Released: 8th October 2007
Writers: Aly Michalka / AJ Michalka / Antonina Armato / Tim James
Peak position: #22
Chart run: 33-22-32-52-73
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 77-48-23-17-36-36-46-50-41-53-60-67-76-82-88-97-X-98
Though Aly & AJ weren’t necessarily at the forefront of the dominance exerted by Disney Channel acts in the mid-’00s, they were instrumental in broadening the sort of music released by Hollywood Records, helping redefine how creative and successful it could be.
Sisters Alyson (Aly) and Amanda (AJ) Michalka signed to Disney’s Hollywood Records in 2004. Though the label was still riding high on Hilary Duff’s success, they hadn’t quite established the cohesive cross-promotion strategy that led to High School Musical and Hannah Montana simultaneously dominating the TV ratings and charts. Aly & AJ did establish a presence on the Disney Channel in the mid-’00s, with songs from their debut album, Into The Rush, often soundtracking movies and being played on Radio Disney. However, it was Aly who had a higher profile, appearing as Keely Teslow in Phil Of The Future, which ran for two seasons (she also turned down the titular role of Hannah Montana). The only joint acting venture Aly & AJ starred in for Disney was 2006’s Cow Belles. There’s no doubt the duo benefitted from the exposure that being signed to Hollywood Records granted. Ultimately, though, the sisters’ talent and ambition as musicians earned them their biggest hit at that point: Chemicals Reacts – a song added to the reissue of Into The Rush and which had no direct association with a Disney Channel program – reached #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. After that, the focus very much switched to pushing them together as a pop act.
Aly & AJ returned the following year with what was now their third studio album, having released the festive-themed Acoustic Hearts Of Winter as a stopgap in the meantime. Insomniatic (defined in the liner notes as ‘The state of mind where one becomes addicted to the deprivation of sleep caused by an epic revelation of joy’) extended their partnership with Tim James and Antonina Armato – better known as Rock Mafia) – who’d worked on Chemicals React. It lauded an evolution in sound, mixing Aly & AJ’s usual pop-rock with synth and electro elements. That, in itself, was pretty adventurous by Hollywood Records’ standards. Still, it’s the lead single, Potential Breakup Song, that really pushed the boundaries of the sort of material emerging from the Disney brand.
The song opens with a deceptively sweet: “La-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la-la…” refrain (it’s reprised for the outro) and there’s immediately a cacophony of influences woven into the production. Synths swirl excitedly around Tango-infused castanets(!) and a fuzzy electro bassline, creating a track that feels excitingly unpredictable as if it could go off in any direction. After a drum kick, Potential Breakup Song launches into the spiky first verse: “It took too long, it took too long, it took too long for you to call back, and normally, I would just forget that…” which includes probably the most quoted lyric: “…except for the fact it was my birthday, my stupid birthday”. Aly’s vocals are heavily autotuned but in an intentionally stylised way rather than out of necessity. She sings into the distortion, giving her voice a brittle, harsh edge filled with a biting attitude; however, the power and control that drives the delivery is very much there, regardless of how much it’s being distorted.
Hollywood Records had been typically unsubtle in how they marketed Aly & AJ’s identity as singer-songwriters (the video for Rush opens with lingering shots of their guitars and AJ scribbling in a journal). Yet, Potential Breakup Song demonstrates a confident, intuitive lyricism that stands apart from much of the material emerging through the Disney Channel. Though not directly recounting a personal experience, the duo’s simmering vitriol and forcefully blunt assertions: “Now all I want is just my stuff back, do you get that? Let me repeat that: I want my stuff back. You can send it in a box, I don’t care, just drop it off, I won’t be home” are authentically truthful in their simplicity. Meanwhile, the playful meta post-chorus is brilliantly composed: “This is the potential breakup song, our album needs just one…” to show Aly & AJ’s playful self-awareness of the conventions in which they exist.
Potential Breakup Song bounces relentlessly from hook to hook while flowing seamlessly. The heavy bassline and distorted vocals are fittingly intense, but the middle eight: “You can try, you can try, you know I know it’d be a lie, without me you’re gonna die, so you better think clearly, clearly, before you nearly, nearly bust up, a situation that you’re gonna miss dearly, dearly, c’mon” offers a well-timed reprieve. It’s accompanied by squealing, squelchy electric guitar riffs; the addition of more organic-sounding instrumentation gives Potential Breakup Song a euphoric kick before it careers back into the punchy chorus: “You’re not livin’ ’til you’re livin’, livin’ with me-e-e-e; you’re not winnin’ ’til you’re winnin’, winnin’ me; you’re not gettin’ ’til you’re gettin’, gettin’ me-e-e-e, you’re not livin’ ’til you’re livin’, livin’ for me”. From start to finish, the track sustains an exhilarating momentum that is such a rush it never feels anywhere near as long as it’s three minutes and forty seconds running time.
If it wasn’t already apparent from Potential Breakup Song that Aly & AJ didn’t quite fit the usual mould of Disney Channel alums turning their hand to music, then the duo later spoke about the level of censorship imposed on them by label executives. Hollywood Records were cautious about ensuring material intended for heavy rotation on Radio Disney was sanitised for an even younger audience than it might otherwise have been aimed at. Thus, despite nothing about Potential Breakup Song jumping out as obviously problematic, an alternative version was recorded, which changed the line: “…without me you’re gonna die” to: “…without me you’re gonna cry”. The chorus also had to be adapted so that: “You’re not gettin’ ’til you’re gettin’, gettin’ me” says: “…gettin’ to me” instead (which changes the meaning, but that evidently wasn’t a concern to the label). As songwriters who weren’t trying overtly to be rebellious or explicit, that degree of finicky interference from Hollywood Records must’ve been frustrating. However, now older and free of such overbearing control, Aly & AJ recorded an explicit version of Potential Breakup Song in 2020 (“Except for the fact it was my birthday, my f**kin’ birthday”) so that they and their fans could express themselves in an appropriately adult way.
The accompanying music video for Potential Breakup Song matches the energy of the track and also the willingness to use several different ideas that, for the most part, hang together well. Threaded throughout is a splashed paint effect that, at times, is splashed into the foreground of the shot and, at other points, moves independently, being followed by the camera. There’s no question whatsoever that a generous budget and effort have gone into the visuals, ensuring a slick, glossy presentation. It’s not style over substance, though; Aly & AJ have nothing but a mic stand and nondescript grey space in which to perform Potential Breakup Song, but their commanding screen presence and enthusiasm are infectious.
In between are rainbow-tinted sequences showing the duo mixing the track in a makeshift studio. It’s a terrific way of showing their involvement in the creation of the music and incorporating that into the aesthetic rather than simply cutting to stock footage of them pretending to record Potential Breakup Song. The only sections where the execution doesn’t quite land are shots of Aly & AJ rolling around in a white studio. In principle, they’re innocuous enough, but the direction feels weird. The interactions sometimes become so tactile that it’s as if the intention is to achieve a gratuitous, coquettish undertone that goes beyond sisterly affection. It’s odd, but fortunately, the video doesn’t linger on them long enough to become the defining impression of what is otherwise a slick and well-edited package.
Unsurprisingly, early airplay for Potential Breakup Song came predominantly through Radio Disney in America. However, the combination of a broader push to mainstream radio, music video rotation and the release of Insomniatic – which made the track available digitally – resulted in a peak of #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the time, that made it one of the biggest hits an act on Hollywood Records had achieved. The label had a growing roster of stars, with High School Musical and Hannah Montana both now well-established and selling albums in large quantities. However, there was still something of a stigma associated with Disney, which prevented singles from reaching the upper echelons of the chart. Aly & AJ were still affected by that – it’s entirely possible Potential Breakup Song would’ve garnered even more mainstream airplay on a different label – but they nonetheless started to challenge critical and commercial perceptions often associated with Hollywood Records.
Although Into The Rush got a soft release in Europe, Potential Breakup Song is the first time Hollywood Records actively promoted Aly & AJ in the UK. This was a big deal as, despite all the major mid-00s Disney Channel shows being broadcast here, the label was selective with which acts they launched outside of America. Thus, there were nowhere near as many soundtracks and spin-off albums appearing in the chart. It was still a novelty to see them on the shelves and even more so actively (if usually briefly) promoted. Potential Breakup Song subsequently debuted at #33 on download sales before rising to a peak of #22 once the physical single was available and spending a total of five weeks in the top 75. It does feel like the track could have been bigger in slightly different circumstances. Airplay was underwhelming; the Disney Channel association certainly wouldn’t have helped Aly & AJ’s credibility in that regard. Moreover, an October release date meant that Potential Breakup Song – and Insomniatic – had already been widely available for months beforehand.
In a broader sense – and not for the first or last time – Potential Breakup Song highlighted how Hollywood Records still didn’t seem adept at capitalising on success. This might’ve been one of the label’s biggest hits, but it certainly wasn’t their first. However, seven months passed before a follow-up – Like Whoa – was released in America. Though a questionable choice (it’s not a bad song, but one that is quite generically Radio Disney and lacks the creativeness of Potential Breakup Song), pretty much any follow-up would have struggled in the same scenario. Aly & AJ needed Hollywood Records to move quickly and ensure Insomniatic remained visible. Instead, after debuting at #15, it was left to drift, and the momentum from Potential Breakup Song dissipated. In the UK, the album debuted at #72 – spending a solitary week on the chart – while the planned release of Like Whoa was cancelled. Ultimately, the Insomniatic campaign was curtailed after two singles, which, certainly from a US perspective, seems an unnecessarily (and avoidably) squandered opportunity.
Though Aly & AJ now speak candidly about the experience – both good and bad – of being on Hollywood Records, they own what that material means to them and their fans (though from 2009 and 2015, the duo recorded as 78violet to draw a line under their Hollywood Records persona after departing the label). Rightly so, because tracks like Potential Breakup Song still stand up as terrific pop music by any standard, not least from a label whose musical output often played it remarkably safe. Though Aly & AJ didn’t necessarily get a chance to capitalise on the positive critical and commercial reaction, they did, nonetheless, seem to inspire Hollywood Records to become a little more adventurous as the decade went on, even if it rarely resulted in tracks as good as this one.
