"Breaking Free" is one of the hit singles from the movie, High School Musical. It is performed by Troy Bolton (voiced by Drew Seeley and partially by Zac Efron) and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens).
The song was covered by the band Little Sea on the Australian compilation album We Love Disney and was later featured on the Disney+ spin-off series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and its soundtrack.
It also has many versions recorded all over the world. In the "High School Musical Around the World" version, music videos were shown off in many different nationalities.
It has a cover for Chibi Tiny Tales, sung by Matt Cornett recounting the film.
Summary[]
This is the climax song in the movie, performed by Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) as their final callback. It takes place on the main stage of East High in front of the entire student body. At first, Gabriella has stage fright, then Troy tells her to remember "like kindergarten". They do an amazing performance and land the roles of Arnold and Minnie, to the disdain of Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan (Lucas Grabeel).
In the spin-off series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, the song is performed by Nini Salazar-Roberts (Olivia Rodrigo) in the role of Gabriella and by Ricky Bowen (Joshua Bassett) and briefly by E.J. Caswell (Matt Cornett) both in the role of Troy during the end of the second act of the school production of High School Musical. It appears in the last episode of season one, "Act Two".
E. J. begins to play the role of Troy for act two, while Ricky confronts his mother about bringing her new partner, Todd, to the show. Gina encourages Ricky to at least watch the rest of the production, but once inside, he witnesses E. J. step aside from his role to allow Nini and Ricky to finish the performance together. Gina (Sofia Wylie) acknowledges and thanks E. J. for purchasing the plane ticket which allowed her to return. This version of the song also appears as part of The Medley, The Mash-Up.
Lyrics[]
Troy:
We're soarin', flyin'
There's not a star in heaven
That we can't reach
Gabriella:
If we're trying
So we're breaking free
Troy:
You know the world can see us
In a way that's different than who we are
Gabriella:
Creating space between us
'Till we're separate hearts
Troy & Gabriella:
But your faith, it gives me strength
Strength to believe
Troy: We're breakin' free
Gabriella: We're soarin'
Troy: Flyin'
Troy & Gabriella:
There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach
Troy: If we're trying
Troy & Gabriella:
Yeah, we're breaking free
Troy: Oh, we're breakin' free
Gabriella: Ohhh
Troy:
Can you feel it building
Like a wave the ocean just can't control
Gabriella:
Connected by a feeling
Ooh, in our very souls
Troy:
Very souls, ooh
Troy & Gabriella:
Rising 'till it lifts us up
So every one can see
Troy: We're breakin' free
Gabriella: We're soarin'
Troy: Flyin'
Troy & Gabriella:
There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach
Troy: If we're trying
Troy & Gabriella:
Yeah, we're breaking free
Troy: Oh, we're breakin' free
Gabriella: Ohhh
Gabriella: Runnin'
Troy: Climbin'
To get to that place to
Troy & Gabriella:
Be all that we can be
Troy: Now's the time
Troy & Gabriella:
So we're breaking free
Troy: We're breaking free
Gabriella: Ooh, yeah
Troy:
More than hope
More than faith
Gabriella:
This is true
This is fate
And together
Troy & Gabriella:
We see it comin'
Troy:
More than you
More than me
Gabriella:
Not a want
But a need
Troy & Gabriella:
Both of us
Breakin' free!
Gabriella: Soarin'
Troy: Flyin'
Troy & Gabriella:
There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach
If we're trying
Troy: Yeah, we're breaking free
Gabriella: Breaking free
We’re runnin'
Troy: Ohhh, climbin'
Troy & Gabriella:
To get to the place
To be all that we can be
Now's the time
Troy: Now's the time
Gabriella: So we're breaking free
Troy: Ohhh, we're breaking free
Gabriella: Ooh
Troy & Gabriella:
You know the world can see us
In a way that's different than who we are
E.J.:
We're soarin', flyin'
There's not a star in heaven
That we can't reach
If we're tryin'
So we're breakin' free
Nini:
You know the world can see us
In a way that's different than who we are
Creating space between us
'Till we're separate hearts
Nini & Ricky:
But your faith, it gives me strength
Strength to believe
Nini: We're breakin' free
Ricky: We're soarin'
Nini: Flyin'
Nini & Ricky:
There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach
Nini: If we're tryin'
Nini & Ricky:
Yeah, we're breakin' free
Nini: Oh, we're breakin' free
Ricky: Ooh, yeah
Ricky:
More than hope
More than faith
Nini:
This is true
This is fate
And together
Nini & Ricky:
We see it comin'
Ricky:
More than you
More than me
Nini:
Not a want
But a need
Nini & Ricky:
Both of us
Breakin' free!
Nini: Soarin'
Ricky: Flyin'
Nini & Ricky:
There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach
If we're trying
Ricky: Yeah, we're breaking free
Nini: Breaking free
We’re runnin'
Ricky: Ohhh, climbin'
Nini & Ricky:
To get to the place
To be all that we can be (Ricky: be)
Now's the time
Ricky: Now's the time
Nini: So we're breaking free
Ricky: Ohhh, we're breaking free
Nini: Ooh
Nini & Ricky:
You know the world can see us
In a way that's different than who we are
Troy Bolton and Gabriella
Met at a ski lodge party on New Years' Eve
He plays basketball, she does decathlon
But like, for science and math.
Deep down, they both want to sing out
They inadvertently try out for the school play
Ms. Darbus offers a callback
That really ticks off Sharpay
We'll come back to her later.
Now, everyone at school's inspired
to follow all their dreams
Then, Chad and Taylor say no, no, no
Stay in your lane, yeah, stick to the status quo
Then, they hatch a scheme to make Troy talk trash
How did he not see that webcam?
Gab gives up on the callback
Subsequently, Troy's basketball game's all off
They make up, but Sharpay tells Mr. Darbus to schedule (inhales)
The callback at the same time as the basketball championship and scholastic decathlon
But through hacking the gym's power
And some weird chemistry,
They make the callback, get cast as leads
Even though Sharpay arguably earned it more
Wildcats win their game, then, they sing and dance
We're all in this together!
Trivia[]
- This, along with Start of Something New, are the only two songs in the first film where Zac sings partially; Drew Seeley does the majority of Troy's singing.
- Unlike the latter song, where Zac sings the opening and closing lines, Breaking Free has Zac sing only the first two sentences.
Videos[]
