"With Every Heartbeat" is a song by Swedish record producer Kleerup and Swedish singer-songwriter

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (; born 12 June 1979), known professionally as Robyn (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. Her 1995 debut album ''Robyn Is Here'' produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 single ...

. It was first released on 10 January 2007 in Sweden and later on 30 July 2007 in the United Kingdom. It was released as the second single from the international edition of Robyn's self-titled fourth studio album and the lead single from Kleerup's self-titled debut studio album. "With Every Heartbeat" peaked at number 23 on the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name s ...

. Outside Sweden, "With Every Heartbeat" topped the charts in the United Kingdom and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. In the United States, where it was released as Robyn's first single since " Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect)" in 1998, the single peaked at number twenty-eight on ''

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 advertis ...

''s

Hot Singles Sales The Hot Singles Sales, also known as the Hot 100 Singles Sales and the POS chart, was a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's best-selling physical singles in the United States, such as CD singles, vinyl single ...

chart. The song also features an

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

and various

bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow (music), bow rubbing the string (music), strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous spe ...

Background and composition

In mid-2006 Kleerup played drums for Klas Åhlund alternative rock band Teddybears (whose song " Cobrastyle" Robyn covered). Kleerup had a severe nosebleed when he met Robyn through Klas after a gig in Stockholm early one morning following a massive street brawl downtown between Kleerup, Klas and paparazzi that had insulted Robyn, landing Klas a stint in jail. "With Every Heartbeat" was composed in Kleerup's living room, where Robyn came up with the song's

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

, inspired by

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

, "but mostly by the

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

song ' Legs'". The song runs for four minutes and thirteen seconds in its entire form. It is composed in the key of

D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

, and is set in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

. It has an unconventional pop song structure and no distinct chorus. The string parts were originally arranged by Carl Bagge using

Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

. A physical single was released in the UK on 6 August 2007. It was named as both Jo Whiley's and Scott Mills's "Record of the Week" and was A-Listed on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's Radio 1. Robyn performed the song live on Radio 1 during the ''Jo Whiley Show'' on 8 August 2007. It also received strong support by

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', ''Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael C ...

, who later ranked the single as the best of 2007. The song was released in the United States in January 2008. A remix version is also featured in the soundtrack of '' How to Lose Friends and Alienate People''.

Critical reception

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

's Alex Fletcher gave the song four stars (out of five) and wrote "'With Every Heartbeat' is reminiscent of 90s dance tracks by the likes of

Robert Miles Roberto Concina (; 3 November 1969 – 9 May 2017), known professionally as Robert Miles, was an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ. His 1995 composition "Children" sold more than 5 million copies and topped the charts worldwid ...

. ..The laid back, coffee-table friendly styling of the track calls to mind '' Moon Safari'' era

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

, particularly their forgotten classic ' Kelly Watch the Stars'. While the lyrics may be devoid of any emotional clout, they tumble along pleasantly enough while the bleeps and glitches provided by Kleerup nurture your ears." Steve Perkins of

Chart Blog praised the song for its lack of a chorus, writing "when you peel this song apart, it's actually very cyclical regardless: odd lines are repeated, but carefully chosen as if to reinforce the point that a new line just made. ..There's a trembling quality to Robyn's voice in this song – as though she could fall apart at any moment but is keeping herself together by sheer force of will – which adds enormously to the fighting spirit of a song that is pessimistic without being bleak." Online music magazine ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' placed the song at number 46 on their Top 500 Tracks of the Decade list. In October 2011, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' placed it at number 30 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

Chart performance

"With Every Heartbeat" was Robyn's biggest hit in the United Kingdom, where it topped the UK Singles Chart in August 2007 and became the first number one, second top ten, and fourth top 40 hit of her career in Britain. The song charted inside the top five on downloads alone the week before the song's physical release. As of 2023, the song has sold and streamed 600,000 units in the United Kingdom.

Music video

Two videos were filmed for the song. Kleerup's version shows assorted scenes of life in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, while Robyn's version shows the singer walking among colourful building blocks and board game pawns. Robyn wears her trademark neckscarf and tights, which change colour as the song progresses. The

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animation moves in sync with the music. The song pans out halfway through the video to reveal that Robyn is miniature and in fact on a desk in Kleerup's studio. On display in Kleerup's studio is a vinyl copy of

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

's album '' Guilty''. The video finishes with the blocks featured in the video tumbling down while Robyn runs away from them, one successfully crushes her. This version of the video is a tribute to the animation of the highly respected late German artist

Oskar Fischinger Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger (June 22, 1900 – January 31, 1967) was a German-American abstract animation, abstract animator, filmmaker, and painting, painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of co ...

specifically his work entitled ''Komposition in Blau''.

Track listing

Sweden

* CD single # "With Every Heartbeat" (album version) – 4:06 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Meatboys Remix) – 4:24 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Punks Jump Up Remix) – 5:58 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Rory Phillips Remix) – 6:07

United Kingdom

*7-inch single :A1. "With Every Heartbeat" :B1. "

Konichiwa Bitches "Konichiwa Bitches" is a song by Swedish singer and songwriter Robyn, taken from her self-titled fourth studio album. It was released in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2007 as the first international single from the album. The term "Konichiwa Bit ...

" * 12-inch single :A1. "With Every Heartbeat" (album version) – 4:10 :A2. "With Every Heartbeat" ( Tong &

Spoon A spoon (, ) is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it ...

Wonderland Remix) – 7:15 :B1. "With Every Heartbeat" (Punks Jump Up Remix) – 5:19 :B2. "With Every Heartbeat" (

Steve Angello Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis (; born 22 November 1982), known professionally as Steve Angello, is a Greek–Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record label owner. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia, together with Axwell and Seba ...

Dub) – 7:12 * CD promo # "With Every Heartbeat" (acoustic version) – 3:34 * CD single # "With Every Heartbeat" (radio edit) – 3:17 # "With Every Heartbeat" ( Tong &

Wonderland Remix) – 7:17 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Punks Jump Up Remix) – 5:23 # "With Every Heartbeat" (album version) – 4:12 # "

" (video) – 3:06

United States

* 12-inch promo :A1. "With Every Heartbeat" ( Tong &

Wonderland Remix) – 7:15 :A2. "With Every Heartbeat" (Corenell Remix) – 6:33 :B1. "With Every Heartbeat" ( VooDoo & Serano Remix) – 6:12 :B2. "With Every Heartbeat" (Punks Jump Up Remix) – 5:21 :B3. "With Every Heartbeat" (album version) – 4:13 * Digital download # "With Every Heartbeat" (album version) – 4:15 # "With Every Heartbeat" ( Tong &

Wonderland Remix) – 7:14 * Digital download - Joakim Remix # "With Every Hearbeat" (Joakim Remix) – 6:46

Germany

* 12-inch single (Part 1) :A1. "With Every Heartbeat" (

Dub) :A2. "With Every Heartbeat" (Hugg & Pepp Remix) :B1. "With Every Heartbeat" (Punks Jump Up Remix) :B2. "With Every Heartbeat" ( Kleerup Remix) * 12-inch single (Part 2) :A1. "With Every Heartbeat" (Corenell Remix) :B1. "With Every Heartbeat" ( VooDoo & Serano Remix) * CD single # "With Every Heartbeat" (radio edit) – 3:20 # "With Every Heartbeat" (album version) – 4:15 # "With Every Heartbeat" (acoustic version) – 3:37 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Punks Jump Up Remix) – 5:25 # "With Every Heartbeat" ( VooDoo & Serano Edit) – 6:15 # "With Every Heartbeat" ( Kleerup Remix) – 7:07 # "With Every Heartbeat" (video) – 4:03

Belgium

* CD remix maxi-single # "With Every Heartbeat" (album version) – 4:13 # "With Every Heartbeat" ( VooDoo & Serano Remix) – 6:14 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Corenell Remix) – 6:35 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Kenson Remix) – 7:15 # "With Every Heartbeat" ( Tong &

Wonderland Remix) – 7:17 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Hugg & Pepp Remix) – 7:04 # "With Every Heartbeat" (Punks Jump Up Remix) – 5:21 # "With Every Heartbeat" (

Dub) – 7:13 # "With Every Heartbeat" ( Kleerup Remix) – 6:49

Personnel

Personnel adapted from CD single liner notes. *

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

–

, Andreas Kleerup *

Lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

– Robyn *Producer – Kleerup *Violin – Johanna Tafvelin, Karin Liljenberg *

Viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

– Ida Nyman *Cello – Cecilia Linné * Mixing – Eric Wikstroon, Andreas Kleerup * Mastering – Björn Engelmann

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2000s ballads 2006 songs 2007 singles Electropop ballads Eurodisco songs Number-one singles in Scotland Robyn songs Song recordings produced by Xenomania Songs written by Kleerup Songs written by Robyn UK singles chart number-one singles