Loser

Album: Aggressive (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The third track from Beartooth's sophomore album Aggressive was inspired by frontman Caleb Shomo's fondness of rock music. Shomo talked about his keenness for the genre in his Songfacts interview. "I love that kind of straightforward rock and roll," he said. "It really speaks to me."
  • Shomo described the process of writing this tune in a 2016 interview with Loudwire. "That song kind of started with the music," he said. "It just started with that riff in the beginning and you know I didn't think it was gonna be as deep of a song. I thought it was gonna be a little more along the lines of 'Rock Is Dead' where it's just a more fun track. After the music got put together and I started putting lyrics together, I think I wrote the chorus first and then everything just spun out of control from there. I started diving into my childhood and a whole bunch of things and diving into my love for music and it all kind of stemmed from there."
  • Shomo delved deeper into the lyrical intention of this song during his album commentary for Spotify. "'Loser' is more about childhood and the things that got me into music," he said. "Well, the fact that music is kind of the only constant in my life that I've ever fully had, even when I was a kid. Trying to fit in when you're a kid is so important to everybody. You just always want to be cool. You want to have friends. You want to f--king be that dude. I don't know. That's just inevitable. It's part of being a kid, but the constant for me was always music, and I always had that to fall back on. It really doesn't matter what anyone else says at the end of the day as long as you're happy and you're doing what you love, that's what's important. So that's kind of the real meaning of that song."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Squire of Yes

Chris Squire of YesSongwriter Interviews

One of the most dynamic bass player/songwriters of his time, Chris is the only member of Yes who has been with the band since they formed in 1968.

Linda Perry

Linda PerrySongwriter Interviews

Songwriting Hall of Famer Linda Perry talks about her songs "What's Up" and "Beautiful," her songwriting process, and her move into film music.

Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe ShaverSongwriter Interviews

The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.

Butch Vig

Butch VigSongwriter Interviews

The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Second Wind Songs

Second Wind SongsSong Writing

Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.