Pete Wentz for MoreCore TV:

[“Heaven, Iowa” was] one of the first songs that Patrick demoed, and there was an epicness to the chorus. I think we came up with other songs after this that kind of, didn’t surpass it, but it was like, the new upbeat kind of thing. So I would be really interested to hear what people think about this song. […] This was a fun song to do, there’s a big, openness to the chorus, and the verses as well. Definitely not a song we could’ve made fifteen years ago or twenty years ago.

Andy Hurley:

This is actually my favourite song on the record.

Patrick Stump told Kerrang!:

Pete [Wentz] had this set of lyrics that had a storytelling element, and I don’t know why, but it just warranted that kind of space. I’m very afraid of space as a performer, and I really don’t like singing by myself; I really don’t like feeling naked. I don’t want it to be me singing with an acoustic guitar or something. I played it for everybody, because I’ve learned that you don’t know what works about yourself, but I hated it. But everybody was like, ‘No! This is the song.’ And it wasn’t until the very end of production, when there was one day where we laid one keyboard patch onto it, and somehow that clicked the whole thing. But it was a lot of effort – the song took maybe three minutes to write, but six or seven months to record.

In conversation with MTV, he added:

There’s a section on ‘Heaven, Iowa’ where I had the chords and vocals, and Joe [Trohman] brought in this guitar part that absolutely makes that section. That song wouldn’t exist in the way we think about it now without Joe. That’s what I think makes for really great songs, the conversation that bounces around.