"Cold Hearted" is a 1989 song by American singer Paula Abdul from the album Forever Your Girl, written and co-produced by Elliot Wolff. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the album's third song to top the US chart.
"Cold Hearted" is written in the key of G minor and follows a tempo of 122 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of Gm – E♭maj7 – Dm7, and Abdul's vocals span one-and-a-half octaves, from F3 to B♭4.[1]
Music video[]
The official music video was directed by David Fincher and spent more than three weeks on top of MTV's video rotation list. The inspiration for the video came from Bob Fosse's choreography of the "Take Off with Us" scene in the movie All That Jazz.[2] Abdul dances for music executives with a group of semi-nude dancers. Abdul was wearing a black fishnet dress which exposed her belly button and was sporting a German police hat. The dance floor included scaffolding where Abdul and her dancers hang and grind. Abdul's choreography for this video was very sexual and intricate.
Chart performance[]
"Cold Hearted" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in September 1989, ending Richard Marx's three-week run at the summit with "Right Here Waiting". "Cold Hearted" ranked sixth in Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 of 1989. It spent a total of eight weeks within the Billboard top ten. "Cold Hearted" was the final UK release from Forever Your Girl in 1990.
