Songfacts®:

• The artwork for the first single from Justin Bieber's fourth album was debuted on Instagram on July 3, 2013. Two weeks later, a 30-second snippet was used to soundtrack an advert for the Canadian's The Key fragrance in which the singer repeats the word "heartbreaker" over an R&B-inspired beat. The tease of the slow-burning jam left many Beliebers feeling heartbroken as they awaited its release.
• Justin finally made the song available on Sunday October 6, 2013. It kicked off the Canadian pop star's Music Mondays promotion, a 10-week drive in which he unveiled a new tune every Sunday at midnight. Justin hinted that his fans that the tune is about Selena Gomez and he still isn't over his relationship with his former girlfriend. "It's a song for people going through heartbreak - like I was when I wrote it," he explained. "It means so much to me to be able to share what I was, and still am, going through, with my fans. I'm very proud of this song and I hope it gives my fans some insight into my heart."
• Selena Gomez addressed the speculation that "Heartbreaker" was about her during an interview with the radio station KISS 98.5: "Honestly that's what's so beautiful though about music," she said. "Especially him, he's super talented at being able to use what he feels and interpret that through music. I mean it's what you do to grow as an artist, it's what I've done and many people do. It's sweet."
• The song was written by Justin on tour, and the lyrics were inspired by material in his diary. The tune's producer, Maejor Ali, who previously helmed the Believe track "One Love," told MTV News that he believes this to be one of the singer's most personal and honest cuts to date. "It was called his 'journals,' so we wanted to make this music the most honest as possible, so really, all the conversations in the studio are heard in the song," Maejor explained. "Everything that was said we tried to capture all those moments in the music, and I think that's why it came out so honest and so personal."
  
  "I think it's cool, him especially being that age at 19, being a dude a lot of times people think that's not cool to show real honesty and I think that it's brave of him to do that," he continued. "I was happy that he decided to do that ... so I honor his bravery in doing that."
• Maejor said it took some convincing to include the song's spoken-word bridge on the final cut. "We kind of broke the format a little bit by putting almost a poem with him speaking in the middle of the song. A lot of people were against it 'cause it doesn't fit normal radio standards," he said. "But it was the most honest part and it just felt natural in terms of the music and for that we tried to forget all the rules."