Hey World

Album: Hey World (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • Lee Brice penned this soulful, piano-driven track in mid-March 2020 with Dallas Davidson and Adam Wood. When panic struck in the Spring of 2020, he pulled it back out, feeling its message of hitting pause was relevant during an uncertain time.

    "We wrote this song from an introspective, truthful place," Brice said. "With everything that is happening in the world currently, and how fast-paced we are as a society in general, sometimes you just want everything to stop - just to appreciate what we do have. People are suffering and it can't be ignored."
  • Brice spoke about the song's contemplative mood with Taste of Country Nights hosts Evan and Amber during a Taste of Country Happy Hour Live appearance on Facebook. "Sometimes people wanna dive into an introspective place rather than, you know, go party [their] blues away," said the singer. "Sometimes they wanna hear something that just takes them where they are."
  • Brice released the song on May 15, 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic but its message is more general. "We tried to write it to where the song can last forever, where it doesn't necessarily have to be attached to this time period," the singer shared with American Songwriter. "The sentiment of 'hey, world leave me alone,' can be on any day in anybody's life, at any moment. Sometimes you just need a minute."
  • The collaboration with Dallas Davidson and Adam Wood was the first time that Brice had ever done a Zoom write.
  • Hey world, leave me alone
    I don't wanna turn on the TV
    Ain't nothing but bad news on
    Yeah, the rain can wait for another day


    Brice told Radio.com's Kelly Ford the song's original inspiration came from Dallas Davidson recounting how earlier that morning his 4-year-old kid has asked him to turn the TV off. He was just watching the news, so Davidson asked him why. He said it was scaring him.

    "All the deaths, all the stuff that's coming... it's so bad, bad, bad," added Brice. "And it is. It's scary for an adult much less a 4-year-old. So, it really took Dallas back for a second... a perspective thing."
  • Season 7 The Voice alum Blessing Offor duets with Brice during the song. Brice asked Offor to jump onto the song with him after he was introduced to his music by his manager.

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