Because of You (Kelly Clarkson song)

Infobox Single
Name = Because of You


Artist = Kelly Clarkson
from Album = Breakaway
Released = start date|2005|8|28
Format = Digital download, CD single, 7" vinyl single
Genre = Pop rock, piano rock
Length = 3:39
Label = RCA
Writer = Kelly Clarkson, David Hodges, Ben Moody
Producer = David Hodges, Ben Moody
Certification = Platinum (RIAA digital downloads)
Gold (RIAA CD singles)
Gold (ARIA)
Last single = "Behind These Hazel Eyes"
(2005)
This single = "Because of You"
(2005)
Next single = "Walk Away"
(2006)
Misc =Audiosample
Upper caption = Audio sample
Audio file = Kelly Clarkson - Because Of You.ogg"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). As of June 2008, Because of You has scored over 6,180,000 on MediaTraffic and hit #37 on the Top Achievements chart on MediaTraffic.

In 2007, Clarkson re-recorded the song as a duet with country music artist Reba McEntire for Reba's album "" (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.

In the UK, "Because Of You" was the second most played song in the five years to 2008, counting television, radio, website & live venue plays. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7508196.stm |title=Powter song is 'UK's most played' |accessdate=2008-10-11 |work=BBC News - Entertainment |publisher=news.bbc.co.uk |date=2008-07-16 ]

Content

Writing inspiration

Clarkson originally wrote the lyrics and melody for "Because of You" when she was sixteen years old to cope with the emotional distress she was experiencing as a result of her parents' divorce. Clarkson has stated that although she has grown to overcome her pain, she can still relate to the pain of "Because of You".Fact|date=May 2007

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.

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. [ [http://kckellyville.com/boards/index.php?topic=7228.0 LIVECHAT with Jason, Aben, and Cory July 17 2007 ] ] 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

Other covers

American Idol season 5 finalist Lisa Tucker performed this song during "Y2K" week, and was eliminated.

References