Background and release The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and produced by Danyi Deats-Barrett. It was shot for two days in April 2005 in
Toronto at a church and a
sound stage, while Clarkson was on
the Breakaway Tour. According to Kahn, Clarkson was sick during the production and could not speak. During Clarkson's wardrobe fitting, they communicated together using notes written by her. Though she is seen speaking and is interviewed in the behind the scenes footage.
Access Hollywood reported that a single sprinkler was used to produce rain in the music video. The concept of the music video was conceived by Clarkson. She explained, "The whole thing is a metaphor about a broken fairy tale [...] You think everything is going well, and then reality kicks your butt. It's kind of a sad video, but it's going to be my best one. It's real, and that's why people like me." The music video premiered online on May 9, 2005, on MTV. On May 16, 2005, it premiered on
Total Request Live, where it debuted at number five on the chart the following day.
Synopsis The music video begins with Clarkson standing in a room wearing a white wedding dress. Holding a bouquet of red roses, she is surrounded by her bridesmaids as they prepare for her wedding. She sits down on a sofa and sees a wedding photo of her fiancé with another woman as a storm grows outside. The bridesmaids are unable to close the windows, so they run out of the room leaving Clarkson alone, who is seen dropping the bouquet of roses, as well as the wedding photo from her hands onto the floor. The next scene shows Clarkson walking down the aisle in a church wearing a black dress. She sees a bride standing at the altar with her fiancé, getting married. When she draws the veil of the bride, she realizes that the bride is the woman from the photo. Clarkson, who is now wearing a white wedding dress, runs out of the church and into a dark swamp. A montage of Clarkson singing with her band in a dark swamp is shown alternately with scenes of Clarkson running in the forest and lying on the ground. Clarkson is also seen standing inside an abandoned house, wearing a voluminous black dress. As the rain starts to fall, Clarkson finally collapses, kneeling on the ground while looking at and being comforted by her other self, who is singing with the band. The scene shifts to a present day, where Clarkson is standing at the altar, exchanging vows with her fiancé. Before he puts the ring on her finger, she looks at the guests and notices that the woman from the photo is among the audience. She sees her fiancé exchanging a smile with the woman as the woman blows him a kiss. Clarkson then reaches for the ring and throws it at her fiancé, before running away from the altar. She throws her wedding bouquet into the lap of the woman and shoves her way past the wedding guests, who are trying to stop her from leaving. The video ends with Clarkson stepping out the doors into the bright sunlight.
Reception James Dinh of
MTV Newsroom listed "Behind These Hazel Eyes" as one of the music videos with "a bad case of the runaway bride syndrome," writing, "Throughout the clip, Clarkson finds herself running through a swampy mud land until she snaps out of her visions, refuses to proceed with the wedding and makes a shocking escape out of the church." Andrea Holmes of
AOL ranked "Behind These Hazel Eyes" at number five in her list of "Top Wedding Music Videos: 15 Clips for the Big 'I Do'." She commented, "The perfect illustration of our point about wedding videos, 'Behind These Hazel Eyes' takes an atypical approach to marriage [...] Throughout the video, the weather is dark and rainy, matching the story line, but when Clarkson ditches the wedding and runs out of the church, she is greeted with sunshine. Johnni Macke of
E! opined that the video was intense, writing, "She is heartbroken and "torn into pieces" throughout the video once she discovers her love is marrying someone else, and it results in epic cemetery rock sessions and rolling in the mud."
Lyndsey Parker of
Yahoo! Music put the song's music video at number 22 on her list of the best matrimony-themed musical videos of all time. In an interview with MTV, the lead vocalist of
Yellowcard,
Ryan Key, praised Clarkson in the music video. He said, "She is so unbelievably gorgeous in that video that is all over TV right now [...] The wet wedding dress and the wet hair and ... come on, man! Who knew? She is so hot. She looks so good in it." Robert Copsey of Digital Spy opined that the music video is Clarkson's best video to date. ==Live performances==