Christina Perri says 'Jar of Hearts' performance on 'So You Think You Can Dance' 'changed my life'

07/15/2010 by Kristina Lopez

Christina Perri has been burning up both the Billboard and iTunes charts after her song Jar of Hearts debuted on So You Think You Can Dance. The singer, who performed the song live on the show Thursday night, talked about her newfound fame and reveals what inspired the hit tune.

It doesnt really feel real yet. Its been a whirlwind, she told OnTheRedCarpet.com about her experience. For like 17 days, I keep pinching myself. I dont want to sleep because Im afraid Im going to wake up or something. But it is real, and So You Think You Can Dance has just changed my whole life.

Perri was working at a café when the opportunity presented itself.

"It was a friend of a friend thing. My best friend is friends with Stacey Tookey, the choreographer [for the show]," she said. "So Stacey loved it, and then within like eight days they asked to use it, so we had to record it real fast, we didn't even have it done. And then the rest is history."

EW.com reported Perri was "having the worst day ever at work" when her big break happened.

'Jar of Hearts' was inside the top 15 singles downloaded from the iTunes store as of Friday morning. Billboard.com noted earlier this month that the unsigned, relative unknown Perri had broken onto Billboard's Hot Digital Songs charts. It debuted at number 28, and was at 23 as of Friday morning, ahead of artists like Diddy, Miley Cyrus and The Black Eyed Peas.

So what inspired the lyrics about heartbreak? Perri reveals, It is really about a guy and it is really what I went through in December when I wrote it like exactly that day, thats how I was feeling, so it comes from a real place.

The singer says she has plans for those clamoring for more of her work. Im just going to put more music out because now all of a sudden Ive got these listeners, she said.