Brooke Eden’s new single, “Act Like You Don’t, about a girl pleading with her ex for space after a breakup so that she can heal, is a case of art imitating life. The song’s relatable message comes from a real-life breakup that the 28-year-old singer found herself in.
“I wrote this song when I was going through a really hard break-up,” Brooke shares with Nash Country Daily. “What was so hard about the break up, was that we never had a big, blowout fight. It was never like, ‘I hate you. Yeah, well I hate you, too.’ It was never that. It was harder because we just knew that it wasn’t going to work out. It kind of became a toxic relationship in a lot of ways, but it was never like we hated each other. He would text me after we broke up, ‘I miss you. I want to hang out. I still want to be friends.’ I’m like, ‘I can’t be there yet. I know you can’t either.’ We kind of did this long back and forth, this where we were friends and then we would end up being together for a really long time. We always knew that the outcome was that we were never going to be together in the end. I finally got to this point where I was like, ‘I can’t have you texting me like this anymore. If you ever loved me and you still love me, I need you to act like you don’t anymore.’”
And thus, “Act Like You Don’t” was born. The deeply personal song that was therapy for Brooke has hit a nerve with fans as well. Being able to help others get through their own breakup by telling her story has meant the world to the Florida native.
“It was so therapeutic for me to write it,” Brooke said. “It’s been so cool. Fans have Tweeted me being like, ‘Thank you so much for this song. It’s my break up anthem. It’s helping me get through this.’ To me, that’s everything. I think that, especially, through a break up, it’s one of the loneliest times. You’re so used to having that person that you can talk to and get through hard times with. Now, the person that you would normally talk to to get through this hard time is the reason that you’re having the break up.”
“Act Like You Don’t” is the follow-up to Brooke’s lead off single, “Diamonds,” and the second release from her debut EP, Welcome to the Weekend.
“It’s the song that I always wanted to be my single,” Brooke adds. “I think we just had to get there. I think that everyone has to get on the same page and sometimes that’s not immediate. Sometimes it doesn’t happen immediately.”
