Because of You (Kelly Clarkson song)

"Because of You"
Song

"Because of You" is a song written by pop rock singer Kelly Clarkson, David Hodges and Ben Moody, both formerly of Evanescence, and produced by Hodges and Moody. It is the fourth single (third in Europe) from Clarkson's second album, Breakaway (2004).

In 2007, Clarkson re-recorded the song as a duet with country music artist Reba McEntire for Reba's album Reba: Duets (2007). The duet version was released in Summer of 2007, reaching a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, becoming Clarkson's first official entry on that chart.

Content

The song features a girl talking to an unidentified person, most likely her father, telling him that she "will not make the same mistakes that you did". He apparently has been experiencing extreme emotional pain, but has been oblivious to the fact that everyone, including his daughter, has been, too. He has leaned on other hurting people for support and forbidden anyone around him to show signs of weakness, insisting that they mask their pain with happiness, as a way to try to ignore the hurt. The girl tells him that "my heart can't possibly break when it wasn't even whole to start with". The refrain blames, "Because of you I never stray too far from the sidewalk / Because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt / Because of you I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me / Because of you I am afraid."

Writing inspiration

"Because of You" is one of Clarkson's most personal because she originally wrote the lyrics when she was sixteen years old to deal with her emotional pain at the time. Clarkson has stated that although she has grown to overcome her pain through God, she can still relate to the pain of "Because of You".

Years later, when she met Moody and Hodges, Clarkson asked if they could write songs with her. She asked them to help her polish "Because of You" for the album Breakaway, but said that she would understand if they disliked the song and wanted to write a new song with her. Instead, both Moody and Hodges were impressed with the song, and along with Clarkson, they polished it into its final form. In this emotional autobiographical anthem, Clarkson laments her troubled family life.

Clarkson said that she had offered "Because of You" for her first album, Thankful, and that the label didn't like it. She said when she requested that it appear on her second album, her label still did not want to release the song.(Source: Reader's Digest July 2007 Issue)"Because of You" won Clarkson an ASCAP songwriters award for "Song of the Year".

Music video

As she had with "Behind These Hazel Eyes", Clarkson wrote the treatment for the video herself; it was directed by Vadim Perelman. The video is based on a true story of Clarkson's troubled childhood (because of the nature of the video, she asked her parents for permission before it was filmed). The young girl in the video (playing the younger Clarkson) is Kennedy Noel, the daughter of Clarkson's musical director and keyboardist, Jason Halbert. Noel appeared at the 2006 Grammy Awards with Clarkson and accompanied Clarkson's performance of "Because of You" on the piano with no formal piano training, learning the song in under two weeks. Kennedy also appeared in a concert use video during Clarkson's Hazel Eyes Tour. She is an actress who has appeared in several television shows and print ads.

The video starts at the Clarkson household. There, she and her partner are engaged in a heated argument, and at one point he threatens to smash a picture of the family. Time freezes still and her husband becomes immobile; Clarkson, however, is immune to this. Looking around her house, she sees her younger self. Hand in hand, the younger and older versions of Clarkson relives her troubled childhood as various painful memories are seen, such as the younger Clarkson making a picture for her father, who tosses it into the sink, and Clarkson's mother making an unappreciated dinner for her father. These events drive her mother to the point of taking pills and crying in front of the younger Clarkson.

The breaking point is finally seen when Clarkson's parents have a physical fight and throw objects at each other. Soon after, Clarkson's father packs his bags and leaves; although the younger Clarkson tries to get him to stay, he pulls away. The older Clarkson runs back in time to the present. There, time unfreezes and instead of fighting with her husband, they make up. Clarkson's daughter in the video walks up to them, and they embrace her and each other.

The "Because of You" music video was officially released on Total Request Live on October 3, 2005. It debuted at the top of the countdown on October 4, eventually became Clarkson's third retired video, and spent twenty-seven out of fifty days at number one. After debuting on MuchMusic's Countdown at number twenty-nine, it ascended to the number one, On June 18, 2006 the video garnered Clarkson a MuchMusic Video Award for "People's Choice Favorite International Artist". The video also won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video", and was nominated for the "Viewer's Choice Award", which it lost to Fall Out Boy's "Dance, Dance". This marked the second time any female artist won two consecutive awards for "Best Female Video" (Beyoncé won in 2003 and 2004); it made Clarkson the fourth person to win two years in a row for a gender category (Beck was the first, Beyoncé was second, Alicia Keys was third).

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United States	August 28, 2005	RCA Records
United Kingdom	November 18, 2005
Australia	November 27, 2005

Charts

Like the three previous singles from Breakaway, "Because of You" became a top ten U.S. Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at number seven in November 2005. It was another number-one single for Clarkson on the Top 40 Mainstream chart, spending six weeks at the top. The song had longevity on the charts, and it helped Breakaway re-enter the top ten on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart during the Christmas/winter holiday season and into the new year.

"Because of You" reached number four in Australia, where it was number fifty-eight on the ARIA end of 2006 singles chart. The single reached number seven in the United Kingdom and number two on the Nielsen BDS Airplay Hits Chart in Canada. "Because of You" reached number twelve in Brazil on the Hot 100 Brazil end of 2006 singles chart. It hit the top five in Germany and received a gold certification, spending months on the German single charts.Also,Because of you turned out to be a huge hit in Greece,being televised by most music channels and played in each and every club.

Chart (2005)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	7
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	2
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	24
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	4
Austria Singles Chart	3
Belgium Ultratop 50	5
Brazilian Singles Chart	1
Canadian BDS Airplay Hits Chart	2
Czech IFPI Chart	13
Danish Airplay Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	1
European Singles Chart	1
French Singles Chart	13
German Singles Chart	4
Hit List Portugal	1
Irish Singles Chart	5
Israeli Singles Chart	1
Indonesian Airplay Chart	1
Mexican Top 100 Singles Chart	1
Mexican Digital Sales Chart	1
Poland: Hot List	1
South African Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	7
United World Chart	4

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single-releases of "Because of You".

U.S. digital maxi single

• Versions of "Because of You"
  1. Jason Nevins radio
  2. Jason Nevins club mix
  3. Jason Nevins club with intro breakdown
  4. Jason Nevins dub
  5. Jason Nevins club instrumental
  6. Jason Nevins radio instrumental
  7. Jason Nevins remix — acoustic version without strings
  8. Jason Nevins acoustic
  9. Jason Nevins a capella

Reba McEntire version

"Because of You"
Song

In early 2007, Clarkson re-recorded the song with Country legend Reba McEntire as the lead-off single to McEntire's album Duets, which was released in September 2007. Clarkson and McEntire performed the song at the 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards on May 15, 2007, the same day the song was to be released to U.S. radio. On the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart dated for the week of June 2, 2007, the duet version debuted at #42. Their duet snagged a nomination for Musical Event of The Year at the 2007 CMA Awards.This song has been nominated for Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th annual Grammy Awards.

Music video

The music video debuted on June 20, 2007, depicting McEntire and Clarkson as 1930s Hollywood lounge singers. McEntire's character encounters Clarkson's character attempting to conceal a bruise inflicted by her abusive partner. McEntire leaves the dressing room when Clarkson's boyfriend is fighting with her. When the two singers are singing, Clarkson's character witnesses her boyfriend flirting with another woman, which prompts her to smash a vase in the dressing room out of anger. In their dressing room after the performance, Clarkson's character's boyfriend enters to take her out for the rest of the evening. Though apprehensive, Clarkson's character leaves on his arm before looking back uncertainly at McEntire's character. McEntire's character idly fiddles with a hairbrush as she watches them leave.

Charts

Chart (2007)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	50
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	28
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs	2
Canadian Billboard Hot 100	36