When A Heart Brakes

"When A Heart Brakes" is the third single from bassist/producer James Moss' debut solo album "Jameson Dominic", written by Ben Johnston. The single was released on May 28th, 2012, charting at #2. It is James' fourth consecutive solo top 3 hit and the third top 3 hit from "Jameson Dominic". It follows on from "Kingdom Hearts", the biggest hit of James' career, including all releases with Phoenix Rising.

Background
"When A Heart Brakes" was written by Ben Johnston in 2011, and the demo was sold to Paris for an EP release. Paris' EP was a commercial failure, so James bought the rights to the song from Ben in late 2011 as he was recording his solo album. James' intention for his album was to find a balance between the pop-rock sounds that Phoenix Rising had become known for, and the dance sound that he had established for himself, with "When A Heart Brakes" representing the pop-rock side of the album. It is one of three ballads featured on the album, and one of two songs not written by James himself. When it was selected as a single James invited newcomer Tyler into the studio with him to record additional vocals for a remix that would be featured on the single. James wrote new sections of the song for Tyler's part. The duet remix with Tyler did not serve as the main single version, and as such Tyler did not feature in the Elvis Presley-inspired music video.

Reception
"When A Heart Brakes" received a widely positive reaction upon reveal, and the reaction was just as positive when the single was announced alongside the Tyler collaboration reveal. Digital and airplay performance didn't start as early as its predecessor, but the song looked set to still be a decent hit for James on both formats. Airplay caught on, with the song hitting the top 10 but its digital performance was unsteady, with sales evaporating on the week of release; the song rebounded digitally in its second week of physical release, salvaging its digital total. The duet version with Tyler was well received upon its premiere. The single has not been released in the US, with "Kingdom Hearts" being the active American single (and also James' first #1 hit in America). In late June it was announced that "When A Heart Brakes" would not be released in the US, instead "Echoes Of Love" was chosen as the American ballad single.

Promo CD

 * 1) When A Heart Brakes (Album Version)
 * 2) When A Heart Brakes (Mossman Prophecies Pop Edit)
 * 3) When A Heart Brakes (Mossman Prophecies Pop Edit) (ft. Tyler)

CD1

 * 1) When A Heart Brakes (Album Version)
 * 2) Outlaws Of Love
 * 3) When A Heart Brakes (Acoustic Version)

CD2

 * 1) When A Heart Brakes (Joe Gauthreaux Radio Edit)
 * 2) When A Heart Brakes (Walden Remix)
 * 3) When A Heart Brakes (Space Cowboy Extended Mix)
 * 4) When A Heart Brakes (Michael Woods Club Mix)

Digital EP

 * 1) When A Heart Brakes (Mossman Prophecies Pop Edit) (ft. Tyler)
 * 2) Outlaws Of Love
 * 3) When A Heart Brakes (Joe Gauthreaux Anthem Mix)
 * 4) When A Heart Brakes (Space Cowboy Extended Mix)
 * 5) Adamantine (Trouser Enthusiasts’ Cybernetic Odalisque Dub)
 * 6) Starlight (Richard Dinsdale Remix)
 * 7) Gravity (Rui Di Silva Vocal Mix)

Music Video
The video opens to a shot of a blue sky. The image quality is degraded, making it look like a reel of old film. A title card fades in with James’ name and the song title, and it fades out again as the sound of the wind fades in. The camera pans down to reveal James walking alone along the highway, carrying a guitar case over his shoulder. There is no traffic to be seen on the road as James walks. The wind continues to blow as we hear a voiceover from James.

JAMES: Three months. That’s how long it had been since the event. Ever since then, I’d been alone, travelling a barren earth. The towns, the cities, they were all left standing. Things still existed, but life itself seemed to have ceased. It was like I was the only man left alive – except for him. And I was trying my best to find him, in all the places we used to go. That’s why I was returning home.

The intro music begins quietly over James’ voiceover. The James onscreen finally opens his mouth when the vocals start. James is seen walking into town as he sings the first verse. Vehicles are littered across the streets; there have been no accidents, everything is simply stopped, apparently abandoned. James looks around, guitar case slipping off his shoulder to rest by his side. He stops and looks into the distance, the wind blowing his hair about as he continues to sing.

As he’s singing the chorus, James’ suit morphs the colour red, and he pulls a pair of glasses out from his back pocket to put them on his face. He sets down his guitar case on the ground and walks over to a building. He tries to open the door but it’s locked. He goes round to different windows trying to look inside but they’re all caked with dust and there are no lights on. Eventually, he walks across the street and sits down backwards on a chair that somebody inexplicably left sitting outside an old diner. James looks moody as he sings to the camera. There is an extended instrumental break as James picks up the chair and his guitar case, and enters the diner. There is another voiceover as he does this.

JAMES: He wasn’t here either! All of our old haunts, everywhere I could think of. All I needed was a clue, a sign he’d been there. When I saw the chair outside the diner I thought maybe it was a signal he was okay, or that he was nearby, so I waited but he didn’t show. That’s why I took the chair back inside where it belonged. In the back of my mind I’d hoped he was in there waiting for me.

James is wearing a different outfit again when we see him entering the diner from the inside, singing the second verse. He looks around and is disappointing to find it empty. He walks over to an old pinball machine to find that it’s still working, so he puts a quarter in the machine and begins to play it while he sings. Intercut are shots of James (in yet another outfit) sitting on the bar with his guitar out, looking at the camera as he sings. Eventually, he has enough of hanging out in the bar alone so he leaves, leaving his guitar behind.

James stops outside a barber shop; he opens the door and steps inside. His outfit has changed once again. He stops to look at an old jukebox, and checks it to see if it’s working like the pinball machine was. The jukebox is broken down, so James bypasses it. He finds an unused comb sitting on top of the jukebox, so he picks it up and turns around to the mirror right across from the jukebox. He uses the comb to style his hair while continuing to sing.

Having searched everywhere that he can think to look, James decides it’s time to try the very last place he can think of in this town – home. He is surprised when he can’t find his key to get in the front door, and is surprised again to find it isn’t locked. He goes inside and searches his house – nobody is there, but he finds that all the pictures around the house are different. James is in some with the man he’s been searching for, but others, James doesn’t recognize. He picks one up and turns it over, reading the date on the back. It’s dated last week – James hasn’t seen any people for three months so how is this possible?

James then goes into a room with an antique microphone stood up, and he performs the last chorus of the song, complete with another costume change. The video ends with an extended shot of James sitting in his bedroom, resting his chin on his guitar, looking sad. He’s in his final outfit of the video. There is one more voiceover on top of this shot as James closes his eyes. A single teardrop rolls down his face.

JAMES: You know the moment when a heart breaks? It’s the moment when you realize you’ve lost someone forever. It was being home again that made me realize – it wasn’t all the people that had gone, it was me! Seeing my house and all the strange pictures helped me figure it out. This past three months I’ve been a ghost roaming the earth while he’s the one who kept on living. After the event. The crash. The moment I died.

Chart Performance
Predictions for "When A Heart Beats" were strong, with another top 3 hit effectively guaranteed, and again the possibility of a chart-topper, even with a chart competition with Paulo Araujo. The song landed at #2 on the chart, James' second consecutive top 2 hit, selling over 92k in its debut week. It surprised in its second week, holding inside the top 3 with an additional 86k sold, but in its third week it barely held inside the top 10. The song spent four weeks in the top 15 and an additional two weeks in the top 40. The song peaked at #3 on the airplay chart after an extensive chart run, and its digital performance was unsteady following the digital colossus that was "Kingdom Hearts", charting at #4 prior to the single's release before crashing out of the top 10 in the week of release; selling the worst of that week's five releases, it was the only song of the week not to chart in the top 10 that week. The song rebounded to #6 the following week, bringing its digital tally up past 75k and salvaging its run. It outsold lead single "Going Under" digitally thanks to this rebound. The song was not released yet in America, and has not charted on the Hot 100.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 265,262
 * Week 1: #2 - 92,542
 * Week 2: #3 - 86,574
 * Week 3: #10 - 37,109
 * Week 4: #12 - 26,259
 * Week 5: #19 - 13,566
 * Week 6: #29 - 9,212