"Heart Attack" was produced by Mitch Allan and Jason Evigan of "The Suspex", who co-wrote the song along with Lovato, Sean Douglas, Nikki Williams, and Aaron Phillips.

The song was originally set to premiere on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, but leaked online on February 24, 2013, springing Hollywood Records' marketing department into early action.

"I was having an Oscar party at my house when [the leak] went down, so I had to excuse myself and have a conference call," said Hollywood Records' head of global marketing Robbie Snow.

[6] One day after its leak online, Hollywood Records quickly released the song on iTunes Store, Spotify and other streaming services on February 25, 2013.

Lovato prompted fans to unlock the video by tweeting song lyrics and the hashtag #UnlockHeartAttack, which became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.

Sam Lansky of Idolator described the song as "a monster electropop track with some impressive Kelly Clarkson-esque wailing, a little drum-and-bass-inspired instrumentation on the chorus and a catchy guitar loop.

"[11] Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "the song is a big one, with pounding beats, earnest wailing, and some interesting lyrical choices.

"[12] Maggie Malach of AOL Music gave a positive review, stating "Demi's last album had a strong R&B influence, but this song indicates she is going for a dancier vibe!

"[13] Billboard wrote that Lovato's sequel to "Give Your Heart a Break" continues in the vein of her cardiologically-themed singles and "demonstrates her maturing vocal range.

"[14] Robert Copsey from Digital Spy deemed the song a "rare case of textbook pop that leaves a lasting impression" and gave it four stars out of five.

[15] Adam R. Holtz of Plugged In (publication) complimented the lyrical content of the song and its "infectious lilt of Lovato's proven pop vocal chops slathered over an up-to-the-minute EDM sonic foundation.

"[16] Reviewing the album Demi, Amy Sciarretto from Artistdirect wrote: "Heart Attack" is easily one of Lovato's best overall, mixing synthy tension and her better-than-most voice, at least when it comes to the teen pop genre.

[22] In April 2013, "Heart Attack" was certified gold by the RIAA with sales brimming 500,000 in the space of only four weeks and as of 2014 has sold over 2,000,000 copies in the United States.

Trevor Kelly, executive director of global digital marketing Disney Music Group, said: "We knew that we wanted to involve Demi's fans in the lyric video, both in terms of how it was discovered and how it looked creatively... That was challenging to execute because the volume of trends she had created over the past year, but we ended up with a clip that was very unique and compelling to watch".

[26] The music video was filmed on March 14, 2013,[27] in Los Angeles, California[28] and released on Vevo on April 9, 2013, and garnered over 700 million views to date.

In January 2022, Lovato held a "funeral" for her pop music ahead of the release of her eighth studio album Holy Fvck in August of that year.

[119] On March 20, 2023, Lovato announced via social media that she would release a studio recording of the rock version of "Heart Attack" to mark the song's 10th anniversary.

[123] Lovato described herself as "a completely different person" at the time she recorded the original;[123] she said in a press release, "I'm so happy to be able to give a new life to 'Heart Attack' with a sound that reflects where I am with my music.