Carey publicly criticized Columbia for a perceived longstanding anti-R&B bias against her music after it did not release the song to retail outlets in the United States.

Retrospectively, "Breakdown" is regarded as a turning point in Carey's musical direction toward hip hop and as one of the best songs of her career.

[3] After receiving the best critical reviews of her career up to that point[4] and separating from her husband Tommy Mottola,[b] the head of her record label Columbia,[7] Carey felt confident to incorporate hip hop overtly in her follow-up album Butterfly (1997).

[12] Carey expressed interest in collaborating with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony to Stevie J, and they began studying the rap group's discography.

[13][14] In 1995, Combs had produced the hip hop remix of Carey's song "Fantasy" featuring Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard.

"[26] Layzie Bone initially stayed back, but joined the session at Carey's request after the record label sent a second plane.

[27] Carey, Stevie J, and Combs produced "Breakdown"; Dana Jon Chappelle and Ian Dalsemer conducted engineering at The Hit Factory and Daddy's House[c] studios.

[22][45] At times half-whispering,[46] she adopts a restrained delivery until belting near the end of the song to express her true emotional state.

[47][48] Departing from her practice of having a male singer like Trey Lorenz add background vocals in a low register that complement the lead, Carey provides them herself on "Breakdown".

[49] They are featured prominently throughout the track and, according to Grey Cavitt of the Waco Tribune-Herald, "threaten to bring about the psychological break promised by the title".

[e] R&B radio stations in the country began playing it in late 1997 amid a lukewarm response to the album's second single, "Butterfly".

[f] After "Breakdown" received over 600 spins without promotion,[59] Columbia released the song to American rhythmic contemporary radio stations in January 1998.

[55] After "Breakdown" failed to garner crossover success on contemporary hit radio, Columbia did not release it for sale in the United States.

[57] At the time, Billboard Hot 100 chart rules stipulated that songs required retail releases to appear and that airplay from R&B radio stations was not a factor.

[60] During an interview in late 1998, Carey said Columbia had a peculiar pattern of not releasing her heavily R&B material as commercial singles since her 1990 debut: "I'll always be upset 'Breakdown' never got its shot.

[69] Columbia and Legacy Recordings released a digital extended play with the three versions of the song as part of the MC30 campaign marking three decades of Carey's career on August 28, 2020.

[73] Paul Willistein of The Morning Call and author Chris Nickson believed "Breakdown" demonstrated artistic freedom successfully.

[h] Writing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dave Tianen said Carey's "vocals get smothered beneath a rancid glop of synths, samples, raps and choruses".

According to Billboard, "Breakdown" eclipses them because "the rhymes are tightly sewn into the track's primary vocal arrangement and are crucial to the evolution of the song's lyric".

[83] For Philadelphia Daily News writer Jonathan Takiff, its hip hop aspects acted as "freshening the soul-diva formula".

[91] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post thought Bone Thugs-n-Harmony overshadowed Carey;[39] J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun said she adopted their style so effectively that the group's presence was almost unnecessary.

It surpassed "One Sweet Day" (1995) to become Carey's longest-running song on the list (thirty weeks), a position it held until "We Belong Together" in 2005.

[108][106] Writers for The New York Times and Ottawa Citizen felt this paid homage to Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972).

[108][109] In the academic journal Gender & Society, Rana A. Emerson cited the camera's focus on Carey's showgirl outfit in arguing that social standards regarding the attractiveness of female R&B singers are implied.

[104] It peaked within the top five on weekly airplay charts for MTV and BET television channels as measured by Broadcast Data Systems.

[114] The video was shown during Carey's live performances of "Breakdown" on the Butterfly World Tour so Bone Thugs-n-Harmony could appear by proxy.

[119] Bianca Betancourt gauged it as a "game-changing collaboration" in Harper's Bazaar,[120] and Vibe's Julianne Shepherd said Carey "transcend[ed] genre" with the song.

[122] Scholar Alexander Ghedi Weheliye viewed its fusion of singing and rapping as a precursor to the popularity of this practice in hip hop music after 2010.