After the breakup of Soundgarden in 1997, Chris Cornell released his first album, Euphoria Morning, in 1999. "Can't Change Me" leads off the album and was the only single released from the set. Cornell explained the meaning of the song on MTV's Making the Video: "It's kind of a sad discovery that this singer is involved with this person that has amazing powers to help people and change things positively, and he's realizing that none of it is really rubbing off on him."
Cornell sings: She's going to change the world But she can't change me He told MTV News that this could be interpreted as either defiance or discovery. "Maybe there are things he'd like to change about himself," he said of the character in the song.
Johan Renck, whose credits include "Love At First Sight" for Kylie Minogue and "Blackstar" by David Bowie, directed the music video, where the Portuguese actress Ana Cristina de Oliveira plays a human torch, setting fire to whatever she touches. When Cornell catches fire, he douses the flames by taking a dip in a pool of water, since she can't change him. Visual effects software wasn't very good with fire at the time, so the flames were essentially composited onto the shots.
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