You Broke Me First

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"**You Broke Me First**" (often stylized in all lowercase) is a song by Canadian singer Tate McRae. It was released on April 17, 2020, through RCA Records as the lead single from her forthcoming second extended play. The song gained popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok, where it has featured in over a million videos. Propelled by its TikTok popularity, the song has been successful on streaming platforms. It currently has over 525 million combined streams on *Pandora* and over 400 million streams on Spotify, as of January, 2021. The song impacted mainstream US radio on August 4, 2020.

"You Broke Me First" peaked at number eight on the Canadian Hot 100. Outside Canada, the song peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Finland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

## Composition and lyrics

McRae recalls her lyric "But I don't really care how bad it hurts, cause you broke me first" being praised by songwriter Victoria Zaro and producer Blake Harnage while in the studio. She says that writing and recording the song was a "super quick process". Through the song, McRae expresses that she refuses to feel sympathetic for an ex-partner. She told Anna Rose of *NME*,

> "This song is about someone in a relationship who couldn't care less for the other person and then 6 months later decides to crawl back. It's the feeling of knowing how much they meant to you, but this time not letting them back in."
>
>

McRae also revealed to Hollywood Life that the song is lyrically connected to its single successor, "Vicious".

## Reception

Multiple critics wrote that the song was McRae's most personal to date, with some describing it as a "hard-hitting ballad".

## Commercial performance

In the United Kingdom, "You Broke Me First" debuted at number 66 on the UK Singles Chart and later climbed to number five on the chart, becoming McRae's first top ten entry in Britain. The song later peaked at number three on the chart. In the Republic of Ireland, the song entered the Irish Singles Chart three weeks before and eventually rose to number nine, becoming the first top ten peak in her career. The song later peaked at number three on the chart. In New Zealand, the song entered at number 18 on the Hot Singles Chart upon its initial release, before debuting at number 34 on the New Zealand Singles Chart several weeks later amid its popularization. It has since peaked at number 12 on the chart. In the United States, the song would also become her first chart entry on the *Billboard* Hot 100, so far peaking at number 33.

## Live performances

McRae performed the song at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards. In October, she performed the song on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*. In November, McRae performed the song at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards and was praised by *NME* and *Billboard* for being one of the stand out performers.

## Remixes and cover versions

A remix by German DJ Luca Schreiner was released on June 1, 2020,Template:Cn while a remix featuring Gryffin was released on October 9, 2020.Template:Cn British singer Conor Maynard released a cover of the song on October 16, 2020.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal:

* Blake Harnage – producer, composer, lyricist, recording engineer
* Tate McRae – composer, lyricist
* Victoria Zaro – composer, lyricist
* Dave Kutch – mastering engineer
* Jeff Juliano – mixing engineer

## Charts

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### Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for "You Broke Me First"
 US *Rolling Stone* Top 100 | 25

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### Year-end charts

2020 year-end chart performance for "You Broke Me First"
 UK Singles (OCC) | 56

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## Certifications

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## References

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `:2`
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rose, Anna (April 21, 2020). Tate McRae releases new single 'You Broke Me First'. “The song is taken from McRae's as-yet-unnamed new EP, due out later this year.”
3. ↑ Cantor, Brian (July 23, 2020). Tate McRae's "You Broke Me First" Headed To Pop Radio Amid TikTok, Spotify Buzz. *Headline Planet*.
4. ↑ White, Jack (July 31, 2020). Taylor Swift becomes the female artist with the most Irish Number 1 albums this millennium. Official Charts Company.
5. ↑ you broke me first by Tate McRae on TikTok. TikTok.
6. ↑ you broke me first by Tate McRae on TikTok. TikTok.
7. ↑ Pandora Predicts the Artists to Watch in 2021 (2020-12-09).
8. ↑ Top 40/M Future Releases (en).
9. ↑ Cantor, Brian (July 23, 2020). Tate McRae's 'You Broke Me First' Headed To Pop Radio Amid TikTok, Spotify Buzz.
10. ↑ Gryffin offers faultless house rendering of Tate McRae's 'you broke me first' (2020-10-09).
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Tate McRae's Friends Love "You Broke Me First" - MTV PUSH (July 6, 2020).
12. ↑ Tate McRae performs "you broke me first" for MTV PUSH (July 6, 2020).
13. ↑ Gebreyes, Rahel (August 20, 2020). Tate McRae Breaks Down The Meaning Of "You Broke Me First".
14. ↑ Brow, Jason (August 14, 2020). VMA Push Nominee Tate McRae Reveals How Songs 'Vicious' & 'You Broke Me First' Are Connected (en).
15. ↑ Tobias, Tasha (April 23, 2020). Tate McRae Releases New Track "You Broke Me First" (en-US).
16. ↑ Rising star Tate McRae releases her new single "you broke me first" (en-US) (July 11, 2020).
17. ↑ Tate McRae Cracks Billboard Hot 100 With "you broke me first" (2020-09-02).
18. ↑ Tube, Stage. VIDEO: Tate McRae Performs 'You Broke Me First' on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! (en).
19. ↑ Lipshutz, Jason (November 8, 2020). Watch Tate McRae Splash In With Searing 'You Broke Me First' at 2020 MTV EMAs.
20. ↑ Moore, Sam (November 9, 2020). Watch Tate McRae's striking and stylish performance of 'You Broke Me First' at the MTV EMAs 2020.
21. ↑ You Broke Me First - Single by Conor Maynard on Apple Music.
22. ↑ Tate McRae / Credits / you broke me first (en).
23. ↑ Track Top-40 Uge 42, 2020. Hitlisten.
24. ↑ Euro Digital Song Sales – October 31, 2020. *Billboard*.
25. ↑ Top Singles (Week 41, 2020) (fr). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
26. ↑ Billboard Global 200 Chart.
27. ↑ Latvijas TOP 40 (lv). LAIPA.
28. ↑ Savaitės klausomiausi (TOP 100) (lt). AGATA (September 18, 2020).
29. ↑ Top 20 Most Streamed International & Domestic Singles In Malaysia. *Recording Industry Association of Malaysia*. Recording Industry Association of Malaysia.
30. ↑ NZ Singles Chart. Recorded Music NZ (October 26, 2020).
31. ↑ VG-lista – Topp 20 Single uke 43, 2020. VG-lista.
32. ↑ Template:Cite news
33. ↑ RIAS International Top Charts Week 38. Recording Industry Association (Singapore).
34. ↑ SloTop50 – Slovenian official singles chart. slotop50.si.
35. ↑ Veckolista Singlar, vecka 43. Sverigetopplistan.
36. ↑ Top 100 Songs, September 18, 2020 - September 24, 2020. *Rolling Stone*.
37. ↑ ARIA Top 100 Singles for 2020. Australian Recording Industry Association.
38. ↑ Ö3 Austria Top40 Jahrescharts 2020. Ö3 Austria Top 40.
39. ↑ Jaaroverzichten 2020. Ultratop.
40. ↑ Track Top-100 2020. Hitlisten.
41. ↑ White, Jack (January 10, 2021). Ireland's Official Top 50 biggest songs of 2020. Official Charts Company.
42. ↑ Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 2020 (nl). Dutch Top 40.
43. ↑ Jaaroverzichten – Single 2020 (nl). MegaCharts.
44. ↑ Årslista Singlar, 2020. Sverigetopplistan.
45. ↑ Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2020.
46. ↑ End of Year Singles Chart Top 100 – 2020. Official Charts Company.