Shatter Me (song)

"**Shatter Me**" is the fourth track and second single from Lindsey Stirling's second studio album, *Shatter Me*, featuring vocals from Lzzy Hale. The song was written and composed by Stirling, Dia Frampton, and the song's producer, Mark Maxwell, under his production moniker SILAS. The themes explored in "Shatter Me" were based in part on Stirling's experiences with an eating disorder.

It became Stirling's first charting airplay single in November 2014 when it entered the Billboard Adult Pop Songs at number 39. Prior to that, it had peaked at number 1 on the Classical Digital Songs and number 10 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs charts, as well as charting in Germany at number 59.

The acoustic version of Shatter Me is a bonus track only available on *Shatter Me: The Complete Experience*.

## Composition

The second single of the album was co-written by Stirling and her friend Dia Frampton, the song was originally written and produced by SILAS. It was not only Stirling's first lyrics composed by her but "Shatter Me" was also Stirling's first collaboration to be included on one of her own studio albums. On an interview with blabbermouth.net Lindsey told the media: "This song is very, very — obviously — different for a Lindsey Stirling track, because I've never written lyrics before, I've never gotten to blatantly say what I feel."

Lzzy Hale, member of the band Halestorm, sang the lyrics of the song. According to Stirling, she had never heard of Lzzy Hale or Halestorm before but she needed a rock-star female vocalist. Stirling stated "It was so important for me to find the right singer for it, because I had in my mind the idea of who I wanted. I love vocalists like Hayley Williams from Paramore and Amy Lee from Evanescence, so I really wanted a powerhouse, rock-star female vocalist."

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On an interview with azcentral.com Stirling described Lzzy Hale as an "energetic performer". About the writing of the lyrics, Stirling wrote that "for some reason, I had this little burst of inspiration. I just saw the image that is on my album cover. I saw a ballerina on a music box. It was a snow-globe music box. And she has a very stark expression but she's perfect and flawless and poised. And basically, that ballerina, I related so strongly to her because there was a time in my life when I was surrounded by this shell that I had basically built around myself, this image of perfection because I was so obsessed with being what I thought everyone else wanted me to be and I realized one day that I was so unhappy because I was a slave to my own control." On another interview with newmediarockstars.com Stirling explained the theme of the song according to her own experience:

> *The whole theme of the overall album is about breaking free and learning(...) It all started kind of with the theme of “Shatter Me” – I had to break free from the shell that I put over myself, and so that’s why it’s "Shatter Me."*
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According to Stirling, "Shatter Me" epitomizes the restrictions that world puts on us and shows how difficult it is to break out of old habits and have the courage to step out of our comfort zones into the light.

## Lyrics

I pirouette in the dark

I see the stars through me

Tired mechanical heart

Beats til the song disappears

Somebody shine a light

I'm frozen by the fear in me

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me

So cut me from the line

Dizzy, spinning endlessly

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me!

Shatter me!

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me!

If only the clockworks could speak

I wouldn't be so alone

We burn every magnet and spring

And spiral into the unknown

Somebody shine a light

I'm frozen by the fear in me

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me

So cut me from the line

Dizzy, spinning endlessly

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me!

Shatter me!

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me!

If I break the glass, then I'll have to fly

There's no one to catch me if I take a dive

I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same

The world is spinning but only in gray

If I break the glass, then I'll have to fly

There's no one to catch me if I take a dive

I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same

The world is spinning but only in gray

(Only)

Somebody shine a light

I'm frozen by the fear in me

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me

So cut me from the line

Dizzy, spinning endlessly

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me!

Shatter me!

Somebody make me feel alive

And shatter me!

## Live performances

Stirling performed Shatter Me for the first time on April 29, 2014, at Barnes & Noble. The song was also performed on the *Shatter Me Tour* as the last song of the set list, and at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on May 15th, Stirling performed the final song with Lzzy Hale live. On the same month Stirling performed the single live at The Kennedy Center on Washington, D.C.

On June 17th, Stirling performed live at the CBS Radio Boston lounge. Two days later, she performed live at the Mix 107.9 studio. Both of these performances were presented with the support of Drew Steen and Jason Gaviati. On July 15th Stirling performed with Hale at Good Morning America and on August 7th both performed live again at America's got Talent, being the first time for Lindsey to go back since she was disqualified in the fifth season of 2010.

Shatter Me continued to be part of the setlist of *The Music Box Tour* and the *Brave Enough Tour* from 2015 to 2017.

## Music video

The music video was filmed at YouTube Space L.A in only one week, according to Stirling. The video was released without any prior advertisement. Still, the video was a success as it accumulated more than 1.3 million views in less than 24 hours, becoming one of Lindsey's more successful YouTube music videos.

The video showed two different situations, in first place Lindsey appeared as a ballerina inside a glass globe of a music box. On the other side Lzzy Hale was presented as a clock-girl who's always fixing things. The theme of the story is centered on the ballerina who hopes that someone will shatter the glass and free her, but she finds out that she is the only one who can break the glass.

 **YouTube views** | 78+ Million views

### Behind the scenes

A seven-minute behind-the scenes music video was released on May 20th, 2014, of Stirling explaining the producing and directing of the music video.

## Orchestral version

On May 9, an orchestral version of "Shatter Me," called "Child of Light," was released. The song was part of the soundtrack of the Ubisoft fantasy game Child of Light. The video showed Stirling dressed as the protagonist of the game: Aurora, a small princess with powers against the dark, running through the forest. At the end of the video a small propaganda of the video was shown and the voice of Stirling at the back informed the viewers about the game.

"Mirror Haus"
"V-Pop"
"**Shatter Me**"
"Heist"
"Roundtable Rival"

"Take Flight"
"Ascendance"
"We Are Giants"
"Swag"
"Master of Tides"

"Eclipse"
"Sun Skip"
"Senbonzakura"
**Exclusive track via Pledge Music pre-order**:
"Yeah!"