Leader of the Broken Hearts

Album: The Connection (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • This was released as the fourth single from The Connection. The song came about when co-producer James Michael told the band they needed a song for the album like the epic The Paramour Sessions track "Forever."
  • Vocalist Jacoby Shaddix' lyrics were inspired by the breakdown of his marriage to his high-school sweetheart, Kelly. Bass guitarist and programmer Tobin Esperance recalled to Altsounds: "The lyrics on that one just came together as soon as Jacoby started singing, 'Leader of the broken hearts.' I think lyrically he was kind of at this point that not only was his heart broken because of what he was going through with his wife during the process of making the record but being on the road and having all of our fans coming up to him and saying, 'This song saved me, your lyrics mean so much to me!' I think his sentiment with that song was that he was just grabbing all of those people and just taking them in and speaking for them."
  • Shaddix told Alternative Addiction how recording The Connection helped him through his issues back home. "Everything was in the studio," he explained on the writing of the record. "I had zero lyrics written for this record before we stepped in. For me personally, it was 'write the music, listen to it and find out how it makes me feel and then go from there.' That really helped push me along in the writing process because it just spoke to me. Plus, those hellish life events went on in the process of making the record. For me, lyrically that had a big impact on where I was going with the music."

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