"Heartbreaker" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on September 21, 1999, by Columbia Records as the lead single from Carey's seventh studio album Rainbow (1999). The song was written by Carey and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, and produced by Carey and DJ Clue. Additional writers are credited, since the song's hook is built around a sample from "Attack of the Name Game" by Stacy Lattisaw. "Heartbreaker" pushed Carey even further into the R&B and hip hop market, becoming her second commercial single to feature a rapper. Lyrically, the song talks about a relationship from the female perspective, and how the protagonist incessantly returns to her lover, even though he continuously cheats on her and breaks her heart.
"Heartbreaker" received mixed reviews from music critics, many of which felt it was not original or innovative in terms of a creative step forward. Additionally, it was compared heavily to Carey's 1995 hit single "Fantasy", which also built its hook from a sampled beat. "Heartbreaker" topped the Canadian Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Carey's 14th US chart-topper. The single topped the New Zealand Singles Chart and was a top-five single in Croatia, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Carey performed "Heartbreaker" live on several television and award show appearances around the world, as well as on her concert tours. The accompanying music video for "Heartbreaker", directed by Brett Ratner, is one of the most expensive ever made, costing over $2.5 million. The video features Carey and her friends visiting a film theater and catching her boyfriend (played by Jerry O'Connell) on a date with another woman. Carey played herself and a brunette villainess named Bianca, during a physical altercation scene between the two women. Due to contractual agreements at the time of its filming, Jay-Z was unable to make an appearance in the original music video, though he would appear in a recut version soon after. The video was inspired by several other films, including Grease, Scarface and Enter the Dragon.
