In "breaks open," Dove Cameron moves through exhaustion and accumulated loss, having lived through countless wrong turns and given everything to unsteady hands. The repeated image of a heart breaking until it breaks open suggests that repeated damage finally creates space rather than only pain. Pursued by forces trying to take pieces of her, she stays out of reach, high up like a breeze that cannot be leashed. The song lands in defiant freedom, accepting there is no going back and no version of herself left to reclaim.
breaks open Lyrics by Dove Cameron
It’s all so heavy now
It’s been so long
I’ve live a thousand lives
They all went wrong
I’ve been so many shapes
I’ve seen it all
After the highest heights
An eternal fall
And in another world
I might have been the
The kind of woman who
I had envisioned
But I’m a rolling stone
From shore to shore
I lost it all
Then lost some more
I’m not the one
That I was before
A heart can only break
So many times
Til it breaks open
And my feet
Can only run
So many miles
Til they catch on fire
They’re tryna take a piece out of me
They’re coming from the trees after me
I’m high up, high up in the clouds
Like tryna put a breeze on a leash
They’re tryna take a piece out of me
They’re coming from the trees after me
But they can’t, they can’t catch me now
And I tried so hard to find
Some solid ground
Somewhere to hide away
Some solace found
I gave it all away
To unsteady hands
I tried to stand in place
On shifting sands
And in another world
I might have been the
The kind of woman who
I had envisioned
But that was not the plan
I see it now
I understand
Can’t turn around
No going back
Where I was before
A heart can only break
So many times
Til it breaks open
And my feet
Can only run
So many miles
Til they catch on fire
They’re tryna take a piece out of me
They’re coming from the trees after me
I’m high up, high up in the clouds
Like tryna put a breeze on a leash
They’re tryna take a piece out of me
They’re coming from the trees after me
But they can’t, they can’t catch me now
Ooo…
A heart can only break
So many times
Til it breaks open
And my feet
Can only run
So many miles
Til they catch on fire
A heart can only break
So many times
Til it breaks open
And my feet
Can only run
So many miles
Til they catch on fire
They’re tryna take a piece out of me
They’re coming from the trees after me
I’m high up, high up in the clouds
Like tryna put a breeze on a leash
They’re tryna take a piece out of me
They’re coming from the trees after me
But they can’t, they can’t catch me now
No they won’t ever catch me now
