In an interview with "Entertainment Weekly," Clarkson explains that "Behind These Hazel Eyes" is "about the dipstick who completely screwed up and now is unhappy and you're happy." She also considered the song as one of her favorites that she once intended to name "Breakaway" after the song. Critics speculated that the song reflects Clarkson's break-up with David Hodges, an ex-member of Evanescence. According to MTV, the song was originally written prior to the break-up. Nonetheless, Clarkson decided to tweak the song lyrics after breaking up with Hodges to express her emotional pain. Clarkson also said that the song almost did not make it into the album. She explained, "It had different lyrics in the beginning [...] I ended up calling Luke Gottwald, the writer, and we did a totally different song to it. It's now my favorite song on the record. Crappy relationships for a good song."