The Pretty Reckless released “Heaven Knows” as a digital single in the United States on November 19, 2013, through Razor & Tie. It arrived ahead of their second album, Going to Hell, with an unusual beginning: Taylor Momsen had conceived it as a brief passage connecting two other songs.
Momsen explained the idea in a 2014 All Access Music interview, describing a hymn in which she would sing a line and a group of children would repeat it. “It was just going to be a short piece of music connecting two of the other songs,” she said. As she developed characters and a narrative, that connecting passage became a complete song. The call and response was part of the idea before “Heaven Knows” had taken its final shape.
That origin fits the way Momsen approached Going to Hell as a whole. She told Nylon in February 2014 that she and guitarist Ben Phillips worked out their songs on acoustic guitar before entering the studio. She also placed considerable importance on the running order. Although they hadn’t deliberately set out to make a concept album, she heard recurring themes that became clearer when the record played from beginning to end. A song’s place beside the others mattered to her, even as individual tracks were being released ahead of the album.
Momsen and Phillips wrote “Heaven Knows,” with Kato Khandwala producing. His involvement went beyond overseeing sessions. Khandwala had introduced the two songwriters, and Momsen described him as effectively a fifth band member when she and Phillips spoke with Full Metal Jackie for Loudwire Nights in May 2014. He also played guitar on their records. Momsen used the instrument primarily to write, while Phillips explained that their live arrangement centered on three instrumentalists behind her vocals. Those roles connected the initial songwriting partnership to the band that took the material onstage.
Getting the album finished had brought a much less welcome interruption. Hurricane Sandy damaged their recording studio, forcing the band to restart work. Universal Music Canada’s album announcement described that setback as part of the record’s difficult creation. By the time Going to Hell reached North American stores in March 2014, “Heaven Knows” had already been available for months.
Momsen took an active role in its visual presentation, too. The music video premiered on February 13, 2014, placing her inside a school setting. She wrote the treatment and helped direct the Miami shoot. She later told Loudwire Nights that directing children over loud music, combined with the fog used on set, had left her without her voice. In the Nylon interview, she recalled returning to Miami for additional filming. Making the clip required more than stepping in front of a camera; she was involved in getting her own treatment onto the screen.
The single reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart in March 2014, giving The Pretty Reckless their first leader on that chart. Going to Hell subsequently debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. “Messed Up World” became their second Mainstream Rock No. 1 that September, and “Follow Me Down” made it three consecutive leaders in April 2015. All three came from the same album, with “Heaven Knows” starting the sequence.
