Show with Jay Leno. She has performed the song in her concert tours, including the Stronger Tour. "Breakaway" has also been covered by many contestants from reality television singing competitions, notably Katie Stevens, a contestant in the ninth season of American Idol, as well as an English pop quartet, Belle Amie who finished eleventh in the seventh season of The X Factor. It was also used in Brazilian soap operas Malhação and Amigas & Rivais. Background and release "Breakaway" was originally written by Avril Lavigne, Bridget Benenate and Matthew Gerrard. According to Benenate, the song was written in 2001 when she was working with Gerrard for Lavigne's first album, Let Go. Benenate explained that Lavigne came to her to write the song, saying Avril talked about her life and what things were important to her – she was the inspiration for the song. Matthew began creating the melody and track, and I started working on the lyrics. I remember staying in bed for three days, writing 25 versions of the lyric. I love being in bed and writing lyrics, and having my dog Jet and my kitty Dash on the bed. Anyway, we finally finished the lyric, then we completed the demo. After the production of the song was deemed unsuitable for Lavigne's album, the song was passed to several artists including Samantha Moore before finally being recorded by Kelly Clarkson. Benenate also added that it was Mitchell Leib, the President of Music and Soundtracks for Walt Disney Pictures and Television/Buena Vista Music Group, who secured "Breakaway" as one of the soundtracks of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. In an interview with MTV, Clarkson said that she recorded "Breakaway" to tide fans over until September that year before she released the first single from her second album. Nevertheless, the song's huge success prompted its inclusion on the album, which Clarkson decided to name Breakaway. Clarkson expressed that "Breakaway" was different from everything she has done, saying that it "is a simple song, and I think that its simplicity is what's beautiful about it. Whenever writers or producers come to work with me, they take advantage of the fact that I can really belt it out. What's cool about 'Breakaway' is that it doesn't take advantage of that. The song just uses the simplicity of my voice." The song was officially released to radio stations on July 19, 2004, as