Released 13 April 2004 Length 4:21 | Format CD Label Wind-up | |
Genre Post-grunge
alternative rock
symphonic rock Writer(s) Shaun Morgan
Dale Stewart | ||
"Broken" is a song by South-African post-grunge and alternative metal band Seether, featuring American singer Amy Lee, the lead singer of Evanescence and then-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 number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 3 on the ARIA Charts. 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 number 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 highly, peaking at number 9 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Contents
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".
The song earned Seether a Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award in 2004, when it was voted "Best Song from a Movie Soundtrack".
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".