"Open Your Heart" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna from her third studio album True Blue (1986). Written by Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson, it was conceived as a rock and roll song titled "Follow Your Heart" for singer Cyndi Lauper, although it was never played for her. At the time, Cole's management was working with Madonna's, who were looking for material for True Blue. "Follow Your Heart" was among the songs offered to the singer. She liked it and, alongside producer Patrick Leonard, turned it into a dance song, changed its title and re-wrote some of the lyrics, thus receiving a songwriting credit.
Lyrically, it is an innuendo-laden love song where the singer expresses her determination and sexual desire for a man. In the United States, "Open Your Heart" was released as the fourth single from True Blue on November 12, 1986. Overseas, a release was issued on December 1. Besides positive critical feedback, it was Madonna's fifth number one single in the US Billboard Hot 100. She became the second female artist—behind Whitney Houston—to score three number ones from one album. "Open Your Heart" also reached the top-ten of the charts in Canada, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the song's accompanying music video depicts Madonna as an exotic dancer at a peep show a little boy is trying to sneak into. Seen as the singer's first overtly sexual clip, it takes influence from Liza Minnelli's performance in the 1972 film Cabaret. The visual received praise for presenting women as the dominant sex, but its sexual nature and plot of a child entering a strip joint received criticism. "Open Your Heart" has been performed on four of Madonna's concert tours, the most recent being the Celebration Tour of 2023—2024. It has been covered by a handful of artists, and featured in movies and television series like Crossroads (2002) and Glee.
Background
"Open Your Heart" was written by Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson. Originally titled "Follow Your Heart", it was conceived as a rock and roll song with singer Cyndi Lauper in mind, although she never even got to hear it. The Temptations was reportedly considered for the song as well. "Follow Your Heart" was inspired by a health-food restaurant Cole knew in Canoga Park, Los Angeles. Him and Rafelson then spent a year "perfecting" the track, even though they tended to work at a faster pace; "for some reason this didn't really hit us as a hit song. We didn't give up. We just kept working on it", recalled Cole. A demo was recorded by the pair, which Tom Breihan from Stereogum described as a "pretty generic mid-’80s synth-rocker". Benett Freed, who was Cole's manager at the time, was working with Madonna's team and offered them a handful of songs for the singer's third studio album True Blue.
"Follow Your Heart" was among the songs Madonna's team picked out, something that surprised Cole as he felt it "didn't really fit into what [Madonna] was doing at the time [...] it was more rock and roll than I thought she would want to go". Upon request, Cole recorded a new version of the demo with his girlfriend Donna De Lory singing; Madonna allegedly liked this new demo so much that she eventually hired De Lory as backup singer. Alongside her collaborator Patrick Leonard, the singer reworked the track; they added a bassline and changed it from a straightforward rock song to a "dizzy, driving dance-pop jam". Additionally, Madonna rewrote some of the lyrics, which allowed her to get a songwriting credit, and changed the song's name to "Open Your Heart".
The first song recorded for True Blue, "Open Your Heart", along with the rest of the album, was recorded at Los Angeles' Channel Recording studios. Cole was not sure "Open Your Heart" would make the final track list; "a lot of times the very first song that gets cut doesn't make it in the long run, but it did, which really opened up a lot of doors for me", he recalled. The song success would help him get signed as an artist to Warner Bros. Records and formed a partnership with Leonard.
Composition and release Personnel working on "Open Your Heart" included Jonathan Moffett on drums, Paulinho da Costa on percussion, and David Williams on guitars. Leonard himself was in charge of the keyboards. "Open Your Heart is a dance-pop song with rock and roll elements, and melancholic lyrics that talk about a woman determined to get a man to open up to her. According to the sheet music published by Alfred Publishing Inc., it is set in the time signature of common time, with a medium funk tempo of 112 beats per minute. The song is composed in the key of F major, with Madonna's vocals spanning from A3 to C5. It follows a basic sequence of F–E9–E/G–Gm7–F as its chord progression.
It begins with the singer whispering watch out! over a "continuous" percussive battery. In the opening verse she sings, I see you on the street and you walk on by/You make me wanna hang my head down and cry, evoking a sense of "overwhelmed sadness" and portraying herself as a "victim of love", as noted by Tom Breihan, and authors Julia Pascal, Serena Sartori and Renata Coluccini. The theme of determination is reflected on lines such as I've had to work much harder than this, Don't try to run/I can keep up with you, and I'll make you love me. Determination is also represented in one the song's remixes; its outro has Madonna explicitly asking: Well, are you gonna go out with me or not?/What's the matter? Scared of me or something?
On the refrain, Madonna uses vocals that are "full of pleading, yearning and infectious urgency"; Open your heart to me/I hold the lock and you hold the key, she sings. Sexual innuendo is present, with the staff of Billboard pointing out: "[Madonna] yearns for a man to open her lock with his key. And yes, that means exactly what you think it does". By his part, author Santiago Fouz-Hernández wrote that the line if you gave me half a chance you'd see, my desire burning inside of me puts Madonna in a "more direct position of expressing her sexual desires for a man". In the United States, "Open Your Heart" was released as the fourth single from True Blue on November 12, 1986. In Europe and Australia, the single was issued on December 1. It was then added to Madonna's compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990), Celebration (2009), and Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (2022).
Critical reception
Critical feedback towards "Open Your Heart" has been positive. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, deemed it one of her most "earnest" songs, and compared it to Aretha Franklin's "Respect" (1967), and Barbra Streisand's "A House is Not a Home" (1971); the author further added that it was a song people could "understand and latch on to, [which is] what makes [it] memorable". While author Daryl Easlea hailed it a "fabulous, muscular, anthemic" track, Stewart Mason from AllMusic said it marked "one of [Madonna's] most exciting grooves" up to that point. Erika Wexler from Spin named it an "appealing 'I'm going to get you' song", with a "shimmering" production that "effectively creates the expansive feel of something magically opening". Slant Magazines Sal Cinquemani deemed it "robust", and considered it one of Madonna's "biggest, most influential hits". Stephen Thomas Erlewine, writing for The A.V. Club, applauded the singer's "passionate" vocals, and referred to "Open Your Heart" as one of her most "exuberant, bright [and] bustling" singles.
James Croot from New Zealand website Stuff said it was a "heart-skipping, joyous song, full of life". "Open Your Heart" provides True Blue with a "healthy dose of the '80s disco that first got [Madonna] noticed", according to The Sunday Telegraphs Larry Nager. In this vein, Tom Breihan added that, "there's a straight line from the post-disco dance-pop of [her] early years to 'Open Your Heart', but the track is busier than those older songs". Breihan went on to single out Madonna's vocals, and referred to the song as a "beautiful piece of architecture [...] one of the best singles in a career full of great ones". To Matthew Rettenmund, "['Open Your Heart'] is not one of Madonna's best-written songs. But therein lies a major part of [her] magic: She is capable of singing about a simple situation and imbuing it with heart felt emotion". More critical was Peoples Drew Mackie, who said that, despite its "unforgettable" refrain, it's not up to par to the singer's other hits of the time. One negative review came from the Los Angeles Times, where Robert Hilburn dismissed "Open Your Heart" as "uneventful", and one of True Blues "flat spots".
"Open Your Heart" is considered Madonna's 37th best single by Gay Star Newss Joe Morgan, and her 29th best by Nayer Missim from PinkNews. The former called it "one of [her] classics, and for a good reason". For Billboards Joe Lynch, "few can sing about desire deferred and sound so damn exuberant while doing it, but Madonna provides a masterclass on the defiant 'Open Your Heart'". He named it her 26th best song. On his ranking of Madonna singles, Entertainment Weeklys Chuck Arnold placed "Open Your Heart" in the thirteenth position, further writing: "As much as [she] may be known for her more titillating songs, she has also been capable of pure pop bliss. That can be heard on 'Open Your Heart' [...] she has rarely sounded more open-hearted than she does here". In Parades list, Samuel R. Murrian named it an "essential cut" in Madonna's discography, and her twelfth best. "Open Your Heart" was referred to as one of Madonna's "sparkliest imperial-period singles" by Jude Rogers from The Guardian, who also said it was the singer's eleventh greatest song. Yahoo!'s Nicole Hogsett also deemed it Madonna's eleventh best, and added that, "from the opening notes, you know that this song is going to be enjoyable". "Open Your Heart" was included on Bruce Pollock's Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock & Roll Era.
Chart performance On December 6, 1986, "Open Your Heart" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 51, becoming the highest-debuting single of the week. Almost one month later, when the song climbed to number seven, Madonna achieved her eleventh consecutive top-ten hit, breaking Brenda Lee's record for the most consecutive top-ten hits by a female singer in the rock era. She also tied Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie for the most consecutive top ten-hits by any artist in the 1980s. "Open Your Heart" reached the Hot 100's top spot on February 7, 1987, becoming Madonna's fifth number one in the US. She became the second female behind Whitney Houston to score three number ones from one album; the second behind Barbra Streisand to land a number one in four successive years, and the second behind Diana Ross with five number ones strictly as a solo artist. Furthermore, Madonna broke the record of being the only female singer –and one of only four acts– to score five number ones in the decade. The song becoming the fourth consecutive top five release from True Blue. Billboard reported that 75,000 copies of the 12" single had been sold by July 1987. "Open Your Heart" came in at number 30 on Billboard year-end chart for 1986.
In Canada, the single debuted at number 83 on the RPM Top Singles chart for the week of December 13, 1986; two months later, it peaked at number eight, becoming Madonna's tenth consecutive top 10 hit in the country. Additionally, "Open Your Heart" reached the first spot in El Salvador. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at the eighth position of the UK Singles Chart on December 13, 1986, and, one week later, peaked at number 4; it spent 9 weeks on the chart overall. "Open Your Heart" was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). According to MTV UK, over 195,000 copies of the single have been sold in the United Kingdom as of 2010.