In the video The making of Colour the Small One, Sia says: "'Breathe Me' is about feeling worried, generally anxious. Being overwhelmed by your own inner dialogue and having some sort of conniption fit and potentially doing yourself some harm, then asking for help."
This tale of anxiety and self-harm was very real to Sia. The very night she wrote it, she attempted suicide by taking 22 Valium and downing a bottle of vodka, something she didn't reveal until a series of interviews in 2018. In 2010, she again plotted her death, planning to check into a hotel and take all the pills she had. A phone call from an old friend changed her mind and convinced her to get sober, which she did.
In 2005, "Breathe Me" was used on the last episode of the HBO TV series Six Feet Under during a montage where it reveals what happened in the characters' lives and their deaths. This was the first time Sia got significant exposure to an American audience. The song was also used in the pilot episode of the short-lived revival of the TV series Bionic Woman in 2007, as well as these shows: CSI: Miami ("Innocent" - 2004) Veronica Mars ("I Am God" - 2006) The Simpsons ("Flanders' Ladder" - 2018)
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