"I Can't Break Down" is a song written by

Sinéad Quinn Sinéad Quinn (; born 24 March 1980) is a Northern Irish singer, best known as a contestant in the first series of the UK BBC TV series ''Fame Academy'' in 2002. She later went on to sign a recording contract, released an album, and had a #2 UK ...

Pete Glenister Pete Glenister is an English guitarist, songwriter and producer, known for his collaborations with Alison Moyet and Kirsty MacColl. He has also worked with a number of other artists including Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bruce Foxton, Terence Trent D'Arb ...

, and Deni Lew for Quinn's debut album, '' Ready to Run'' (2003). Produced by Glenister and Lew, it was released as her debut single from the album in February 2003 and reached a peak of number two on the UK Singles Chart. It finished at number 65 on the UK year-end chart for 2003.

Background and writing

Quinn finished as the runner-up in the

first series First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner would receive a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known un ...

'' behind

David Sneddon David Sneddon (born 15 September 1978) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and music producer of contemporary pop music. He began his career performing on stage and television, singing lead roles in stage musicals in Glasgow. In 2002, ...

, who had a number-one single with "

Stop Living the Lie "Stop Living the Lie" is the debut single of Scottish singer-songwriter David Sneddon, taken from his album ''Seven Years – Ten Weeks''. It was released through Mercury Records on 13 January 2003. During its first week of release, it charted at ...

" in January 2003. She signed a record deal with

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

a week after the final and revealed that she would release her debut single on 10 February 2003. The song was written by Quinn during her time on ''

''. ''Fame Academy'' differed from the similar ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'' in that the contestants were able to develop their all-round musical talents and write original material during their time on the show. In an interview with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

she revealed how her experience on Fame Academy had changed her music style for this song. She said "Before I went in, I wouldn't have been into commercial stuff...my tunes might not have been so radio-friendly, but I'm working on it. I wouldn't have got that much of a hook into my songs. I think the hook is very important."

Critical reception

The song received mixed reviews from music critics. Michael Hubbard (writing for musicOMH) described Quinn's voice as "rich" in comparison to her vocal performance on ''

'' but commented "if Sinéad wants a career that is more than a flash in the pan, she's going to have to get a lot more dangerous than this". He did, however, commend her for avoiding being like a "karaoke star-turn of the genre's lesser programmes."

Track listings

UK CD single # "I Can't Break Down # "

Don't Speak "Don't Speak" is a song by American rock band No Doubt, featured on their third studio album, '' Tragic Kingdom'' (1995). Released as an album track in 1996 by Interscope Records, the song was initially written as a love song by lead singer Gwe ...

" # "

I Try "I Try" is a song co-written and performed by American musician Macy Gray. Issued as the second single from her debut album, ''On How Life Is'' (1999), the song was first released in Japan as a double A-side with "Do Something (Macy Gray song), D ...

" (acoustic) UK cassette single # "I Can't Break Down" # "I Try" (acoustic)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2003 singles Mercury Records singles Number-one singles in Scotland Songs written by Deni Lew Songs written by Pete Glenister Songs written by Sinéad Quinn