How We Break (Pretty Dudes Anthem)

"How We Break (Pretty Dudes Anthem)" is the first official single from the series "Pretty Dudes." The song was written and performed by Matt Almodiel, Chance Calloway and Peter Su, with additional vocals by Michael Bow. The song was released alongside a music video which was co-directed by Chance and Gerry Maravilla.

Composition & Recording
Chance, Matt, Michael, and Peter began writing in a studio near Lincoln Heights (very close to the apartment where season one was filmed). Chance, creator of the show, had been inspired by lines the characters Zario and Iggy spoke in the episode "How We Break," which had already been filmed, about "breaking your lungs" when you are being kissed by life. He knew he wanted that theme to be pervasive in the show's anthem, and sent a list of songs to Peter and Matt that he found apporpriately emotional and anthemic, including "Torn Down" by Brandy, "Diamonds" by JOHNNYSWIM, "Wonder" by Emeli Sandé, and "Voice in the Chorus" by Hanson. The vocals were completed over the course of three separate workshopping days. Michael joined the recording session on the second day and the first draft of the song was completed. Chance was called back in by Peter for a third day to expand his vocals throughout the song, as he originally only sang ad-libs and gang vocals.

Lyrics
Intro ''Let's bring water to dry places Let's bring heaven to low spaces With our heart broke in pieces Still our love is secure Together we can change the world I'm pretty sure''

Verse ''Kiss me til I can't breathe You take the air straight out of me Use me when you wanna see Your past our feature and then you leave''

Pre-Chorus ''All those nights I have cried Bring these tears back to life All my life Lost inside Lost these years but still I try''

Chorus ''This is how we break (our hearts) This is how we break (our lungs) This is how we break, this is how we break This is how we break This is how we break (our hearts) This is how we break (our lungs) This is how we break, this is how we break This is how we break This is how we break our lungs''

Verse ''Kiss me til I can't breathe You take the air straight out of me Use me when you wanna see Your past our feature and then you leave''

Pre-Chorus ''All those nights I have cried Bring these tears back to life All my life Lost inside Lost these years but still I try''

Chorus ''This is how we break (our hearts) This is how we break (our lungs) This is how we break, this is how we break This is how we break This is how we break (our hearts) This is how we break (our lungs) This is how we break, this is how we break This is how we break This is how we break our lungs''

Bridge ''Let's bring water to dry places Let's bring heaven to low spaces With our heart broke in pieces Still our love is secure Together we can change the world I'm pretty sure''

Chorus ''This is how we break (our hearts) This is how we break (our lungs) This is how we break, this is how we break This is how we break This is how we break (our hearts) This is how we break (our lungs) This is how we break, this is how we break This is how we break This is how we break our lungs'' (chorus repeats)

Music Video
The music video was directed by Chance Calloway and Gerry Maravilla. THe original plot for the music video hewed much closer to the plot of the first season, featuring the characters Alexander, Ellington, Jay, and Sunji using the singers Chance, Matt, Michael, and Peter as potential love interests for him. When scheduling issues arose with the series cast, that concept was dropped and replaced with the idea of the singers being a mystical band from the ocean, singing to help Zario with his anxiety by using their music to bring potential friends into his life.

The cast of the music video is filled with cast members from the show, including Bryan Michael Nuñez, Clifford Cisneros, Charlit Dae, Chelsea Gray, Christian Olivo, Nicko Sabado, and Kelsey Toussant. Only lead singers Matt Almodiel and Peter Su have not appeared in the season, though many of their songs were used. At the time of their inclusion in this video, neither Charlit nor Christian had been cast in their Season Two roles. Bryan is the only cast member to portray both his character from the show as well as the video, though Cliff's video character shares superficial similarities with his character Zach and Michael's character is similarly omnicient like his series character Genie.

Remixes and Covers
The song was remixed twice for the series. Composer and musician A.J. Sealy used the original vocals and matched them with a completely new instrumentation for Season Two. The "A.J. Sealy Remix" uses elements of synthwave to match the second season's upgraded videogame/electronic motif. DJ Hauskaat later remixed the original vocal track with a piano focus for the episode "Chicos Lindos," intended to be evocative of 90s show show intros like "Mad About You" and "Fraiser."

Additionally, musicians Sammy Minelli and Leo Xia recorded covers of the theme song that are featured on the CSRC Storytelling YouTube channel.

A collection of remixes and covers were collected for the EP How We Break (Pretty Dudes Remixes).

Impact on the series
Actor Christian Olivo was introduced to Chance on the set of the music video, leading to the creation of character Cassian Crosby, who was written expressly for Christian. Similarly, Charlit Dae appeared in the video long before his casting as Ram in the second season.