Imagine smoke blinding you from a fire that continued to destroy everything around you. Imagine blood dripping down your hands as you try to pick up broken pieces of glass. In Lennon Stella’s song “Breakaway,” this is how she felt while being trapped in an unhealthy relationship. The song discusses a relationship filled with toxicity, but for some odd reason the two can not seem to separate from one another. In a world where society is filled with many fake people, this song has taught me how to act when I find myself in these situations. The theme of this song is acknowledging when it is time to walk away from all the damage, when it is time to break away from all the things dragging you down. Stella establishes the tense mood of the song with an immediate metaphor. The narrator finds that her “world’s on fire” as a result of her current relationship. By using the word fire, Stella implies that her setting is surrounded by damage. Barely being able to see through all the smoke, the narrator is forced to “close her eyes” in order to protect herself. However, the conflict Stella experiences is that she can only keep her eyes closed for so long. Soon, she reaches a point where she can no longer tolerate the relationship that she struggles to be happy in, emphasized by her repetition of the phrase “I’m tired of…” She is exhausted and about to reach her breaking point. With the smoke now clearing, Stella realizes that for the sake of her own well being, she can no longer stay trapped in this relationship. To Stella, a relationship is two people feeling safe, seeking comfort, and understanding love; which were all things her relationship had lacked. As the song progresses, Stella recognizes that she needs to leave the toxic environment. She writes, “There’s no rewinding the things we say” and implies that the relationship can symbolize a videotape. With her significant other, Stella lacks the ability to press pause and go back to where it all began. She yearns for a time where she was once happy as a couple; however, she now sees herself giving up. The damage has already reached a certain extent where things between them are no longer fixable. As a result, the narrator understands the resolution to her problem: immediate extraction. In the chorus, Stella chose one powerful word -- “breakaway.” As much as it might hurt to leave, she recognizes the importance of her leaving in order to take care of herself. The pain she would have felt while still being in the relationship is far greater than the pain she will feel once out of it. Stella reinforces the need to end the relationship as the song heads into the next verse. There seems to be a lack of stability in her life as she senses that “the ground and the ceiling seem to be disappearing.” This imagery reinforces the idea that she no longer feels as safe as she once used to. At any given moment, one wrong step in her life could cause a series of unfortunate events. Besides walking on eggshells, Stella notices that over time her significant other has placed “the weight of his world on her shoulders.” This metaphor emphasizes the burden that Stella is forced to carry as she goes about her life. Just like the mythological hero Atlas, Stella is punished and as a result, loses her overall demeanor over time. Who she is now is no longer who she once was when she first entered the relationship, and it is not for the better. Throughout the entire song, Lennon Stella demonstrates courage for recognizing that her relationship was no longer benefiting both partners. Partners are often blinded from the fact that their relationship is missing one crucial thing: unconditional love. As a result, it is very hard for people to leave a relationship once they have already invested so much time. Noah Cyrus’ song “July” demonstrates this difficulty as she struggles to stay away from a toxic boyfriend. This song strongly resonates with me as I have dealt with many people who I once thought were good friends, but turned out to not be who they said they were. Even with true colors finally being revealed, it was difficult for me to muster up enough courage to end the friendship. Just like Noah Cyrus, I was afraid of change and the potential for more damage to occur. However, knowing that she most likely will not come out unscathed, Lennon Stella is willing to take that risk. Rather than spend time picking up the broken pieces of her relationship, Stella chooses to move on with her life and develop as an individual. Behind all the smoke and mirrors, Lennon Stella was able to see past the facade that was her relationship and finally gather the strength to break away.