Cringe

Album: Bank on the Funeral (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Matt Maeson was raised in Norfolk, Virginia by parents who played in Christian metal bands. Matt grew up performing songs for inmates at maximum-security prisons with his mother and father as part of their ministry, Life On The Verge. However, he went off the rails in his late teens, got addicted to drugs, and later served time in jail.

    Maeson wrote "Cringe" about being pushed away by people close to him because of the lifestyle he was living. Rather than pulling him in and loving him, he was getting reprimanded; he felt he was making these people "cringe." Maeson explained to American Songwriter: "I lived pretty rough for a while, and some of the people I really cared about would rather tell me how wrong I was rather than ask how I was doing."
  • After writing the first verse and chorus, Maeson set the song aside, but sent a clip of it to his A&R guy Derek. Over the next couple of months, Derek kept hitting the singer up every week asking hum if he'd completed the song.

    "Finally, just to kinda shut him up, and because I really did love the sentiment of the song, I sat down and I finished it," Maeson recalled to ABC Radio. "We tracked it and put it out, and it just became my biggest song."
  • "Cringe" was first released on November 25, 2016. The single slowly gathered momentum before eventually climbing to #1 on the Alternative Songs chart in August 2019. It spent four weeks on top of the tally.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Steve Morse of Deep Purple

Steve Morse of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple's guitarist since 1994, Steve talks about writing songs with the band and how he puts his own spin on "Smoke On The Water."

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Daryl Hall

Daryl HallSongwriter Interviews

Daryl Hall's TV show is a hit, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - only one of these developments excites him.

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne CashSongwriter Interviews

Rosanne talks about the journey that inspired her songs on her album The River & the Thread, including a stop at the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Ed Roland of Collective Soul

Ed Roland of Collective SoulSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Shine," "December," "The World I Know" and other Collective Soul hits.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.