“Open Your Heart” is a song recorded by American singer Madonna from her third studio album True Blue (1986). Written by Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson, it was conceived as a rock and roll song titled “Follow Your Heart” for singer Cyndi Lauper, although it was never played for her. At the time, Cole’s management was working with Madonna’s, who were looking for material for True Blue. “Follow Your Heart” was among the songs offered to the singer. She liked it and, alongside producer Patrick Leonard, turned it into a dance song, changed its title and re-wrote some of the lyrics, thus receiving a songwriting credit.
Lyrically, it is an innuendo-laden love song where the singer expresses her determination and sexual desire for a man. In the United States, “Open Your Heart” was released as the fourth single from True Blue on November 12, 1986. Overseas, a release was issued on December 1. Besides positive critical feedback, it was Madonna’s fifth number one single in the US Billboard Hot 100. She became the second female artist –behind Whitney Houston– to score three number ones from one album. “Open Your Heart” also reached the top-ten of the charts in Canada, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the song’s accompanying music video depicts Madonna as an exotic dancer at a peep show a little boy is trying to sneak into. Seen as the singer’s first overtly sexual clip, it takes influence from Liza Minnelli’s performance in the 1972 film Cabaret. The visual received praise for presenting women as the dominant sex, but its sexual nature and plot of a child entering a strip joint received criticism. “Open Your Heart” has been performed on four of Madonna’s concert tours, the most recent being the Celebration Tour of 2023—2024. It has been covered by a handful of artists, and featured in movies and television series like Crossroads (2002) and Glee.
