"Breaking Point" is a song performed by American recording artist

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American R&B singer, songwriter and actress. She was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia and spent most of her youth working with producer Anthony Dent as a songwriter and background vocalist for ...

from her second studio album, '' No Boys Allowed'' (2010).

Mosley Music Group Mosley Music Group (MMG) is a record label founded and formed by producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley. Founded in 2006, the imprint is distributed exclusively by Interscope Records and Def Jam Recordings. History The label was created after Timbala ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

released it as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

on September 7, 2010. The song was written by

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon Jerome Harmon (born September 25, 1968), better known as J-Roc, is an American songwriter and music producer from Fort Worth, Texas. He frequently collaborates with Timbaland. Jerome Harmon has produced for Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, C ...

, Hilson and Timothy "Attitude" Clayton, and produced by Timbaland with assistance from Harmon. According to Hilson, "Breaking Point" was inspired by women's experiences of tolerating too much from their partner and enduring their lies. The song is about a breaking point when a woman is tired of being neglected and exploited by her partner, whose many excuses are no longer accepted. "Breaking Point" is a mid-tempo R&B ballad that incorporates elements of pop and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

. It features

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

kick drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

instrumentation. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, who commended its empowering message and Timbaland's production. In the United States, "Breaking Point" peaked at number 44 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart and bubbled under the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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at number 17.

Bryan Barber Bryan Barber (born December 20, 1970) is a music video and motion picture filmmaker. He has directed many music videos for popular artists, including Outkast's "The Way You Move" and "The Whole World". Barber is known for sprinkling scenes fro ...

directed the ballad's accompanying music video, which is primarily set at a beauty salon with Hilson and her girlfriends.

Writing and inspiration

"Breaking Point" was written by

and Timothy "Attitude" Clayton. In an interview with Ian Drew of DailyFill, Hilson explained that inspiration for writing the song came from women's experiences, including "being lied to and tolerating too much" from their partner. She elaborated on its theme during a radio interview, stating: "The song is about that breaking point that every woman gets to when the excuses given by boys are no longer accepted. If you're not man enough to step to the plate, then keep it moving." The song shares its theme with " The Way You Love Me" as both songs are about "women coming to terms with what they need from a relationship". The "powerful" meaning of the two songs was personal to Hilson and she hoped that it would have the same effect on listeners. In an interview for

WTAM WTAM (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and carries a news/talk/sports format commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia, WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio ...

, Hilson elaborated on "Breaking Point" and its theme: Timbaland produced "Breaking Point" with assistance from Harmon. Chris Godbey mixed the track and recorded Hilson's vocals together with Bryan "The Beard" Jones, with assistance from Ghazi Hourani; both these tasks were done at

The Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

in Hollywood, California. Hilson arranged the recorded vocals and produced them with Veronika "V" Bozeman, who also performed

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

. Chris Gerhinger

mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

the song at Sterling Sound in New York City.

Composition

"Breaking Point" is a mid-tempo R&B ballad that features elements of pop and

. Instrumentation is provided by a

, kick drums, an

and a

. It is also backed by

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

beats, finger snaps and cooing

backup vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

. Lyrically, the song speaks of a woman's breaking point and Hilson "voices the frustration" of women who are being neglected and exploited by men. In the chorus, she sings: "Every woman has a breaking point, y'all/ Hey, I know you know, some women can be lied to, cheated on and beat on/ Somebody know, hey, every woman has a breaking point, y'all." According to Sara D. Anderson of

AOL Radio AOL Radio powered by Slacker (formerly AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio, and prior AOL Radio featuring XM) was an online radio service available in the United States only. It had over 200 free internet radio stations. History Roots AOL Radio ...

, Hilson vocally incorporates an "improvisational

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

style.

MTV Buzzworthy MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a d ...

writer Chris Ryan compared Hilson's vocals with

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

's, particularly in Blige's cover of " I'm Going Down" (1995). Halfway through "Breaking Point", Hilson talks about "the need for each woman to reclaim her life" in a spoken-word interlude, during which she mimics Blige, according to Ken Capobianco of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''. Hilson phrases: "Now ladies, we really should be mad at ourselves, cause see, some women just tolerate too damn much. Huh!"

Release

"Breaking Point" premiered on August 18, 2010, on the urban radio station

V-103 WVEE (103.3 FM, "V-103") is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an urban contemporary radio format. WVEE is one of the highest-rated stations of the Atlanta radio market according to Nielsen Aud ...

in Atlanta. It was selected as the album's

to showcase Hilson sans featured acts. In an interview, Hilson elaborated on the decision: "Timbaland and Polow a Donknew that even though I've been known for club records, guest features and collaborations, I am a true R&B lover ... e chose the songfor many reasons ... We knew it wouldn't grow as fast or even be as big a record as some of my past

ingles Ingles Markets, Inc. (stylized as ingles) is an American supermarket chain based in Black Mountain, North Carolina. As of September 2021, the company operates 198 supermarkets in the Southeastern United States. The company is listed on the NASD ...

... We wanted to showcase me by myself, feature-less, and we wanted to reveal that I can sing, and really connect with my music and my message. We felt that was the best introduction to ''No Boys Allowed''."

and

released the single via

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...

in the United States on September 7, 2010. It was later sent to

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

radio on October 25, 2010, while the album's second single, "

Pretty Girl Rock "Pretty Girl Rock" is a song by American singer-songwriter Keri Hilson, taken from her second studio album, '' No Boys Allowed'' (2010). It was released as the lead single internationally and was the second single from that album released in the ...

", was classified for

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

the same week.

Reception

Critical reception

"Breaking Point" received generally a positive response from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' Glenn Gamboa described it as a "gorgeous

girl-group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

-influenced" song and commended Timbaland's "remarkably non-bleepy-bloopy production". Mariel Concepcion of ''

'' observed that the song is a release for women who are "being mistreated and unappreciated" by their men, but are unable to "speak up for themselves". She viewed the single as an "empowering wake-up call

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

encourag swomen to stop putting up with the abuse". Concepcion likened the lyrics to

Melanie Fiona Melanie Fiona Hallim (born July 4, 1983) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario.Give It to Me Right "Give It to Me Right" is a song by Canadian contemporary R&B, R&B singer Melanie Fiona from her debut album, ''The Bridge (Melanie Fiona album), The Bridge'' (2009). Written and produced by Andrea Martin (musician), Andrea Martin and Rod Argent, t ...

" (2009) and

Beyoncé Knowles Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

' " Why Don't You Love Me" (2010). In his review of ''No Boys Allowed'', Matthew Horton of

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

remarked that the slower songs "house some of the nicer touches". Horton praised Timbaland's production throughout the album, particularly on "Breaking Point" due to its "

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...

-y harmonies ndoriental music box refrain". Ben Ratliff of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' regarded the song as "far better" than "Pretty Girl Rock", and ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' critic Margaret Wappler deemed it as "sticky and finessed". Lauren Carter of ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'' recommended "Breaking Point" as downloadable, and Neil Miller, Jr. of ''

UR Chicago ''UR Chicago'' is an online magazine covering regional and national lifestyles and entertainment. It was a print magazine between 1997 and 2008. History and profile Founded in 1997, ''UR Chicago'' was published by Pure Entertainment Group. The mag ...

'' called it one of "the finest cuts of genuine R&B out there right now". Chris Ryan of MTV Buzzworthy called the song "beautiful" and wrote, "While the music has all the squiggly, burping and buzzing percussion sound effects of your typical imbalandtrack, it also has a lovely

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

-like melody." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' Caroline Sullivan regarded it as "deceptively sugary ndtrilling" and commented that it "does observe that some women 'tolerate too damn much', but it's easily missed". Karen Tye of '' The Advertiser'' was mixed and felt that Hilson "invokes" Knowles on "Breaking Point", writing that she "needs to work on establishing her own distinct voice". Negative reviews came from Rob Sheffield of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', who named it as one of the album's "failed attempts at pop crossover", and

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

's Chad Grischow, who viewed the ballad as "fed-up". Grischow criticized the production for "clumsily" attempting to mix

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

vocals with voice-box guitars and organs.

Chart performance

In the United States, "Breaking Point" debuted at number 87 on the

chart in the issue dated September 25, 2010. The following week, it rose 15 positions to number 72, and ultimately peaked at number 44 in the issue dated November 20, 2010. The song remained on the chart for a total of 18 weeks; its last appearance was in the issue dated January 22, 2011. "Breaking Point" did not enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but reached number 17 on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart in the issue dated November 27, 2010.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Breaking Point" was directed by

and shot on location in Atlanta, Georgia, in early-September 2010. Some scenes were shot on

Auburn Avenue Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Au ...

, a street in Atlanta. Director Barber noted the "Southern harmony" of the song, which he wanted to capture in the video. According to Hilson, her character in the clip realizes that she has reached her breaking point and attempts to get over what happened the night before by spending the day with her girlfriends. Event occurs at 0:18 to 0:42. An unofficial version of the video originally leaked online on September 23, 2010, before the official edit premiered on October 4 on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

''. It was later made available for download on the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

on October 6, 2010, in the United States. The video begins with Hilson lounging in her bed. Upset by her partner, she walks over to the closet and rips down all of his clothes. The video then cuts to Hilson sitting in a chair at a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and medical spas. Beauty treatments Massage for the body is a b ...

, where she gets a new haircut and dyes her hair from black to blonde. She later begins a choreographed routine with her girlfriends, who appear to also have been mistreated by their men. The women then march down Auburn Avenue before they head home to throw their men's clothes off the balcony. The video received mixed to positive reviews. Chris Ryan of MTV Buzzworthy was positive and called it a "beautifully shot portrait of a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown", and ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'' writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd regarded it as an accurate representation of how women act when they are "wronged by dudes". On the other hand, Robbie Daw of

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

deemed it tiresome, calling it a "visual snoozefest". He wrote, "

ilson Ilson Wilians Rodrigues (born March 12, 1979) is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays for América Futebol Clube (SP). His previous clubs include FC Shinnik Yaroslavl and C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Mar ...

goes to a salon, orders up Rihanna's ''

Rated R Rated R refers to movies (and also to TV shows and video games in certain systems) that have been given a "restricted" rating by one of the following film rating systems: * Motion Picture Association of America film rating system * Canadian Home Vid ...

'' haircut and sasses men who are wrongin' the ladies. Hey, girls—her love has a limit! But so does our patience for this

ideo IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environ ...

Track listing

*Digital single #"Breaking Point" – 4:15

Credits and personnel

;Recording *Recorded at

, Hollywood, California ;Personnel *

Songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

–

Timothy Mosley Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

Jerome Harmon Jerome Harmon (born September 25, 1968), better known as J-Roc, is an American songwriter and music producer from Fort Worth, Texas. He frequently collaborates with Timbaland. Jerome Harmon has produced for Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, C ...

, Keri Hilson, Timothy Clayton *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

–

*Co-production –

*Vocal

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s – Keri Hilson *Vocal production – Keri Hilson, Veronika "V" Bozeman *Additional

– Veronika "V" Bozeman *

Recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

– Chris Godbey, Bryan "The Beard" Jones *Assistant recording – Ghazi Hourani * Mixing – Chris Godbey * Mastering – Chris Gerhinger Credits are adapted from the ''No Boys Allowed'' booklet.

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Breaking Point (Song) 2010 singles 2010s ballads Keri Hilson songs Interscope Records singles Songs written by Keri Hilson Songs written by Attitude (rapper) Songs written by Timbaland Song recordings produced by Timbaland Music videos directed by Bryan Barber Contemporary R&B ballads Song recordings produced by Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon Songs written by Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon 2010 songs