"Breakdown" is a song by South African

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Seether Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion wit ...

. It is the third track and the third single from the band's third album, ''

Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces ''Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces'' is the fourth studio album by South African rock band Seether. The album was released in South Africa and Switzerland on 19 October 2007, and released worldwide on 23 October 2007. It is the first album by th ...

''.

Shaun Morgan Shaun Morgan Welgemoed (, born 21 December 1978) is a South African musician. He is the singer, songwriter, and guitarist for the rock band Seether. Early life Morgan spent most of his early life in South Africa.Bottomley, CSeether: South Afr ...

has stated that the song is about his former girlfriend

Amy Lee Amy Lynn Hartzler (; born December 13, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the co-founder, lead vocalist, and lead songwriter of the rock band Evanescence. Alongside her contributions with the band, Lee has also particip ...

, but other sources reference a more recent relationship. To further the point, Morgan has been quoted saying "Amy and I, at our worst moments, were still better than this last girl and I at our best moments". Morgan says that he did not anticipate "Breakdown" to be such a popular song; he wrote the song to air out his feelings. Morgan also says that Lee has influenced other Seether songs, as well. In addition, Morgan has also said that "The song is about not allowing yourself to be beaten down by what people say about you and kind of believing in yourself, and ultimately knowing that you'll be better for it". The song was released to radio in the middle of August 2008 and quickly became one of the most added singles to active rock radio at the time.

Music video

The music video for "Breakdown" premiered on November 12, 2008, on

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Tony Petrossian Tony Petrossian is a commercial and music video director. Petrossian is represented by William Morris Endeavor for feature films & television projects in the U.S. Commercials (partial list) *Futuroscope - "Robotic Seats" (Paris, France) *Nike - ...

, who directed their previous videos for Fake It and Rise Above This, also made this video. In the video, Jenna Westerbeck approaches Shaun, (who is seated) from behind, and he glances down at her touching him with obvious disdain. She then reaches her arms around and manipulates his head, which becomes a

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at her touch. Throughout the video, Shaun's face changes emotions in each cube, and as the video progresses, different people (including the rest of Seether) appear in the cube, lip-syncing to the background vocals. Towards the end of the bridge, the girl opens up the cube, removing blocks featuring other women. She then finds a block that features only her, and places it in the space for Shaun's eye. She then closes the box, gives it one last spin, and the cube effect disappears. She then walks out of frame as Morgan looks at her with a sense of distaste and disappointment. This was the first video to feature the band's new lead guitarist

Troy McLawhorn William Troy McLawhorn (born November 4, 1968) is an American musician who has been a guitarist in the rock band Evanescence since 2007. He has also worked with the bands Seether, Dark New Day, doubleDrive, Still Rain, and Gibraltar. Early care ...

Song statistics

* "Breakdown" has been played a total of 189 times (188 times by Seether, and one time by lead singer Shaun Morgan). * The song was first performed in concert at The Rock Nightclub in

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on October 8, 2007. * The song was most recently performed in concert at

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on October 10, 2021. * "Breakdown" was performed most often in 2009, 2011, and 2014, at 29 times. "Breakdown" was performed least often in 2007, at two times.

Charts

References

Seether songs 2008 singles 2007 songs Song recordings produced by Howard Benson Wind-up Records singles Songs written by Dale Stewart Songs written by Shaun Morgan Songs written by John Humphrey (drummer) {{2000s-rock-song-stub