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"Breakdown" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey. The song features rap verses by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. It was released on March 22, 1998, by Columbia Records as the fourth single from her sixth studio album Butterfly (1997). Similar to the treatments of "Butterfly" and The Roof", "Breakdown" received a limited worldwide release due to Carey's conflict at the time with Sony. The song's lyrics describe the emotions someone feels when their lover suddenly stops loving and leaves them, and the pain, or breakdown, it causes the person.
The song was well received by contemporary music critics. David Browne from Entertainment Weekly praised the song, writing "for most of the album she keeps her notorious octave-climbing chops at bay. Showing some admirable restraint, she nestles herself into downy-soft beats. In 'Breakdown', she demonstrates she can match the staccato, lite-reggae phrasing of her guests, two members of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony." Rich Juzwiak from Slant called "Breakdown" "the song of Carey's career," noting its "lyrical strokes as broad and obvious as they are naked. Mariah the chanter flawlessly adapts to their singsong style, largely boxing her multi-octave range into a sly, hypnotic melody so that when she really wails at the end, you really feel it. As with 'The Roof', Carey lunges toward musical maturity by embracing, not shunning hip-hop. This is the height of her elegance and maybe hip-hop-soul's, too."
In the accompanying music video, Carey goes through a variety of different colorful outfits, with matching make-up. Of the many changes, two scenes predominantly occupy the video. The first in Carey dressed in flamenco style clothing, while dancing on a chair with two other female dancers. The other features Carey and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony gambling in a casino. Carey performed the song live during select dates of her Butterfly World Tour in 1998 and Adventures of Mimi Tour in 2006. Due to the song's limited release, "Breakdown" did not chart in most major music markets, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, where it peaked at numbers 38 and four, respectively. In the US, due to Billboard rules at the time, the song was unable to chart on the Hot 100, but charted at number 53 on the Hot 100 Airplay Chart.
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