Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson song)

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"Breakaway"
Single by Kelly Clarkson
from the album Breakaway
Released	November 30, 2004 (North America) May 2006 (Europe)
Format	CD single
Genre	Pop
Length	3:57
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	Avril Lavigne, B. Benante, Michael Gerrard
Producer(s)	John Shanks
Certification	3x Platinum (RIAA Digital Downloads) Gold (RIAA CD Singles) Gold (CRIA)
Chart positions
#6 (US) #10 (AU) #3 (CAN) #22 (UK)
Kelly Clarkson singles chronology
"The Trouble with Love Is" (2003)	"Breakaway" (2004)	"Since U Been Gone" (2004)
Alternate cover
UK Cover

"Breakaway" is the first single (in North America, Latin America, Brazil and Australia only) and the fifth single in Europe, from Breakaway, the second album by pop rock singer Kelly Clarkson. After her two under-performing releases beforehand from her debut album, "Breakaway" is considered by many to be her comeback single.

Contents 1 Song Information 2 Music video 3 Chart performance 4 Charts 5 References

[edit] Song Information

The single was co-written by Avril Lavigne, Bridget Benenate and Michael Gerrard and produced by John Shanks. It was originally written in part by Lavigne for her debut album, Let Go, but she did not release it as she did not feel the song suited her album at the time. As a result, it was handed to Kelly Clarkson, who recorded it–as a stopgap between her albums–for the soundtrack of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. The single was then released in July of 2004, with not much expectations for it to become a big hit. In fact, Clarkson and her team were so convinced, that they were already planning a release for the first single off of her sophomore album, assured that Breakaway's popularity would wane by Fall. RCA records had already planned for her sophomore album to be released in December, with the first single out in October.

However, things began to slowly change. By August, "Breakaway" surprisingly entered the Billboard Hot 100 and slowly began creeping up the charts. It steadily grew to become one of the biggest hits of the Fall, when it finally peaked in November. Because of the conflict of "Breakaway"'s still climbing up the charts, RCA records decided to hold off of on releasing a single off of her upcoming album and officially made the song "Breakaway" the first single off of the album. They then decided to name her album Breakaway, to assure fans that the hit song would be included on the album. Because of the single's success, Clarkson's album was pushed up a month and was released in November 2004 at the height of the songs success. Although this song was not intended to be the first single, it eventually was considered that by both Clarkson and the general public, most of whom did not even realize that this was a soundtrack single.

[edit] Music video

As "Breakaway" was originally recorded for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, the music video required a tie-in of sorts to the film. Clarkson wanted the video to be balanced between the theme of the song and the theme of the film. As a result, the video ties in both themes, starting out with a young actress representing Clarkson as a child. A child can be seen looking forlorn, as although she is happy in a way, she feels the need to break away. Years pass, and an adult Clarkson, now a superstar, is seen attending the fictional premiere of the film, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Scenes from the film can be seen as Clarkson remembers her past, and how she broke away. Originally the video was supposed to be longer to show more scenes of Clarkson growing up at a more gradual pace, but they had to be eliminated due to time constraints.

The UK music video was filmed at the London Hammersmith Apollo when she toured Europe. A second European version was also made for its European release. This version was essentially the same as the original, but with the references to The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement replaced.

[edit] Chart performance

After two underperforming singles, "Low" and "The Trouble with Love Is", a few critics had written off Clarkson as an American Idol has-been. However, "Breakaway" went on to become one of the biggest successes of late 2004. The song proved to be popular among children as well as adults.

However, the song is not known most for its peak position on the Hot 100, but for its longevity on the chart. The song entered the Hot 100 in August of 2004, and did not leave until July of 2005, being on the charts for nearly one full year. This made "Breakaway" one of the songs with the highest amounts of longevity ever on the Hot 100.

The song's longevity in part can be attributed to the song's steady digital downloads, which have gained the single a quadruple platinum certification, with over 800,000 downloads.

In Australia, "Breakaway" debuted at number ten, but was unable to climb to a higher position. The song was extremely popular in Canada and reached a peak position of 3. The song was the fifth single from the album in the Netherlands and in the UK, with a UK release date of 26th June 2006. The song became Kelly's 8th Top 40 hit in the UK hit peaking at #22. ^[1].

[edit] Charts

Chart (2004/2005/2006)	Peak
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	6
U.S. Top 40 Tracks	4
U.S. Top 40 Mainstream	2
U.S. Adult Top 40	2
U.S. Adult Contemporary	1 (21 weeks)1
U.S. Adult Contemporary Recurrents	1
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	2
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	10
Canadian Singles Chart	3
Dutch Singles Chart	9
Indonesian Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	12
Brazil Hot 100	17
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	12
Mexican Top 100 Airplay	74
Mexican Digital Sales Chart	65
Singapore Top 10 Airplay	1
U.K. Top 75	22
German Top 30 Airplay	1
German Single Chart 100	13
World Chart Show	10

¹ Twenty of the weeks spent at number one are consecutive, a record. Clarkson also holds the record for the longest run at number one (21 weeks) for a female artist, a tie with Céline Dion and her song, "A New Day Has Come". It is the longest running AC number-one from a movie soundtrack.

[edit] References

1. ^ UK release date