"Broken Glass" is a song recorded by American singer

Rachel Platten Rachel Ashley Platten (born May 20, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and author. After releasing two albums independently in 2003 and 2011, she signed with Columbia Records in 2015 and released her mainstream debut single, "Fight Song", w ...

for her fourth and second major label

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

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''. It was released on August 18, 2017, by

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as the lead single from the album.

Release

On August 18, 2017, Platten announced on her official

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account that a new single titled "Broken Glass" would be released on August 18.

Composition

"Broken Glass" has been described as a "sharply produced pop jam", as well as a "mid-tempo bop" and "a breezy, dancehall-tinged number that is less

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than much of ''

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''", Platten's first major-label album. The song was co-written by Rachel Platten and Nate Cyphert, while the producers were

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and

Jarrad Rogers Jarrad Leith Rogers, aka "Mstr Rogers" is an Australian-British artist, songwriter and pop producer. Early life Jarrad played trumpet and classical piano from an early age. Studying piano under renowned concert pianist, Alexander Sumetski, he ...

. The track was recorded at Village Studios in Los Angeles, California. Writing about her lyrical inspirations in an essay published on

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, Platten described the song as her "rallying cry of release, healing, excitement, hope, and joy." She wrote, "It's a celebration of the power of women – of our unity, strength, and fierceness, and of just how freaking awesome we are. We are badass on our own, but we’re unstoppable when we come together." In an interview with ''

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'', Platten said, "I felt like I wanted to continue and do my part to give a message of hope through music and promote girl power. Even though we have a long way to go to get equality between men and women, we're making progress, and when we lift each other up, that's dope. 'Broken Glass' is kind of about that message." In a ''

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'' interview, she credited her experiences at the

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as an inspiration for the song.

Critical reception

Markos Papadatos of Digital Journal described "Broken Glass" as "quite powerful, and worthy to be her next smash hit", with "an inspirational and encouraging message to it". Writing for Radio.com, Scott T. Sterling called it "cathartic". Mike Wass of

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referred to the song as "an uplifting

feminist anthem This is a list of songs described as feminist anthems, celebrating women's empowerment, or used as protest songs against gender inequality. These songs range from airy pop affirmations such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper, to s ...

", while Taylor Weatherby of ''

'' called it "a happy tune that serves as a confidence booster for any listener".

Music video

The official music video for the song was released on August 18, 2017. It was directed by Allie Avital and filmed in

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. The video features female cyclists from around the world, including two German world champions.

Live performances

Platten made the national television premiere performance of "Broken Glass" on

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's ''

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'' on August 21, 2017. On November 26, 2017, she performed the song at the

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pageant in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

during the final walk of the Top 3 contestants before the announcement of the winner.

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs Rachel Platten songs Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers) Songs with feminist themes Songs written by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen Songs written by Jarrad Rogers