Break The Man

Album: The Tipping Point (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Break The Man" is about a strong woman shattering the toxic masculinity that has spurred hatred and wars. Tears For Fears' Curt Smith wrote the patriarchy-bashing song, sparked by Donald Trump's four-year term as US president and the #MeToo movement.

    She's the fire and the fallout
    She reminds you of the things we never talk about
    She's the lover with the best-laid plan
    To break the man


    "It's a song about a woman who is strong enough to break the man," said Smith. "For me, that would be an answer to a lot of the problems in the world – a better male-female balance."
  • Smith wishes for a female leader who will be more emphatic than the alpha males that rule the roost. "I'm lucky to be in a family surrounded by strong women: my wife and daughters," he told NME. "Women have this calm wiseness about them that men don't, because we're too busy showing how big our dicks are most of the time. We saw so much of that with Trump in America: the idea of 'we are real men', and the trouble it caused."
  • Smith co-wrote the song with writer and producer Charlton Pettus (Rebecca Black's "My Moment," Hilary Duff's "Now You Know").
  • Smith and his Tears For Fears bandmate Roland Orzabal recorded the song for The Tipping Point, their first album in nearly 18 years. The record is a song cycle reflecting many of the personal and professional tipping points the pair and the world have faced throughout the previous 17 years.

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