Because of you

Because of you is a song by Kelly Clarkson from the album Breakaway , which was released in Germany in August 2005. At first the album did not have the success we had hoped for and was almost forgotten again. It was not until the third song, Because of you , released on February 24, 2006, that it rose in the charts and gained fame.

Kelly Clarkson wrote the song at the age of 16 and wanted to put it on her first album, Thankful . However, she received harsh criticism for the song and was told that she had no talent for writing. Therefore, Clarkson revised the song again with the producers of their second album. The song became a hit all over the world.

meaning

The song is about her parents' divorce, which Kelly Clarkson witnessed when she was six years old. Some think it could be addressed to her mother, who was very busy after the divorce from Kelly Clarkson's father and had no time for her daughter.

The lyrics of the song suggest that Clarkson has lost her faith in love. Despite all of this, she has been married since 2013 and has two children.

Writing the song helped her come to terms with her parents' separation. She didn't intend this to be one of the saddest songs she'd ever written. With the song she wanted to make parents realize the impact a divorce could have on their children.

Music video

The video starts at her home. There she and her husband can be seen having a violent argument and he threatens to smash a picture of the family. Time freezes and so does her husband; Clarkson, however, is immune to it. She looks around her house and sees her younger self. Hand in hand, the younger and older versions of Clarkson relive their troubled childhoods when various painful memories are seen. These events drive her mother to take pills before she slams the door on Clarkson's nose so that Clarkson cannot see her mother cry. The breaking point comes when Clarkson's parents engage in a physical fight, throwing objects at each other. Soon after, Clarkson's father packs his bags and leaves the house, despite his daughter's requests to stay. The elder Clarkson runs back to the present and instead of fighting with her husband, they make up again. They then see that their daughter saw them fight and all three embrace.

The accompanying music video for Because of You was directed by Vadim Perelman and produced by Rhonda Vernet. Clarkson wrote the plot of the video herself to reflect the pain she felt as a result of her parents' divorce. Nonetheless, Clarkson allowed Perelman to take control of the production of the video as well. According to Perelman, he wanted to create a separation to show that "this type of dysfunctional family can exist anywhere". In an interview with MTV News, Clarkson admitted that the video was sad and rationalizing: “It's a sad song, so of course the video has to follow that. But it ends really happily and the family, my family, ends up breaking my parents' cycle. "

Awards

MTV Video Music Award "Best Female Video" 2006
BMI Pop Award "Song of the Year" 2007

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	gold	35,000
Brazil (PMB)	platinum	60,000
Denmark (IFPI)	gold	7,500
Germany (BVMI)	gold	150,000
Canada (MC)	gold	50,000
Norway (IFPI)	2 × platinum	20,000
United States (RIAA)	Platinum (Single) + Gold (Ringtone)	1,500,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	platinum	600,000
All in all	5 × gold 5 × platinum	2,422,500