US Hot 100. Additionally, the song entered the revamped ''Billboard'' Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart at number 23 with the mark of its seventh week on the chart, the issue date of January 9, 1999. In its first week on retail release, the song reached the number six and the following week topped the chart, becoming her eighth number-one single on the Hot R&B chart. The single stayed on the summit for seven consecutive weeks from February 13 to March 27, 1999, which was her third longest stay atop the Hot R&B chart behind "

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, ...

" for 11 weeks in 1992-1993 and "

Exhale (Shoop Shoop) "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" is a song by American recording artist and actress Whitney Houston, featured on the soundtrack for the film ''Waiting to Exhale''. It was released as the lead single from the soundtrack on November 7, 1995, by Arista Reco ...

" for eight weeks in 1995-1996, and was on the chart for a total of 31 weeks. It placed at number four and number three, on the ''Billboard'' year-end Hot 100 Singles and Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart, respectively. It was certified Platinum for shipments of 1,000,000 copies or more by the

on March 2, 1999. According to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, the single sold over 1,300,000 copies in the US alone, making it the country's third best-selling single of 1999.

Awards and nominations

"Heartbreak Hotel" was nominated for

Best R&B Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B was first awarded in 1993 under the name of Best R&B Video, and it was given every year until 2006, as the following year MTV revamped the VMAs and eliminated all the genre categories. The following year, thou ...

at the

. The song was also nominated for "R&B Single of the Year" at the 10th Billboard Music Awards on December 8, 1999, and for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and

at the

42nd Grammy Awards The 42nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1999. Nominations were announced on January 4, 2000. Santana was the main ...

on February 23, 2000. Houston was honored with a

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist. Beyoncé currently holds the record for most wins in this category with seven. Winners and nominees Winners are listed first and highlighted in bol ...

for the song at its 31st ceremony on April 6, 2000. It was nominated for "Favorite Single" at the 6th Blockbuster Entertainment Awards on May 9, 2000. On May 16, 2000, the song won the

Broadcast Music Incorporated Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 20.6 mill ...

(BMI) Pop Award at its 48th ceremony.

Live performances

Houston first performed an edited version of "Heartbreak Hotel" live on ''

The Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on May 22, 2002. This talk ...

'' on November 23, 1998, appearing with Faith Evans and Kelly Price to promote ''My Love Is Your Love''. The three women performed the song together at the 9th Billboard Music Awards on December 7, 1998. During her European promotion in February 1999, the song was performed live by Houston alone on the French television show, '' Les Annees Tube''. On June 27 that year, Houston made a surprise appearance at the 13th Annual New York City Lesbian & Gay Pride Dance and performed a remixed version of the song along with "

It's Not Right But It's Okay "It's Not Right but It's Okay" is the third single from American singer Whitney Houston's fourth studio album, ''My Love Is Your Love''. It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Isaac Phillips, Toni Estes, and produ ...

". Video of the performance premiered on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

All Access on July 21, 1999. During her

My Love Is Your Love World Tour The My Love Is Your Love World Tour (advertised as World Tour 1999) was the eighth concert tour by American recording artist Whitney Houston. The tour was in support of her fourth album, '' My Love Is Your Love'' (1998). Beginning in the summer o ...

in 1999, the song was second on the tour's setlist. Houston added elements from the Jackson Five hit " This Place Hotel" to end the song. One performance on the tour was broadcast live on Polish TV channel, TVP1, on August 22, 1999. "Heartbreak Hotel" was included in the setlist of

Soul Divas Tour The Soul Divas Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by American recording artists Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston. The tour was a one-month trek that started on July 7, in Hamburg, Germany. The tour was created and initiated by ...

in 2004 and performed at Live & Loud Music Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 1, 2007.

Track listings

* US CD maxi-singleWhitney Houston-Heartbreak Hotel/It's Not Right But It's Okay CD Maxi-Single
''Discogs.com'' # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Album Version) - 4:41 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (

Hex Hector Hex Hector (born Héctor Ortiz on April 15, 1965) is an American music producer and remixer. He won a Grammy Award in 2001 for Best Remixer. He was born in Manhattan, New York, of a Puerto Rican mother and Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something ...

Radio Mix) - 4:20 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Hex Hector Club Mix) - 8:44 # "

It's Not Right but It's Okay "It's Not Right but It's Okay" is the third single from American singer Whitney Houston's fourth studio album, ''My Love Is Your Love''. It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Isaac Phillips, Toni Estes, and produ ...

" (

Thunderpuss Thunderpuss is the (mainly dance) remix/production team of Los Angeles-based music producers Barry Harris and Chris Cox. Harris had previously worked as part of several music groups including Kon Kan, Top Kat, Killer Bunnies and Outta Control ...

2000 Radio Mix) - 4:11 # "It's Not Right but It's Okay" (Thunderpuss 2000 Club Mix) - 9:14 # "It's Not Right but It's Okay" (Thunderpuss 2000 Dub) - 8:19 # "It's Not Right but It's Okay" (

Johnny Vicious Johnny Vicious (born John Coles) is an American house DJ, producer and remixer. He DJed in New York City clubs Mars and Paladium in the 1980s, and in the early 1990s started his own label, Vicious Muzik Records, with Jeffrey Rodman. Vicious b ...

Radio Mix) - 4:14 # "It's Not Right but It's Okay" (Johnny Vicious Momentous Mix) - 13:03 # "It's Not Right but It's Okay" (Johnny Vicious Dub) - 8:31 * UK CD maxi-single # "Heartbreak Hotel" (R.I.P. Radio Edit) - 3:42 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Undadoggz Radio Edit) - 3:39 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Album Version) - 4:41 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Undadoggz Club Rub Pt.1) - 5:55 * US 12-inch vinyl (Remixes) # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Hex Hector Club Mix) - 8:44 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Hex Hector NYC Rough Mix) - 9:14 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Hex Hector Radio Mix) - 4:20 * UK CD maxi-single # "Heartbreak Hotel" (R.I.P. Radio Mix) - 3:40 # " Love to Infinity Megamix" (Edit) - 5:17 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Album Version) - 4:41 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Undadoggz Club Rub Pt.2) - 4:30 # "Love to Infinity" (Extended) * German CD maxi-single # "Heartbreak Hotel" (R.I.P. Radio Edit) - 3:42 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Undadoggz Radio Edit) - 3:39 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Album Version) - 4:38 # "Megamix" (Love to Infinity Edit) - 5:17 # "I Will Always Love You" - 4:23 # "Heartbreak Hotel" (Music Video) - 4:03 # "Love to Infinity" (Music Video) - 5:17

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Heartbreak Hotel
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{Authority control Whitney Houston songs Faith Evans songs Kelly Price songs 1990s ballads 1998 songs 1998 singles 1999 singles 2000 singles Arista Records singles Bertelsmann Music Group singles Contemporary R&B ballads Pop ballads Song recordings produced by Soulshock and Karlin Songs about heartache Songs written by Kenneth Karlin Songs written by Soulshock Songs written by Tamara Savage