Official Charts Pop Gem #83: Alicia Keys – Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart

Every week, we ask our Twitter mates and Facebook fam for their Pop Gem suggestions – overlooked classics or big hits of yesteryear that deserve some extra attention. We give you guys a theme, and you run with it, and this week we were looking for songs you could slow-dance to, your last chance for a romantic embrace before the lights come up.

You pitched songs that were heartbreaking, uplifting, emotional and super-gooey, but when it came to a final 10, we went for those slow-dance staples.

And when all was said and done, we reckoned the tune that would get you clinging on just a little bit tighter on the dancefloor would be Alicia Keys’ moody number Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart.

Watch the video for this truly brilliant tune before we explain why Alicia’s our last-dance fave.

Why it had to be Alicia

Alicia Keys is one of the most successful recording artists in the world, with an enviable back catalogue and more talents to her name and strings to her bow than we’ve had hot dinners (our cooker is broken). She’s collaborated with pop royalty like Jay Z, Beyoncé, Jack White, Kanye, Timbaland and more. She’s been a fixture of the Official Charts since 2001 and, if you really think about it, practically any one of her tunes could win a Pop Gem week. And this week, well, she has.

The song

You might think that Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart is a little on the sad side to be a last-dance song in a club or at a party, but isn’t there something a little bittersweet about that very last slow dance? Your night is over and, if you’re up close and personal with someone you’ve not met before, perhaps you’re about to go your separate ways – maybe dreaming of what might have been. You get the picture. If you’re looking for raw emotion in your slow dance and a bit of bite to your ballad, Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart has got the lot.

Alicia’s tale of being totally unable to get someone out of her mind was her eighth Top 10 hit in 2010, reaching Number 7 and shifting over 360,000 copies, making it Alicia’s fourth bestelling single.

Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart was taken from her Number 1 album The Element Of Freedom, which also featured Top 5 single Empire State Of Mind II – actually Alicia's bestselling single, with over 780,000 copies sold!

Alicia’s chart story

Alicia burst onto the scene all the way back in 2001 with debut hit Fallin’ – a veritable classic – reaching Number 3. She’s scored 16 Top 40 hits, nine of which made the Top 10. She’s never had a Number 1, but has got pretty darn close: she peaked at Number 2 with Jay Z on Empire State Of Mind in 2009. She then took her own version of the song to Number 4.

She was last in the Top 40 earlier this year, with It’s On Again FT Kendrick Lamar, from the movie Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Over on the Official Albums Chart, Alicia’s seen all five of her studio albums go Top 40, with two making the Top 10: debut album Songs In A Minor in 2001 (6) and 2009’s chart-topper The Element Of Freedom.

Alicia, surely our Pop Gem honour has mended your broken heart? We hope that you can finally get some sleep, but don’t be slumbering too long – we’re after some more hits from you soon, thanks!

Video playlist

Take a look at the contenders for this week’s Pop Gem. Did the right one win?

Pop Gem Hall Of Fame

Today's Pop Gem is the latest in a long line of amazing pop songs that have been inducted into our Pop Gem Hall Of Fame. Take a look at all the tracks who've received the honour so far

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