Broken Strings

For strings used in musical instruments, see Strings (music). For the 1940 film, see Broken Strings (film).

"Broken Strings"
Single by James Morrison featuring Nelly Furtado
from the album Songs for You, Truths for Me
B-side	"Say It All Over Again"
Released	November 2008
Format	CD single, digital download
Genre	Pop rock
Length	4:14
Label	Polydor
Writer(s)	James Morrison, Fraser T. Smith, Nina Woodford
Producer	Mark Taylor
Certification	Gold (RIANZ)
James Morrison singles chronology "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You" (2008) "Broken Strings" (2008) "Please Don't Stop The Rain" (2009) Nelly Furtado singles chronology "Win or Lose" (2008) "Broken Strings" (2008) "Manos al Aire" (2009) Music video "Broken Strings" on YouTube

"Broken Strings" is the third single by James Morrison from his second studio album Songs for You, Truths for Me. It was released in November 2008. The song is a duet with Canadian pop/R&B singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. The single became Morrison's most successful single to date, peaking in the top ten on many European charts, in the top three in the UK and Ireland and topped the charts in Germany and Switzerland.

Reception

The song received positive reviews from the critics. According to Michael Menachem from Billboard,

Broken Strings offers two of the most vulnerable performances yet from each artist, venting an obvious metaphor for the struggles at the close of a relationship beyond repair. Their voices are richly expressive, harmonizing in an aural marriage as the midtempo ballad quietly builds to an intense climax as they belt: "Oh the truth hurts and lies worse/How can I give anymore when I love you a little less than before?" Producer extraordinaire Mark Taylor energizes "Broken Strings" with just enough accompaniment to showcase the paralyzing performances. Morrison is a staple hitmaker overseas, but in the States, phenomenal singles like "You Give Me Something" and "Wonderful World" were snubbed. Furtado's visibility has already vaulted the song to most-added status at adult top 40. At last, Morrison gets his due.

Girls Aloud performed a cover of the song at their Out of Control Tour in 2009, and JLS performed a cover of the song in their ITV1 Christmas special in 2010, later appearing as the B-Side to their single Eyes Wide Shut.

Chart performance

"Broken Strings" was released as the second single from Songs for You, Truths for Me. The track was released in November 2008. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number seventy-three and slowly rose for four weeks before, following a performance of the song with Girls Aloud on The Girls Aloud Party, broke into the top ten at number six, giving Morrison his fourth top ten hit. The following week the song rose to a new high, rising to number four on the 2008 Christmas chart. This makes Broken Strings Morrison's most successful single by peak position to date in the UK as, on January 11, 2009 it climbed to number two. In the week ending January 30, it reached #1 in Germany marking his first #1 in the country and Nelly Furtado's second. On the issue date 21 February 2009 the song reached at number 1 on the European Hot 100 becoming his first number one single on that chart and Furtado's third. In Canada it debuted at #95 on the Canadian Hot 100 and rose to number #41.

It ended up selling 850,000 copies in the UK.

Music video

A music video in support of James Morrison's "Broken Strings" has made its world premiere on 17 November. The video features the English musician performing the new track with Nelly Furtado also appearing in the video. Micah Meisner directed the video. Parts of the video are inspired by the film Paris, Texas, while the reversed explosion is inspired by the film Insignificance. Nelly and James filmed their parts on different days. On the video, James is in a hotel room and Nelly is behind the glass of the room, James starts to sing the song and when Nelly starts to sing her part, behind the glass, things begin to break, such as the guitar, the television and more. When the video is ending, everything that is broken goes back to normal and Nelly disappears.

Formats and track listings

CD single

1. "Broken Strings" (featuring Nelly Furtado)
2. "Say It All Over Again"

Maxi-CD single^{[citation needed]}

1. "Broken Strings" (featuring Nelly Furtado)
2. "Say It All Over Again"
3. "Broken Strings" (Live At Air Studios)
4. "You Make It Real" (Live At Air Studios)
5. "Broken Strings" (Video)

Promo CD single

1. "Broken Strings" (Remix) (featuring Nelly Furtado)
2. "Broken Strings" (featuring Nelly Furtado)

Charts

Charts

Chart (2008/2009)	Peak position
Austrian Singles Chart	2
Belgium Singles Chart (Flanders)	12
Belgium Singles Chart (Wallonia)	1
Canadian Hot 100	41
Danish Singles Chart	4
Dutch Singles Chart	7
European Hot 100	1
French Singles Chart	6
German Airplay Chart	1
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	2
Italian Singles Chart	4
Japanese Singles Chart	19
New Zealand Singles Chart	10
Norwegian Singles Chart	14
Spanish Singles Chart	11
Swedish Singles Chart	5
Swiss Airplay Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	2

Year-end charts

Chart (2009)	Year-end position
Austrian Singles Chart	34
European Hot 100	9
German Singles Chart	12
Italian Singles Chart	11
Swiss Singles Chart	5
UK Singles Chart	19

Decade-end charts

Chart (2000–2009)	Peak position
UK Top 100 Songs of the Decade	63

Certifications

Country	Certifications (sales thresholds)
Germany	Gold
Switzerland	Gold

Preceded by "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry	German Singles Chart number-one-single January 30, 2009 – March 5, 2009	Succeeded by "Irgendwas bleibt" by Silbermond
	Swiss Singles Chart number-one-single February 15, 2009 – March 7, 2009
	European Hot 100 number-one-single February 21, 2009 – March 6, 2009	Succeeded by "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
Preceded by "Right Round" by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha	Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart number-one-single May 2, 2009 – May 8, 2009	Succeeded by "C'est dit" by Calogero