“When a heart breaks it doesn’t break even.” Often, when a relationship ends, one of the two people is more disturbed by the falling out of the relationship than the other person. In my opinion, the speaker is the person who is more disturbed. Hence the name of the song “Breakeven”. “Breakeven” by The Script includes this theme of uneven love, rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, throughout the entire song.

“I’m still alive but I’m barely breathing. Just prayin’ to a God that I don’t believe in. Cause’ I got time while she got freedom. Cause’ when a heart breaks, no, it don’t break even.” This is the first line in the song, and is also the repeated chorus. This is where we see some of the repetition. The speaker is saying that he is living but he does not like his life. Right off the bat we see the word “breakeven”. We instantaneously know that this will be the theme of the rest of the song.

“Her best days were some of my worst. She finally met a man that’s gonna put her first. While I’m wide awake she’s no trouble sleeping. ‘Cause when a heart breaks, no it don’t break even, even, no.” The words “worst” and “first” are an example of the song’s rhyme scheme. We see a rhyme scheme often throughout the song. In the second stanza, the speaker had more trouble in the relationship than she did. She moved on while he still hasn’t let go. The chorus, “Breakeven”, is saying once again that in general relationships someone has to pay the price more than the other, mirroring the theme of the song.

“What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you. What am I supposed to say when I’m all chocked up, and you’re okay”. This is the third line of the song. What the speaker is saying, once again, is that he is still in love with whoever he is talking about, but the woman has maybe been bored for a while, and has moved on quite quickly. Also, I think he is somewhat saying that he doesn’t know what to do know that she is gone. Once again we see the rhyme scheme in the song, with the last lines of the stanza. We also start to see the rhythm of the song, and how it flows nicely, complementing the rhyme.

I did enjoy the song, As it had many literary elements, and a theme of uneven love. I rely liked the theme because the singer never got sidetracked, he always sticked to the purpose of the song. The emotional complex is what I think I liked most about it. The song has the right amount of personal, factual, and emotional reasoning to make the song relatable and somewhat encouraging. It is definitely one of my favorite songs. I think I am going to re-use this theme in one of my own writings.