Not Broken

"Not Broken" is a single by Australian dance diva Veronica Nightshade. Originally recorded by Ricki-Lee Coulter, the song was passed on to Veronica after Ricki's version went unreleased. Veronica released it as her debut single in Australia, where it hit the top 5 on the ARIA chart. It was later released in the UK on November 29th, 2010, where it hit the top 10, but it is her lowest-selling UK single to date, being her only release to miss 100k.

Background
"Not Broken" was written by Ricki-Lee Coulter in 2009, and was recorded for her studio album "Hear No, See No, Speak No" where it was intended to be her third single in 2010. After the failure of previous singles from the album, Ricki cancelled the release of the album, so "Not Broken" went unreleased. Veronica then bought the song off of Ricki and recorded it with the intention of including it as a digital-exclusive bonus track on her "Army Of Clones" EP. When the EP was upgraded to a full-length studio album, "Not Broken" was similarly upgraded from bonus track status and it was chosen by Sony BMG to be Veronica's debut Australian single and lead single from the album. Veronica worked with Jason Nevins to keep the song in line with the electronic pop-rock sound of the original version.

Reception
"Not Broken" was only mildly received by the British public, with mainly only the hype from Veronica's debut single fueling the performance of the song. "Not Broken" was widely ignored by radio, who instead began to play "Army Of Clones" in moderate rotation. Consequently, "Not Broken" failed to chart on the airplay chart. The song was a very minor digital hit, and poor sales hit, making the top 10 on the UK singles chart but failing to achieve solid longevity. In Australia, the song was much better-received as a debut single, being found to be incredibly catchy and earning a high level of airplay which helped it become a major digital seller and an ARIA top 5 hit.

Promo CD

 * 1) Not Broken (Radio Edit)
 * 2) Not Broken (The Alias Radio Mix)
 * 3) Not Broken (Acappella)

CD1

 * 1) Not Broken
 * 2) Dangerzone
 * 3) Not Broken (The Alias Radio Mix)

CD2

 * 1) Not Broken
 * 2) Last Christmas
 * 3) Not Broken (Hook ‘N’ Sling Vocal Mix)
 * 4) Not Broken (Buzz Junkies Club Mix)

Digital EP

 * 1) Not Broken
 * 2) Dangerzone
 * 3) Last Christmas
 * 4) Not Broken (The Alias Club Mix)
 * 5) Not Broken (Jason Nevins ‘Hands Up’ Club Mix)

Vinyl Format

 * 1) Not Broken (Hook ‘N’ Sling Vocal Mix)
 * 2) Not Broken (Hook ‘N’ Sling Dub)
 * 3) Not Broken (Buzz Junkies Club Mix)
 * 4) Not Broken (Buzz Junkies Dub)
 * 5) Not Broken (Jason Nevins ‘Hands Up’ Club Mix)
 * 6) Not Broken (Jason Nevins Club Creation)
 * 7) Not Broken (The Alias Club Mix)
 * 8) Not Broken (The Alias Club Instrumental)

Australian Version
The video opens with a heavy cloud of mist. We cut between this cloud of mist and a motorcycle. From the mist we see a dark figure emerging with two girls flanking her on either side. We see the bars of the motorbike and the wheels, but it takes a few moments before we see that it’s Veronica emerging from the mist, and climbing onto the motorbike, grabbing onto a leather-clad bike-rider complete with helmet. Her two companions are holding onto similarly-clad bikers. Veronica pulls out a pair of shades and places them on her head; we see artsy shots of her doing so when reflected in the mirror, before she and her girls grab onto their respective bikers and zoom away, racing each other down the street. We see performance shots of Veronica singing in front of a wall as the three bikes enter alignment. The girls stop the bikers when they arrive at a large gate; they dismount from the bikes and dash off.

Veronica and her girls are next seen on a dock, where they board a boat. We see them climbing up onto the main deck and lounging in the afternoon sun as we see the boat travelling through the ocean. Performance shots of Veronica singing seductively into a man’s ear are shown, intercut with other shots of her singing while sitting on the front of the boat with her girls beside her. Soon enough the girls’ boat ride is over, and they’re moving on to their next stop. As night falls, we see them ascending the stairs to what looks like a rooftop pool party. The rest of the video pretty much consists of Veronica and her girls partying and having a good time with the crowd. A lot of shots of Veronica singing the song are shown, and the video ends with her and her girls laughing at all the fun they’ve had that day without a man to fix them.

UK Version
The video takes place in the same hotel that ‘Army Of Clones’ took place, shortly after the events of the previous video. It begins with a shot of a woman’s leg, panning up but cutting away before her identity can be revealed. She appears to be sitting in the guards’ station. The light from the security monitors makes her hair seem blonde. We see various cameras throughout the hotel. The woman presses a button and all the security monitors spring to life, switching from blank white screens to showing the various parts of the hotel, and a number of clones still at large. One Veronica (which may or may not be the real one) is quite close to one of the security cameras and looking directly into it, as seen from the security screen. One of the clones appears to be running down a hallway, as shown on a monitor. From what, we’re not sure – even as she turns around to look behind her, we see nothing pursuing her. We see performance shots of Veronica, through the security screen, with some dancers in front of bright lights. The mysterious guard continues to watch all the camera feeds with interest, locating all the clones still loose in the hotel. We cross to the room where Veronica and her dancers are performing, seeing them for real on a stage with a crowd around them. The guard focuses her attention on one of the hotel rooms where it appears one clone is attempting to pack a suitcase in a hurry to make a quick escape.

We cut to the hotel room now, where we can better the clone pacing around the room grabbing at various items of clothing and tossing them into her suitcase. Intercut with shots of this, and of the clone having a drink, we see shots over the security monitors of Veronica and a man together – this is clearly not the same man from the ‘Army Of Clones’ video. She dances on the floor with him, while from the control room the mystery guard continues to observe everything. Again, more performance shots of Veronica and her dancers are shown throughout. We see the security cameras again, scanning the hotel. In an overview of the security screens, we see the clones trying to evade detection as they all make for the hotel exits. The Veronica with her dancers makes no attempt to leave the hotel, unlike the others. We see the mystery guard press a button on the control panel, and then we finally see her identity – she is not, in fact, another clone as we’re led to assume. She has just released a toxin throughout the hotel which is designed to kill all the clones, which is why we’ve seen them so desperate to escape. Across the hotel we see clones dropping to the floor; including the one running through the halls, the one dancing with a guy and the one packing a suitcase. The screen goes static like one of the security screens, and ending with the Veronica who was with her dancers – she is the only one to survive, because she is the real Veronica.

Chart Performance
"Not Broken" was tipped to be another top 10 hit for Veronica, which it was; upon release it charted at #8. It was very weak sales-wise however, rapidly descending the charts. It spent six weeks on chart, mainly getting a reprieve due to how close to Christmas the song was released, but its sales total was very low, falling short of 100k in sales and missing certification. In comparison, "Army Of Clones" outsold "Not Broken" in its first two weeks alone. Airplay was virtually non-existant, with the song failing to hit the top 40 on the airplay chart while radio instead gave increased attention to "Army Of Clones". The song spent three weeks on the digital chart, selling a small amount.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 88,981
 * Week 1: #8 - 39,874
 * Week 2: #18 - 19,361
 * Week 3: #31 - 9,985
 * Week 4: #36 - 5,653
 * Week 5: #27 - 9,985
 * Week 6: #38 - 4,123