"Heaven" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released as the lead single from their thirteenth studio album, Delta Machine (2013). Written by Martin Gore and produced by Ben Hillier, the song was world-premiered on KROQ's morning show Kevin and Bean on 30 January 2013. The single was released digitally in most territories on 31 January 2013, and physically on 1 February.
In the United Kingdom, "Heaven" was released digitally on 17 March 2013 and physically the following day. The B-side "All That's Mine" was written by Dave Gahan and Kurt Uenala. An accompanying music video for "Heaven" was directed by Timothy Saccenti and premiered on VEVO on 1 February 2013.
In June 2013, the single was certified gold by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI), denoting downloads exceeding 15,000 units in Italy. In the UK, by contrast, the single reached #60, the first initial single from a Depeche Mode album to fail to reach the UK Top 40.
Background and composition
According to Martin Gore in an interview "'Heaven' was written on a piano. I had all the chords, and everything all worked out on the piano and the whole vocal melody, and the lyrics worked out before I went anywhere near a computer." Additionally, Andy Fletcher also says that the demo wasn't too different to the final and "Pretty much, apart from Dave's voice instead of Martin's voice, the actual finished song is pretty similar [to the demo]."
Dave Gahan has expressed his appreciation to the song in the same interview, expressing. "Of all the incredible songs that Martin has written over the years that I have been lucky enough to sing and perform, once in a while a song comes along—hopefully I'll write one of those myself one day—that's something I have to sing. It's something I want to sing." He further states, "To me, 'Heaven' is one of the reasons why I still make music."
Music video
The music video for "Heaven" was directed by Timothy Saccenti and filmed in November 2012 at the Marigny Opera House, a former Catholic church in New Orleans's Faubourg Marigny. Previously, Saccenti had directed the "In-Studio Collage 2012" video for "Angel" that premiered at the band's press conference in Paris on 23 October 2012.
The video's look was inspired by Terrence Malick's 2011 film The Tree of Life, with its beautiful yet twisted, dark imagery. "Mainly it's a performance video, which we haven't done in a long time", Gahan stated. The video debuted on VEVO on 1 February 2013.
Formats and track listings
All tracks are written by Martin L. Gore, except where noted
This is the first Depeche Mode single to drop the "BONG" prefix (with the exception of "Little 15", a single released in the UK as an import), with the last being "Personal Jesus 2011" (BONG43).
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from CD single liner notes.
Christoffer Berg – programming
Anton Corbijn – design, photography
Flood – mixing
Ben Hillier – production
Rob Kirwan – mix engineering
Ferg Peterkin – engineering
Bunt Stafford-Clark – mastering
Kurt Uenala – additional programming, vocal recording
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
See also
List of number-one dance singles of 2013 (U.S.)