The Script's Danny O'Donoghue reveals heartbreaking story behind hit song Breakeven

Danny O'Donoghue, the lead singer of The Script, has revealed the heartbreaking story behind the band's hit song Breakeven .

O'Donoghue created a TikTok video about the song over the weekend, where he said that it was actually the brainchild of his bandmate Mark Sheehan.

Sheehan was a co-founder of the famous Irish band and its lead guitarist. He passed away last year at the age of 46 following a brief, undisclosed illness.

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His death was devastating for his bandmates, who released their first album without him in May. O'Donoghue, who constantly pays tribute to his childhood friend, previously said that he "went off the rails" following the news.

However, he has started writing again and often posts about Sheehan now. In his latest video about Breakeven, he attributed the idea for the chart topping tune to his fellow songwriter.

It also turns out that the song, which was released on the band's first album in 2008, was partially inspired by the movie Love Actually.

"Breakeven was inspired by a romcom. Myself and Mark had just finished the first album called The Script and we were about to hand it into the label," O'Donoghue says in the video.

"But Mark came to me and he said that he's got this idea for Breakeven, it's a lyric: 'Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even'. And I just thought it was the most genius thing I've ever heard in my life."

If you can't see the video below, click here.

He continues: "So we kind of worked on the verses trying to get them right and it was only when I was watching the movie Love Actually and there's a part in the movie towards the end where a guy knock's on the girl's door and says 'the greatest thing about me was always you'.

"And I just thought, wait a minute that could really be used. So I went in and just kind of wrote this scribble lyric down for Breakeven: 'What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you'.

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"We all just were in the studio and had this epiphany moment where it's like, the only thing left to say is 'well, I'm falling to pieces'. And that's kind of the story of how that song came about."

Breakeven was released on 24 November 2008 as the third single from The Script's debut album and peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 10 in Ireland, number 21 in the UK, number 12 in the US and number three in Australia.

It is now one of the top songs associated with The Script, who went on to become one of Ireland's biggest rock bands of the past decades.

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