"Heaven" is a song by Beyoncé for her self-titled fifth studio album. The song was written and produced by Beyoncé and BOOTS.
Background and composition[]
"Heaven" was written and produced by Beyoncé and BOOTS. It was recorded with the guidance of Boots, Stuart White and Rob Cohen at three studios: Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood, California as well as Jungle City Studios and Oven Studios, both located in New York City. The audio engineering was finished by Ramon Rivas with assistance from Christian Humphreys. All instruments in "Heaven" are played by Boots. Tony Maserati and Stuart White mixed the song at Mirrorball Studios in North Hollywood, California. James Krausse engineered the mix with the assistance of Justin Hergett. The audio mastering was completed by Tom Coyne and Aya Merrill at Sterling Sound in New York City. The song was recorded following the shooting for the music video of "XO", in August 2013. Beyoncé recorded it the same night and the song was finalized in a week.
Upon the release of "Heaven", fans and media speculated that it was dedicated to the child Beyoncé lost during a miscarriage. The singer publicly talked about the miscarriage which happened before the birth of Blue Ivy during an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show and her HBO documentary Life is But a Dream (2013). Beyoncé also wrote and recorded a song called "Heartbeat" to cope with the loss, which did not make it on the album. Her husband, rapper Jay Z, had also mentioned the miscarriage in his song "Glory" (2012) released after the birth of Blue Ivy. The experience made her doubt whether she would have children in the future, and she described it as "one of the hardest things" she had to endure. It was later revealed that Beyoncé drew inspiration from her mother Tina, losing her best friend.
"Heaven" is a mournful, understated slow-tempo ballad with gospel and pop overtones. It is instrumentally complete with a hymn-like simple piano. Paste reviewer Philip Cosores noted how the song sounded as if it "work[ed] together" with other Boots-produced material on the album, including "Blue" and "Haunted". A writer from Fuse, opined that the song sounded slightly like a second part of the singer's own ballad "Halo" (2008). Similarly, Mike Wass from the website Idolator called it "an edgy, indie sister" of "Halo" while Lindsey Weber from Vulture.com deemed it an "answer to" that song. Variety journalist Andrew Barker likened the song to Rihanna's "Stay" (2012) while adding that it succeeded in "improving on it in every way".
Live performances[]
The first known performance of the song was at SSE Hydro in Glasgow for The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour on February 20, 2014.