"Breakfast" is a song by the American singer and actress

Dove Cameron Dove Olivia Cameron (born Chloe Celeste Hosterman; January 15, 1996) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame for her dual role of the eponymous characters in Disney Channel's comedy series '' Liv and Maddie'' (2013–2017) and her ...

. She wrote it along with

Delacey Brittany Marie Amaradio (born 1993), known professionally as Delacey, is an American singer and songwriter. Having co-written songs such as "New York City" for The Chainsmokers, " Ruin the Friendship" for Demi Lovato, and " Without Me" for Halse ...

, Jesse Finkelstein, and its producer, Evan Blair. The song was released through Disruptor and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

on June 24, 2022, as the second single from her debut EP, '' Alchemical: Volume 1'' (2023). It also served as the follow-up to her previous single "

Boyfriend A boyfriend is a man who is a friend or acquaintance to the speaker, often specifying a regular male companion with whom a person is platonically, romantically or sexually involved. A boyfriend can also be called an admirer, beau, suito ...

" (2022). "Breakfast" is an

alternative pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

track dubbed as a queer song about an egocentric ex. Lauren Denn directed the music video for "Breakfast", which premiered on August 23, 2022. Although it had a different original music video filmed, a new video was produced following the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

' decision to overturn ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

''. The video stars Cameron as a business executive and depicts an alternative world where the traditional

gender role A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...

s are reversed. The singer performed "Breakfast" at the

2022 MTV Video Music Awards The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on August 28, 2022. The show was emceed by LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj, and Jack Harlow. Minaj was honored with the Video Vanguard Award, presented to her by ...

, where it won in the category Video for Good.

Background and release

After

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

in 2020,

released the single "

" in 2022, which

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...

on the video-sharing app

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. Her previous solo songs were removed from streaming services because she believed it was her "trying to find ersound" and did not represent herself. The lyrics of the single represent her desire of stealing a girl from her boyfriend. Cameron stated that she felt "incredibly disempowered as a young woman" at the time, and was inspired to express her feelings about the gender dynamics in society. Cameron returned to the studio and started working on her follow-up single. It was initially made as a poem that included the last line, "I floss my teeth with men like you." She changed the original lyric to "I eat boys like you for breakfast", and felt that it matched the "villain-who-is-the-main-character" theme of her music. "Breakfast" was released on June 24, 2022, as the second single from her then-upcoming debut studio album, '' Alchemical: Volume 1'' (2023). Cameron performed "Breakfast" at the

pre-show, alongside "Boyfriend".

Composition

Cameron wrote "Breakfast" alongside

, Jesse Finkelstein, and Evan Blair, while the latter was the producer and

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

. Alex Ghenea served as the

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

. With a duration of two minutes and twenty-eight seconds, music critics identified "Breakfast" as an

track. Cameron was inspired to write the song by an egocentric ex who was "constantly speaking down" to her. She described it as a queer song, which does not equal to "I hate men and I only date women", but it means that she can confront a certain man. Jason Lipshutz of ''

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 ...

'' said that the song contains a "harder" production than "Boyfriend".

Reception

"Breakfast" appeared at number 27 on the

New Zealand Hot Singles The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, formerly the Official New Zealand Music Chart (), is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Mu ...

chart issued for July 7, 2022. Lipshutz named it one of the best new

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singles of its release week. The critic praised the song's "drama" and Cameron's vocal performance, which includes "a smokiness and not-too-subtle hint of danger", and compared it positively to other contemporary artists of the genre. Upon the album's release, music critics included it in their reviews. '' Dork'' Martyn Young said that the song "rides in on its fevered groove" and described its main line as "iconic". In a review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', Shaad D'Souza believed that the song's

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

was "shamelessly" inspired by "Diet Mountain Dew" (2012) by the American singer-songwriter

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...

Music video

The music video for "Breakfast", directed by Lauren Dunn, premiered on August 23, 2022. Before its release, Cameron had a different concept in mind for the single's music video, which was already recorded and she described as "beautiful" and "campier". Following the

' decision to overturn ''

'', she felt empowered to reimagine it as a statement about the gender roles in society. Inspired by ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'' and ''

The Stepford Wives ''The Stepford Wives'' is a 1972 satirical "feminist horror" novel by Ira Levin. The story concerns Joanna Eberhart, a talented photographer, wife, and young mother who suspects that something in the town of Stepford is changing the wives fro ...

'', the video depicts an alternative world in which the

s are reversed. It stars Cameron as a business executive, wearing an oversized shirt, blazer, and tie in a

1970s-inspired 1970s nostalgia is nostalgia for certain aspects of the 1970s. 1970s retro is Retro style, retro related to the 1970s. Media 67% of baby boomers, born between 1958 and 1963, had nostalgia for media from the 1970s in twelve markets in 2023. Music ...

set design. In a statement, Cameron said: "I want the audience to notice how strange it is to watch the roles be reversed and it was important to highlight how ingrained these roles really are in our nervous systems." A television reporter informing about the impact of ''Roe v. Wade'' in men is presented at the beginning of the video. Cameron appears reading the newspaper while drinking coffee, and then proceeds to be abusive to her partner. She gives him alcohol and he then goes to get an abortion, where the doctor shames him and says that he would not be "provoking women" if he dressed more appropriately. Cameron later watches television, where news commentators describe the real news about abortion in the United States. At the end of the video, the words "Not the end" are shown and Cameron asks for donations to women's rights organizations: the

National Network of Abortion Funds The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) is an American non-profit organization purposed to increase access to abortion for low-income people across the U.S. Founding and history The NNAF was founded by 22 abortion funds from 14 states ...

Emily's List EMILYs List is a left-leaning American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "E ...

HeadCount HeadCount is a national nonprofit organization that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy in the United States. It is one of the largest voter registration organizations, having registered over 1.2 million voters since launch ...

, and Supermajority. The music video won the

MTV Video Music Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

for Video for Good on September 12, 2022.

Charts

References

{{Dove Cameron 2022 singles 2022 songs Dove Cameron songs Disruptor Records singles Columbia Records singles Alternative pop songs LGBTQ-related songs Songs written by Dove Cameron