Heart of Stone is the song that changes the temperature of SIX the Musical.
Up until this point, the show has been moving quickly. The Queens are competing, joking, singing, dancing and fighting for the chance to tell their stories. Then Jane Seymour walks into the spotlight and everything slows down.
That contrast is exactly what makes Heart of Stone work.
Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the song is Jane Seymour’s solo in SIX. It presents her as someone whose love for Henry VIII remains steadfast even while she understands that his feelings can change. The song eventually turns toward her son Edward and the possibility that Jane will not be there to watch him grow up.
I first heard Heart of Stone sung by Jasmine Forsberg, and that version immediately shaped the way I hear the song.
That is worth mentioning because Heart of Stone has had several different voices over the years. Natalie Paris performed the song in the London production and on the studio cast recording, Abby Mueller sang it on the Broadway cast recording, and Jasmine Forsberg has performed it during her time as Jane Seymour on the North American tour and Broadway. Other performers have also taken on the role across productions and tours.
Every Jane Seymour brings something different to it.
But for me, Jasmine’s interpretation is where the song first became personal.
Jasmine Forsberg and Heart of Stone
Jasmine Forsberg’s connection with Heart of Stone is particularly interesting because she did not simply step into the role and copy an established interpretation.
Forsberg played Jane Seymour on the first North American tour before joining the Broadway production. Her official biography notes that she returned to SIX as Jane Seymour in February 2026 after spending almost three years on Broadway and the first national tour.
She has also talked about the musical influences she brings into the performance.
In an interview with Riff Magazine, Forsberg mentioned Adele and Sia as listed inspirations for Heart of Stone, while also drawing on Kelly Clarkson when approaching the song’s bigger vocal moments. She grew up studying piano and voice and also played guitar, so her relationship with the music is rooted in more than just vocal performance.
That comes through.
When I first heard Jasmine Forsberg sing Heart of Stone, what stayed with me was the combination of control and power. The song does not begin at its emotional peak. It has somewhere to go.
And when it gets there, it feels earned.
Broadway.com even highlighted Forsberg’s rendition as a performance that could “rattle the walls,” focusing on her high belting and her interpretation of Jane’s devotion.
That is exactly the quality I hear in her version.
The many voices of Jane Seymour
One of the fascinating things about SIX is that the same character can feel different depending on who is performing her.
Natalie Paris was Jane Seymour in the original London production and is the voice most listeners associate with the studio cast recording. Apple Music describes Paris’s performance as turning Jane’s hidden pain into a soaring power ballad.
Then came Abby Mueller on Broadway.
The live Broadway recording released in 2022 features Mueller on Heart of Stone, giving listeners another official recording of the song.
Jasmine Forsberg brought another interpretation to the role, first through the North American tour and then Broadway.
The role has also passed through performers including Lauren Byrne, Loren Hunter, Amina Faye, Bella Coppola and others across different productions and tours.
That history makes Heart of Stone unusual.
You can listen to several versions of the same song and hear different approaches to the exact same character.
Natalie Paris has the original studio-recording identity.
Abby Mueller gives the Broadway version its own character.
Jasmine Forsberg brings an especially powerful belting approach and a personal connection to the material.
And that is the fun part of musical theatre.
The score stays the same, but the performer changes the emotional center.
What is Heart of Stone about?
Heart of Stone gives Jane Seymour something the historical record often struggles to give historical figures: an interior life.
SIX is not trying to recreate Tudor history as a traditional period drama. Instead, Marlow and Moss take the six wives of Henry VIII and imagine what happens when each woman gets to tell her own story.
Jane’s story is quieter than the others.
She is not fighting for attention in the same way as Catherine of Aragon or Anne Boleyn. Her relationship with Henry is presented through devotion and vulnerability.
The song is also connected to motherhood.
Jane gave birth to Edward VI and died shortly afterward. In Heart of Stone, that becomes the emotional center of the final section. Her love for her son becomes something that survives even when she cannot be there physically.
That is why the title works so well.
A heart of stone usually suggests emotional coldness.
Here, it means permanence.
The heart does not break.
It stays.
The only ballad in SIX
Heart of Stone stands apart from the rest of SIX because it is a ballad in a show built around contemporary pop styles.
A musical theatre analysis by Rachael Dickzen describes it as the show’s only ballad and points to its Adele-like style.
That makes the placement important.
The Queens spend much of the show moving through pop, rock, hip-hop, dance and other contemporary styles. Then Jane gets a slower, more intimate number.
The change allows the audience to listen differently.
There is less spectacle.
More space.
More attention on the vocal.
And that means the singer has to carry the emotional weight.
Talk nerdy to me
From a music theory perspective, Heart of Stone is a great example of how a simple harmonic framework can support a very demanding vocal performance.
Available chord transcriptions show the song built around a recurring four-chord pattern, with the opening progression commonly represented as F, B-flat, D minor and C. The repetition gives the song stability while the melody and vocal dynamics provide the emotional movement.
That is important because the song does not need constant harmonic surprises.
The listener already understands the musical environment.
That gives the vocalist freedom to change intensity.
The early sections can be delivered with restraint, while later passages expand into bigger sustained notes and more dramatic vocal phrasing.
For singers, this is a useful example of why dynamics matter.
A singer who starts at maximum volume has nowhere to go.
Heart of Stone does the opposite. It creates a gradual climb, allowing the final sections to feel larger because the performance has been holding something back.
The arrangement also gives the piano and supporting instrumentation room to breathe. The music is not competing with Jane’s voice.
It is supporting her.
That is why different singers can make the same song sound so different. The harmonic structure provides the foundation, but phrasing, tone, vibrato, dynamics and vocal choices determine how the emotional story lands.
More songs from SIX the Musical
If Heart of Stone is the song that pulled you into SIX, these three tracks are great next stops:
- Don’t Lose Ur Head
Anne Boleyn’s number is almost the opposite of Heart of Stone. It is cheeky, fast and deliberately chaotic, giving Anne a much more playful musical identity. The contrast between her song and Jane’s ballad shows how cleverly SIX gives each Queen her own pop language. - All You Wanna Do
Katherine Howard gets a song that begins with the energy of a playful pop number before becoming much darker as her story unfolds. It is another example of how the musical style can communicate character rather than simply decorating the story. - I Don’t Need Your Love
Catherine Parr’s song takes the conversation in another direction, focusing on independence and the desire to define herself outside of Henry VIII. It leads naturally into the larger final ensemble number, Six.
Why Heart of Stone stayed with me
Heart of Stone is a song about love, but it is also about what happens when love exists alongside uncertainty.
Jane knows Henry can change.
She knows the future is not guaranteed.
She knows she may not get to see her son grow up.
And yet she chooses devotion.
That is what gives the song its emotional weight.
For me, Jasmine Forsberg’s performance is where that feeling first clicked. Because she was the first person I heard sing Heart of Stone, her interpretation became my reference point for the song. Her vocal choices make the final moments feel less like a simple Broadway power ballad and more like someone trying to hold onto something that is already slipping away.
But listening to other Janes is part of the fun.
Natalie Paris, Abby Mueller, Jasmine Forsberg and the many performers who have taken on Jane Seymour all show how much room exists inside the same piece of music.
The notes are written.
The character is written.
The story is written.
But the voice changes everything.
That is why Heart of Stone keeps working.
And if you have only heard one version, I highly recommend finding another.
Then another.
You may end up hearing a completely different Jane.
