"Break" is a song by Canadian

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 Wale ...

band

Three Days Grace Three Days Grace is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in Asphodel–Norwood, Norwood, Ontario, in 1992 originally as Groundswell. Groundswell played in various local Norwood backyard parties and area establishments before disbanding in 1 ...

. It was released as the lead single on September 1, 2009, from their third studio album, ''

Life Starts Now ''Life Starts Now'' is the third studio album by Canadian Rock music, rock band Three Days Grace. The album was released on September 22, 2009. It was produced by Howard Benson. It was the second time in a row that the band has worked with him, a ...

'', which followed three weeks later. The song peaked at number 26 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

and number 73 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was certified Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in February 2018.

Background

The band released a teaser of the single on their website on August 27, 2009, before the song was sent for radio airplay the following week. According to

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

ist

Brad Walst Brad Walst (born February 17, 1977) is a Canadian musician. He is the bassist and a founding member of the rock band Three Days Grace, which also includes his younger brother Matt. As of 2022, Three Days Grace has sold over 10 million albums a ...

, "Break" is about "breaking away from bad influences," during an interview by the

Peterborough Examiner ''The Peterborough Examiner'' is a newspaper that services Peterborough, Ontario and area. The paper started circulation in 1847, and is currently owned by Torstar and operated by its Metroland division. Between 1942 and 1955, it was edited by C ...

. Additionally, in an interview with TheDeadbolt.com,

lead guitarist Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

Barry Stock Barry James Stock (born April 24, 1974) is a Canadian musician. He is the lead guitarist of the Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. Early life Stock was born in Belgium and was raised in Norwood, Ontario. At a young age, Stock was introduced ...

explained the meaning behind "Break": According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, by

Alfred Music Publishing Alfred Music is an American music publishing company. Founded in New York in 1922, it is headquartered in Van Nuys, California, with additional branches in Miami, New York, Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. History In New York City ...

, the track runs at 116 BPM and is in the key of

D Minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed ...

. Gontier's range in the song spans from the notes D4 to B5.

Chart performance

"Break" peaked at number 26 on the

. The song also peaked at number 73 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song topped the US

Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of ...

chart for twelve weeks. The song also peaked at number one on the US

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

chart for eleven weeks. The song reached number four on the

Alternative Airplay Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart. As of February 21, 2010, the single has sold 359,461 units.

Awards and nominations

In 2010, the song earned two nominations at the

MuchMusic Video Awards The iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards were an annual awards show broadcast annually on Much (TV channel), Much from 1990 to 2018, and Fuse (TV channel), Fuse from 2010 to 2013 that honoured the year's best music videos. Originally debuting in ...

for Post Production of the Year and Rock Video of the Year. The song also earned a

CASBY Awards The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The ...

nomination for Best Single of the Year. The song was nominated for Recording Engineer of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards. ''

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 advertis ...

'' ranked the song at number seven on their "Greatest of All Time Mainstream Rock Songs" list. It was the number one most played song on the Active Rock format in 2010.

Accolades

Music video

On September 11, Three Days Grace announced the music video for "Break" would debut on

Yahoo! Music Yahoo Music was a brand under which Yahoo provided music services including Internet radio, a digital music store, music streaming service, media player software, and original programming. Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody in early 2008. Pro ...

on September 14, 2009. The music video, directed by P. R. Brown, begins with the band members entering separate rooms that match their clothes' colors (Adam wearing white, Neil wearing black, Brad wearing gray, and Barry wearing pink), and shows four balls, matching the aforementioned colors, in a

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

-like state. The beginning of the track "Someone Who Cares" serves as both the intro and the outro for the music video version of the song. The band begins to perform their parts in these separate rooms as giant fans appear and begin to operate. As the song progresses, floating paint balls are pulled through the fans and thus travel in a circle that leaves them stained with the color of the band mate to their left (Adam with pink, Neil with white, Brad with black, and Barry with gray). The song ends with them exiting down a hall, the four paint balls following them. Several of the effects used in the video include: phantom cams,

green screens Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...

, polymer, and water-based paint. Speaking about the music video, Brad Walst explained the concept of the video.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for "Break" adapted from album's liner notes. Three Days Grace *

Adam Gontier Adam Wade Gontier (born May 25, 1978) is a Canadian rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for Saint Asonia, but is best known as the co-lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and founding member of the rock band Thr ...

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

Neil Sanderson Neil Christopher Sanderson (December 17, 1978) is a Canadian musician. He is the drummer, backing vocalist, keyboardist, and co-founder of the Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. He cited his influences as John Bonham, Danny Carey, and Stewart C ...

– drums, backing vocals *

– bass guitar *

– lead guitar Production *

Howard Benson Howard Michael Benson (born July 20, 1956) is an American record producer from Havertown, Pennsylvania. He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2007 and 2008, among two wins and 16 total nominati ...

– producer * Mike Cashin – assistant engineer *

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic range compression for molding mixes that ...

– mixing * Hatsukazu "Hatch" Inagaki – engineer * Mike Plotnikoff – recording engineer * Andrew Schubert – additional engineer * Brad Townsend – additional engineer * Keith Armstrong – assistant mixing engineer * Nik Karpen – assistant mixing engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{authority control 2009 songs 2009 singles Three Days Grace songs Songs written by Adam Gontier Songs written by Barry Stock Jive Records singles Song recordings produced by Howard Benson Music videos directed by P. R. Brown