Francesca Battistelli – The Breakup Song

My radio has played a lot of Francesca Battistelli as recently as last week.  Write Your Story, I’m Letting Go, and Beautiful, Beautiful frequent the airwaves, cementing her as a mainstay for years to come.  For those who are interested in her background, I’ve written her introduction in my He Knows My Name review. 

Curiously, I was not aware of The Breakup Song until a user submitted it in October 2018.  I’m not a big fan of the “Doo-wop” genre, but I’m happy to review the lyrics and tell you what I think.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Francesca-battistelli-the-breakup-song-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Let’s start with what the message is not.  Battistelli is not singing about a bad boyfriend breakup or the woes of losing someone she cares about. The title might give that impression; However, she has something else in mind: fear.  No, she is not breaking up with the fear of the Lord, that deep and reverent respect for God.  It is fear itself to which she wishes to separate, a worthy message to sing about. 

What is her solution?  To join her in song, telling fear to leave.  In much the same way as Disciple’s Dear X (You Don’t Own Me), missing is drawing upon God to overcome fear.  A simple solution is to change the last three lines of the Chorus to the following, emphasis mine:

Woah, goodbye, goodbye fear, woah
In the name of Jesus
You will never be welcome here

This presents a clearer, more biblical solution to fear: To call upon the name of Jesus.

Score: 7/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

Much of it is not biblical in nature, though that is not its purpose.  Still, we can glean from the Word of God and find parallels to Scripture.

I found that most of Battistelli’s lyrics agree with Scripture; However, her unexplained identity in the Chorus and solution to dump fear are problematic.

[Intro]

Lines 1-3: Sometimes, this is the only way that we will take action, something Dave Ramsey ranted about on one occasion.  Of course, Dave is talking about money, but Battistelli has something else in mind…

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-5: A long-winded introduction to the Chorus.  Isaiah 1:10-17 is God’s response to those who continue to drag their feet

[Chorus]

Line 1-4: Battistelli reveals fear as that with which she breaks up.  She has no use for it.

Lines 5-9: She does not tell us who she was or who she is now, except some vague, unexplained descriptors with no obvious connection to Christianity.  Perhaps this is an attempt to reach a wider audience?  This is more an issue with unbelievers than Christians, something more suitable to discuss in section 3.

Line 10: And rightfully so.  After all, the Bible tells us, over and over again, not to be afraid (Genesis 15:1, Joshua 1:9, Deuteronomy 31:6, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 34:4, Psalm 56:3-4, Psalm 94:19, Psalm 115:11, Psalm 118:6, Isaiah 35:4, Isaiah 41:10-13, Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 54:4, John 14:25-27, Romans 8:15, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Timothy 1:7, Hebrews 13:5-6, 1 Peter 3:13-14, 1 Peter 5:6-7, and 1 John 4:18).

[Verse 2]

Lines 1 and 2: Maybe, I don’t know.  It’s certainly poetic to describe fear that way.

Lines 3-6: Tired of her situation, she lets fear out of her heart, with no intent for its return.

Lines 7 and 8: An intro to repeat the Chorus again.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-3: Yes, yes there are.  Otherwise, her song becomes less relevant.

Lines 4 and 5: An invitation to sing along to the Chorus as her audiences’ way of telling fear to go kick rocks.  As Christians, we know that it is the power of God and the name of Jesus that drives out fear (Psalm 107:10-16, Luke 1:79, John 1:1-13, John 12:46, Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:13, and 1 Peter 2:9); However, this simple solution appears not in the Bridge or the final choral repeat.

Score: 6/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Though without the Scriptural references, those who do not follow Jesus will find Battistelli’s message similar to my own.  It will attract some, perhaps to explore the hidden identity she touched on in the Chorus.

My biggest fear is that unbelievers will walk away with the wrong message, that they can sing fear to vamoose apart from God.  Nothing can be further from the truth.

Score: 6/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It would be easier to ask what it does not glorify, namely, fear.  She tells it to get out; However, without God in the center of it, it’s hard to justify the statement “God is glorified through this”.  I’ll give a few brownie points for her message as it does bring some amount of glory to Him.

Score: 3/10

Closing Comments

Francesca Battistelli’s The Breakup Song contains a great message with highly rough edges.  Her identity as Jesus’ people is not clear.  Absent is God as the antidote to “breakup” with fear.  Instead, we are left with a worldly answer, that fear can go away by speaking (or singing) to it. Still, I found some nuggets of Biblical truth, kernels to grasp and ponder.  Perhaps unbelievers can look past her offering and examine her identity as a follower of Jesus. 

I just don’t see it in the lyrics.

Final Score: 5.5/10

Artist Info

Track: The Breakup Song (listen to the song)

Artist: Francesca Battistelli

Album: Own It

Genre: Doo-wop, Pop

Release Year: 2018

Duration: 3:24

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.