Songfacts®:

• Mariah Carey teamed up with the rapid-fire rappers Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony on "Breakdown," a song about being heartbroken over a breakup. She had recently separated from her husband (and label boss) Tommy Mottola, so many fans thought it was about their split, but Mariah said it wasn't.
  
  "People are looking at that song as the most overtly personal song and applying it to my situation, but really, that song was all about the rhythmic and melodic flow that I was inspired by," she told the Boston Globe. "That's really Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - the way they rhyme and sing. I way wanted to do a song in their style, so that when they came into the studio to hear it, they would know immediately that I had been totally influenced by them. No, it's not my theme song."
• The song is part of Carey's 1997 album Butterfly. Some of the songs on the album, particularly the title track, are very personal and deal with her breakup with Mottola, so it's understandable that fans thought "Breakdown" was as well.
• Mariah Carey had her lyrics written, and producers Puff Daddy and Stevie J had the track put together when Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone came in to do their parts. When they arrived in the studio, they were surprised to find that Carey and her team had some "goodies" for them.
  
  "To our surprise, Mariah had it all set out," Krayzie Bone told Billboard. "She had all the medicine that we needed to get our minds right when we went up in there. She had the Hennessy for us."
  
  "We overdosed a little bit, and passed out in the studio," he added. "She was in there looking at us like we were crazy. After we woke up, Stevie J was there. He played the track for us, we heard what she was doing. We just instantly started rapping, went in there and laid it out, and it just came out amazing."
  
  Wish Bone added: "She had a blueprint laid out for us, and then me and Krayzie started coming up with little things to add to the hook. It really wasn't nothing for us to do our verses because that's what we do."
• Bone Thugs-n-Harmony had a big hit a year earlier with "Tha Crossroads," which is how they got Mariah's attention. They had a good year in 1997, with "Breakdown" and also "Look into My Eyes" for the Batman & Robin soundtrack, but their hits dried up after that as their rap style fell out of favor.
• Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone also appear in the video, as does their bandmate Flesh-n-Bone. Redman also shows up, playing a magician. Mariah Carey directed it with Diane Martel.
• The first rapper Mariah Carey teamed up with was Ol' Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan on her 1995 hit "Fantasy." Some of her other famous collaborations with rappers include "Heartbreaker" with Jay-Z and "Crybaby" with Snoop Dogg.