Broken

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"Broken"
Single by Lifehouse
from the album Who We Are
Released	July 8, 2008
Format	Radio airplay Digital Download
Recorded	2007 / 2008
Genre	Pop rock
Length	4:46 (Album Version) 4:15 (Radio Remix)
Label	Geffen
Producer	Jude Cole
Lifehouse singles chronology
"Whatever It Takes" (2007) "Broken" (2008) "Halfway Gone" (2009)

"Broken" is the third single from the band Lifehouse off their fourth studio album Who We Are. Lifehouse released a statement on their website about "Broken" being the next single, along with a remixed version of the song.^[1] The official radio mix of the song is available on iTunes.^[2]

Music video

The music video for "Broken" was released on the band's official site on September 16, 2008, heavily adopted concept behind Natalie Imbruglia's That Day video. The video was directed by actor Kiefer Sutherland (who also serves as producer of the album through his record company, Ironworks Records) and Frank Borin. [1]

The video starts with lead singer Jason Wade in the drivers seat of a car, with the other members of the band, Rick, Bryce, and Ben, in the car with him. The traffic is at a stand still in a tunnel, as a swarm of people have abandoned their vehicles and are walking through. Wade and the band members get out of the car, and begin walking in the opposite direction of the crowd to the other side of the tunnel. Wade pushes through the people, who are in a rush to get to the entrance of the tunnel, while Wade is constantly focused on his destination to get to the end. When he reaches the tunnel's end, he sees the wreckage of a car crash with firefighters and paramedics cleaning up the mess. Wade then sees a girl observing what appears to be herself, dead inside one of the crashed car. He then looks to the left, and sees an old man observing himself, dead on the ground. As Wade looks into the other car, he sees himself, also seemingly dead.

Upon this, he frantically runs back into the tunnel towards his car. He sees himself in the car with the band members, however everyone seems to be frozen as he bangs on the windows. Suddenly he's inside the car again, and a police officer comes to the window to motion him to continue driving, since he is stopped in the middle of the tunnel for no apparent reason. The video then ends, giving the impression that Wade was having a premonition the whole time about a car crash he might cause.

Jason Wade also has a reason as to why he wrote this song. His friend who lived in Nashville needed a kidney transplant so Wade flew out to see his friend. When he got there he went to talk to him and the chorus of the song is actually what his friend told him.

The video also uses a slightly extended version of the song, which has not been officially released.

A second version of the music video was made for the promotion of the 2009 motion picture soundtrack The Time Traveler's Wife. ^[3]

Chart performance

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On January 24, 2008, it reached #2 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart (The equivalent of #102 on the Hot 100), and #74 on the Pop 100. This was due to high digital downloads on iTunes, as well as some unsolicited airplay. On October 30, 2008, the song made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #95. This makes Who We Are the band's first album to have all three singles chart on the Billboard Hot 100. "Broken" has so far reached the top ten on the Adult Top 40, making it the band's third consecutive top ten hit there. On March 5, 2009, the song debuted on the Hot Adult Top 40 Recurrents chart at #1. The song has experienced some international success so far as well, reaching #21 on the New Zealand RIANZ chart, and #84 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Charts

Usage in the media

The song appeared on the episode "Lay Your Hands on Me" of Grey's Anatomy, "In Birth and Death" of Criminal Minds and in "For Tonight You're Only Here to Know" of One Tree Hill.

"Broken" also appeared on the Thanksgiving episode of General Hospital, during a montage of Thanksgiving celebrations in Port Charles and during the final goodbye of lovers Nikolas Cassadine and Emily Quartermaine.

The band performed the song at the Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash on January 29, 2009. The event aired on VH1.

The song was used in the trailer for The Time Traveler's Wife and its soundtrack . Part of the song was edited to create the lyric 'I may have lost my way home'.

References