Although Ian was outed as a lesbian in 1976 by the Village Voice,[3] her sexuality was largely ignored until the release of Breaking Silence when Ian herself brought it to the forefront because of her concern with suicide rates among gay and lesbian teenagers.[4]
In the preceding decade, Ian met Pat Snyder and, after significant financial and health setbacks, they purchased a house together by 1991. They took on a second mortgage to fund the album, as major record labels were no longer interested in Ian's work. "I thought I was only going to get one more chance to record, so I wanted to make it count", Ian said.[2] It was her first album in 12 years.[4]
The album contains political songs such as "His Hands" (about spousal abuse) and "Tattoo" (about the Holocaust). The title track, "Breaking Silence", is about incest.[2] It also includes Ian's version of "Some People's Lives", previously recorded as the title track of Bette Midler's 1990 album. The album was nominated for a Grammy, making it Ian's seventh nomination.[2]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Janis Ian, unless otherwise noted
