Break My Heart (You Really)

{{Infobox song

| name = Break My Heart (You Really)

| cover = SSBreakMyHeartHeroine.jpeg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Shakespears Sister

| album = Sacred Heart

| released = 17 October 1988 (UK)

| format =

| recorded = August 1988

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Electropop

| length =

| label = FFRR

| writer = * Siobhan Fahey

Marcella Detroit
Richard Feldman

| producer = * Shakespear's Sister

Richard Feldman

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| title =

| title2 = Heroine

| next_title = You're History

| next_year = 1989

| misc = {{Extra album cover

| header = Alternative cover

| type = single

| cover = SSBreakMyHeart.jpeg

| border =

| alt =

| caption = Double A-Side single cover

}}

"Break My Heart (You Really)", also known as "Break My Heart", is a song by British pop act Shakespears Sister, released in 1988 as the lead single from their debut album Sacred Heart. "Break My Heart (You Really)" was released in most territories as a Double A-side with "Heroine", which according to Siobhan Fahey was to "give a more rounded picture of what I'm about".{{YouTube|sDGmtOI5Rnc|Shakespears Sister 1988 Mick Brown Interview}} In North American territories however, both songs were released as separate A-side singles.[http://www.discogs.com/Shakespears-Sister-Break-My-Heart-Extended-Versions/master/56954 Shakespears Sister - Break My Heart at Discogs]

Background

"Break My Heart (You Really)" was released as the debut single of Shakespears Sister, the name Siobhan Fahey adopted for her solo career following her departure from Bananarama in 1988. Speaking to Record Mirror in 1988, Fahey revealed, "Going solo was a very liberating experience. Now I can do the stuff I want to do the way I want to do it, and I've done something of which I'm very proud."{{cite magazine |editor=Robin Smith |title=News: Siobhan or Not Siobhan |magazine=Record Mirror |date=29 October 1988 |page=4 |issn=0144-5804}}

Music video

The music video, directed by Sophie Muller, features a tense-looking man sitting on a chair before a colourful stage. On stage, Fahey sings the song, as various carnival performers – including a juggler, a contortionist, a strongman, a fire eater, dancers, and more – appear alongside her.

Critical reception

Upon its release, the Birmingham Daily News praised "Break My Heart (You Really)" as "a good up-tempo dance tune" with a "catchy chorus" and "good singing in the Bananarama mode". The reviewer thought it "ought to do well".{{cite news |title=Records |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003661/19881014/027/0027 |newspaper=Birmingham Daily News |date=14 October 1988 |page=27 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 August 2023}} Chris Heath of Smash Hits commented that it "sounds as if it's supposed to be like one of those huge Dead or Alive hi-energy stompers, except that Siobhan sings in a rather unattractive spook-voice". He concluded, "It's infectiously catchy but hardly inspired."{{cite magazine |last=Heath |first=Chris |title=Review: Singles |magazine=Smash Hits |date=19 October 1988 |page=75}}

Jerry Smith of Music Week considered the "dance track" to be "a shot at credibility that falls between pop and hip dance and that could be its failing".{{cite magazine |last=Smith |first=Jerry |title=A&R: Singles |magazine=Music Week |date=5 November 1988 |page=29 |issn=0265-1548}} Marcus Hodge of the Cambridge Evening News noted that the "backing is a little harder" than in Bananarama's work. He also felt that, in contrast to Bananarama's material "where every second was packed with syrupy melody", Fahey's debut single "has the beef but no tune".{{cite news |last=Hodge |first=Marcus |title=Pop: Siobhan not yet in tune with life outside |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003740/19881121/014/0014 |newspaper=Cambridge Evening News |date=21 November 1988 |page=14 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 August 2023}}

Robin Smith of Record Mirror was negative in his review. He commented, "I don't know if her ambition has always been to sound like Hazell Dean but this single certainly does. All that production and it still sounds completely naff. Better luck next time."{{cite magazine |last=Smith |first=Robin |title=45 |magazine=Record Mirror |date=29 October 1988 |page=29 |issn=0144-5804}} Edwin Pouncey of NME remarked, "A typical hoofer for the Hippodrome hordes. She should be bard."{{cite magazine |last=Pouncey |first=Edwin |title=45 |magazine=New Musical Express |date=5 November 1988 |page=21}}