“Heartbeat Song” is the lead single of Kelly Clarkson’s seventh album, Piece by Piece.
It’s a bouncy pop-rock track about finding a new, exciting lover after a long period of sadness.

It’s also the first song she released since having her first child, River. Clarkson told Z100 that the beat is “actually River’s heartbeat slowed down from when she was in my tummy!”

The song was produced by Greg Kurstin(most famous for his work with Adele), and written by a team of veteran songwriters—Mitch Allan, Kara DioGuardi, Jason Evigan, and relative newcomer Audra Mae. According to Mae, DioGuardi had the inspiration for the song’s hook:

The process was really fun, it was a two-day session and Kara, she gets inspiration like being struck by lighting. She literally jumped off the couch in the studio and she stood right up and just started singing the hook: “This is my heartbeat song and I’m gonna play it!” And I went “Oh my god, that’s so great!” It was really cool.