Heartbreak Hotel told Durden, "Everybody in the world has someone who cares. Let's put a Heartbreak Hotel at the end of this lonely street". They were interrupted by the arrival of Glenn Reeves, a local performer who had previously worked with Axton. The duo asked Reeves to help with the song, but after hearing the title he remarked that it was "the silliest thing I've ever heard", and left them to finish it themselves. The song was written within an hour, and Durden recorded it onto Axton's tape recorder. Reeves returned, and after hearing the song he was asked to provide a
Welcome to Heartbreak charts. The song did feature on the Kiss and BBC Radio 1Xtra playlists in the United Kingdom. The song was supposed to be officially released as the third single from "808s & Heartbreak" in the U.K. on May 18, 2009, but was never released. "Welcome to Heartbreak" was met by positive reviews from music critics, many of whom cited it, along with "Love Lockdown" and "Heartless" as one of the highlights of "808s & Heartbreak". In a review of the album, Brandon Perkins of URB analyzed the song's confessional lyrical content, saying, "On 'Welcome to Heartbreak,' Kanye pits his prized