Breaking Free

"Breaking Free"
Single by Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and Drew Seeley
from the album High School Musical
Released	June 8, 2006
Format	Digital Download, CD
Recorded	2005
Genre	Pop
Length	3:27
Label	Walt Disney
Writer(s)	Jamie Houston
Producer(s)	Jamie Houston
High School Musical singles chronology
"Breaking Free" (2006) "What Time Is It?" (2007) Vanessa Hudgens singles chronology "Breaking Free" (2006) "Come Back to Me" (2006)

"Breaking Free" is a song from the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical. It also appears on the soundtrack of the same name. It is sung by Drew Seeley,^[1] Zac Efron, and Vanessa Hudgens. It was also released as a single on June 8, 2006.^[2] On June 21, 2006 it was certified as a Gold single by the RIAA for sales of over 500,000.^[3]

The song is sung during the film's climax when the main characters Troy and Gabriella participate in the callbacks in front of the entire student body. In universe, the duet is written and composed by Kelsi Nielsen for the second act of the 'Twinkle Towne' school musical.

The song subsequently appeared on Vanessa Hudgens' compilation album, A Musical Tribute and appears on the Disney compilation album, "Disney Channel Playlist", which was released June 9, 2009.

It also appears on the NOW album: Now That's What I Call Music! 65.

Track listings

US/UK single

1. "Breaking Free"
2. "Start of Something New"
3. "Bop to the Top"

Italian single

1. "Breaking Free"
2. "Start of Something New"
3. "Se Provi a Volare" (Performed by Luca Dirisio)

Mexican single

1. "Eres Tú" (Performed by Belanova)

Portuguese single

1. "Breaking Free"
2. "O Que Eu Procurava" (Performed by Ludov)
3. "Só Tem Que Tentar"

French single

1. "Breaking Free"

German single

1. "Breaking Free"
2. "Breaking Free" (Instrumental)
3. "Breaking Free"

Asian single

1. "Breaking Free" (Performed by Vince Chong, Nikki Gil, and Alicia Pan)

Chinese single

1. "Breaking Free (Mandarin Version)"

Charts

Chart (2006)[4][5]	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart[6]	13
Dutch Single Top 100	36
German Singles Chart	46
Irish Singles Chart	17
New Zealand Singles Chart	4
Scottish Singles Chart[7]	6
UK Singles Chart[8]	9
US Billboard Hot 100[9]	4
US Billboard Pop 100	6

Music video

The music video for this song was a clip from the movie/musical High School Musical. It was not released to any video countdowns in the US, because it was the climax song of the movie and Disney did not want it to be released. Germany's music video channels took it into the normal music video rotation. However, the remix version's video will be released onto the High School Musical Remix Edition DVD.

Cover versions

British pop-duo Same Difference who came third on series 4 of The X Factor were due to release a cover version of "Breaking Free" on April 21, 2008. However, this was later cancelled as the pair started working with Stock Aitken Waterman and recorded a 21st-century version of the Kylie Minogue Japanese hit "Turn It Into Love". The duo did, however, include a studio version of the song on their debut album, Pop.

Kayla Oldenburg also has plans to do a cover version of the song. The song is purported to be recorded in a live outtake from her impending marriage and will be released on a "pay as you see fit" model online. A physical release of the track is planned on 8-Track as well.

American rock group The Faded covered a version of "Breaking Free" for the High School Musical Goes Punk compilation on Skunk-Ape Records. The video for the single is available on YouTube. "The original song is beautiful and sweet – there's absolutely nothing wrong with it," says vocalist, Gene Blalock, "but I think the message of the song – being yourself and breaking free from others' expectations and demands – gets lost on a wider audience who only hear this pretty duet. Reworking the song makes the message more accessible." The Faded's version replaces the duet, with Blalock doing the primary vocals, and members Micheal Diamond and Freddy Maciel offering backing harmony.

The rock band Porter Block also recorded a cover for the Ending Room Recordings cover compilation Guilt by Association Vol. 1.

It was also covered by English teenager Skyla in June 2009.

References

1. "Digital Spy Interview". To set the record straight, the majority of what is sung in the movie is definitely sung by someone else. His name is Drew Seeley
3. "RIAA Certifications".
4. "Breaking Free in charts". Ultratop.be. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
5. "Breaking Free on". Acharts.us. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
6. Hung, Steffen. "australian-charts.com - Australian charts portal". www.australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
7. "Top 40 Scottish Singles Archive". The Official Charts Company. 1 October 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
8. "Official Singles Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
9. "Music: Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-01-31.