Songfacts®:

• This ballad about a man who remains silent about whether he loves his girlfriend or wants to leave her was co-written and produced by Lady Gaga's collaborator RedOne.
• This is one of four ballads on Overcome, including the bonus track. Burke told Pop Justice that the ballads on the album reveal the open and demonstrative side of her personality. She explained: "When I'm emotional, I let people see that. That's what the ballads portray about me, when I'm having a down moment. When I was recording this album, I'd walk into the studio with my diary and we'd write from that. I'd read paragraphs from my diary to the producer and if there was something going on with my sister or my auntie, I'd write about that - I refuse to sing something that I don't relate to, I'm sorry. There was a song where the producer tried to make me sing a lyric and it was too American for me, and I was like, "no! My audience won't get it."
• Burke explained during a performance on The Paul O'Grady Show that the song was inspired by her auntie's relationship with her boyfriend. Said the singer: "My auntie was going through that situation and she came over to L.A. to spend some time with me and get away from her fella etc. And she was telling me about her situation and [...] why does he let the silence do the talking? Why doesn't he let you know how he feels? And then this song came about."
• This was released as the final single from Overcome. Burke told Digital Spy why it was chosen: "It was between 'Perfect' and 'The Silence' for the final single, but I went on Twitter and did an #AskAlex session and the fans wanted 'The Silence', so I had to give them what they wanted!"