"Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart" is a song by American recording artist Alicia Keys. It was released as the second single (third in the UK) from her fourth studio album, The Element of Freedom (2009). The ballad has been hailed by many music critics as the best track from the album. It marks a departure in Keys' artistic production. This single was Keys' third consecutive top 10 hit from The Element of Freedom in the United Kingdom. It was also the 99th most successful song of the year 2010 in the Billboard Hot 100. A remix of the song features American Rapper, Maino.
Composition and style
"Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart" is a downtempo song written by Keys, Patrick Reynolds and Jeff Bhasker in the key of F major (pesante) with a time signature in common time and a tempo of 83 beats per minute and combines elements of synths and drums to create a retro 1980s power ballad feel. The vocal range spans from E3 to D5. The basic chord progression of the song is B♭, C, and F.
In the lyrics, the narrator vows to move on from a failed relationship, but struggles to overcome constant thoughts of her lover.
Chart performance
The song premiered on October 29, 2009, and was released to the iTunes Store on November 17, 2009. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 58, the highest after "No One" and "Doesn't Mean Anything". It has spent twenty weeks on the chart, peaking at number 27. On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, the song became Keys' thirteenth top ten hit, peaking at number 2 and spending ten weeks in the top ten. The song also debuted at No. 2 on the Norwegian Charts and became her highest charting single there so far. On January 31, 2010 the single entered the UK Singles Chart at number 71 based on downloads alone, but dropped out the following week. Upon being confirmed as the third UK single, the single re-entered the chart on April 26, 2010 at number 63. On May 23, 2010 it climbed to a new peak of number 13. Upon physical release, the single remained at its peak of number 13. The success of the song propelled the album back in the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, twenty-three weeks after its original release. Following a performance on Britain's Got Talent on 1 June 2010, the single climbed into the Top 10 on 6 June 2010 at number 7, marking the third consecutive Top 10 single from The Element of Freedom as well as Keys' ninth Top 10 single overall. On March 19, 2010, the song was released as the album's second single in Germany and later peaked at number 33.
Critical reception
The song received widespread critical acclaim from music critics; many compared it to a Prince composition. Entertainment Weekly called it "insidiously, almost obscenely hooky: a slithering riff on early-'80s Prince with a monster synth line." Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone stated that "The superb Prince hommages, "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart" and "This Bed," are experiments that pay off big, submerging Keys' pipes in unabashed 1980s synth cheese." Andrew Burgess of MusicOMH referred to it as a "fever dream", citing it as a "standout moment" while Clover Hopes of Vibe magazine praised the song as "instantly timeless" and described it as a "gorgeous drum-powered exercise in vocal discipline (with its whispered huffs and puffs) that deals with the loss of a man's mere presence". Dan Weiss of Popmatters, gave the song a seven out of ten rating and thought that ""Sleeping" is proof that Keys can find the warmth inside of a song even when she pushes away from the piano and the arrangement drifts into something colder and more abstract."