Put Your Hearts Up

"Put Your Hearts Up"
Single by Ariana Grande
ReleasedDecember 12, 2011 (2011-12-12)
Recorded2011
Genre
Length3:30[1]
LabelUniversal Republic
Songwriter(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. It was released on December 12, 2011 by Universal Republic.[2] The song samples "What's Up?" (1993) by 4 Non Blondes.

Background and composition

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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.[3][4] By September 10, Grande already had twenty songs prepared and was going through the process of narrowing it down to thirteen.[5]

"Put Your Hearts Up" was written by Matt Squire, Linda Perry and Martin Johnson. It was released as her first single on December 12, 2011. Despite not appearing on her debut album Yours Truly, it was intended as the lead single for the album at the time of release. "Put Your Hearts Up" is a "50s, 60s doo-wop-inspired" bubblegum pop song which talks about making the world a better place.[6]

Release and cover

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Grande let her fans choose the song's cover by allowing them to vote on four possible covers for the single via her Twitter account.[7] After fans voted, the cover was chosen and the release date for the single was announced via Twitter on November 29, 2011. "Put Your Hearts Up" was originally going to be released on December 20, 2011, but was 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.[8]

After release

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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."[9] 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."[10]

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."[11]

In a 2020 interview with Zach Sang, Grande retracted her statements about "hating" the song, saying she was in an uncomfortable position at the time about her music career and felt that her fans wanted to hear a bubblegum pop song due to her Cat Valentine character on Victorious. She also went on to state that although she did not dislike the song, she felt it would have been a better fit for another artist interested in pursuing bubblegum pop.

Music video

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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.[12] The video has gained more than 40 million views as of May 2014.[13] In the video, Grande walks through the streets of a city sending love to lonely people while dancing and singing. Prior to this, the video had been uploaded by other channels.

Later in March 2013, when "The Way" music video was released, the music video for "Put Your Hearts Up" was made unlisted on Grande's Vevo account at Grande's request.[11] The video was then made public again in April 2014 and was deleted shortly after.[14]

Commercial performance

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The single sold 170,000 downloads by August 2013.[15] On July 20, 2014 it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for combined sales and streams of 500,000 units in the US.[16]

Certifications

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Certifications for "Put Your Hearts Up"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[16] Gold 500,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Put Your Hearts Up - Single by Ariana Grande on Apple Music". iTunes. January 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  2. ^ "Put Your Hearts Up – Single by Ariana Grande". iTunes Store. Apple. January 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  3. ^ @ArianaGrande (August 11, 2011). "Here's a photo of me with my @republicrecords contract! Freshly signed. Thank you again @republicrecords. :D ♥" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ^ "Universal Republic Records Announces the Signing of Ariana Grande". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
  5. ^ "Ariana Grande Talks Music at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2011". YouTube. September 12, 2011. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
  6. ^ "Ariana Grande Debuts New Single, 'Put Your Hearts Up'". Huffington Post. December 12, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  7. ^ "First Look:"Put Your Hearts Up" Cover Art". BopAndTigerBeat.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
  8. ^ "Put Your Hearts Up". Amazon.
  9. ^ Grande, Ariana (March 26, 2013). "Ariana Grande on Kidd Kraddick in the Morning". Youtube.
  10. ^ Mateo, Ashley (August 2013). "Ariana Grande". Seventeen Magazine (August 2013): 90–94.
  11. ^ a b Greene, Andy (May 22, 2014). "How Ariana Grande and Max Martin Made 'Problem' the Song of the Summer". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  12. ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  13. ^ "ArianaGrandeVevo - YouTube". YouTube. May 14, 2014. Archived from the original on May 14, 2014. Retrieved May 23, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ "YouTube". YouTube. May 30, 2014. Archived from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved May 23, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ^ Lipshutz, Jason (August 16, 2013). "Ariana Grande's Grand Entrance: Inside The Nickelodeon Star's Debut Album – Billboard". Billboard. Since joining the cast of Victorious in 2010, Grande has tried to follow Nickelodeon stars like Miranda Cosgrove, Big Time Rush and co-star Victoria Justice in fashioning a viable music career (Grande's 2011 single 'Put Your Hearts Up' has sold 170,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan).
  16. ^ a b "American single certifications – Ariana Grande – Put Your Hearts Up". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
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