Broken (Seether song)

"Broken"
Single by Seether featuring Amy Lee
from the album The Punisher: The Album and Disclaimer II
Released March 2004
Format CD
Genre Post-grunge
Length 4:21
Label Wind-up
Writer(s) Shaun Morgan, Dale Stewart
Certification Gold (RIAA)
Seether singles chronology
"Gasoline"
(2003)
"Broken"
(2004)
"Remedy"
(2005)
Music video
"Broken" on YouTube

"Broken" is a song by post-grunge/alternative metal South-African band Seether featuring American singer Amy Lee, the lead singer of Evanescence and former girlfriend of Seether vocalist Shaun Morgan. It was recorded in 2004 and was later included in Disclaimer II. This version includes electric guitar and violins. It peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at No. 3 on the ARIA singles chart. It was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). It is the band's biggest pop hit and the band's only Top 40 hit, reaching #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although, until the 2014 release of "Words as Weapons", it was often considered Seether's most popular track and the only song to enter and crossover to the pop and adult contemporary charts, it is not their highest-charting single on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and Modern Rock Tracks chart where a few singles, such as "Fine Again" and "Fake It", charted higher. Despite this, it was the most played song on most rock radio formats due to the pop success of the song. In addition, it still charted high peaking #9 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #4 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Critical reception

While reviewing Disclaimer, Jason D. Taylor of the website Allmusic noted, "The album closes with the one successful laid-back song: 'Broken' is mellow yet confident, as vocalist Shaun Morgan finds the courage to open himself up without releasing a scream every few seconds."[1]

The song earned Seether a Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award in 2004, when it was voted "Best Song from a Movie Soundtrack."[2]

Music video

The Nigel Dick-directed music video features Morgan sitting in an abandoned car playing an acoustic guitar while Lee appears behind him as her vocals fade in. For the remainder of the video, Lee and Morgan wander through a dilapidated landscape that was revealed on the Disclaimer II DVD to be a real-life trailer park that was burned to ashes by a crystal meth lab explosion. Although there are shots of the band and Lee performing together in a clearing, the underlying theme of the video is that Lee and Morgan are searching for but will never find each other. Lee knows that Morgan is there and where he is at through the video but Morgan does not see her or sense her presence around him, which is the meaning of the lyrics "you've gone away... you don't feel me here anymore."

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2004) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[3] 3
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[4] 26
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[5] 30
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[6] 2
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[7] 27
UK Singles Chart (The Official Charts Company) 106
US Billboard Hot 100[8] 20
US Active Rock[9] 1
US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks[10] 9
US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks[10] 4
US Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[10] 10
US Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks[10][11] 12
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[10][12] 40

Certifications

Country (provider) Certification
(sales thresholds)
United States (RIAA) Gold[13]
Australia (ARIA) Platinum[14]

References

  1. Taylor, Jason D. "allmusic ((( Disclaimer > Overview )))". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  2. Metal Edge, June 2005
  3. "Australian-charts.com – Seether – Broken". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  4. "Austriancharts.at – Seether – Broken" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  5. "Dutchcharts.nl – Seether – Broken" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  6. "Charts.org.nz – Seether – Broken". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  7. "Swisscharts.com – Seether – Broken". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  8. "Seether – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Seether. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Seether - Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  10. "Seether Album & Song Chart History". Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  11. "Broken - Amy Lee". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  12. "Gold & Platinum – Evanescence" (To access, enter "Evanescence" in the box and click "Search"). Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  13. "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2004 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 7 November 2011.

External links

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