Don't Stop

Album: The Stories We Tell Ourselves (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • Vocalist Jonny Hawkins wrote this song about finding the strength to persevere when he is struggling inside by pushing forward and digging deep. Some of the lyric refers to him gaining greater clarity.

    My new year's resolution
    To choke out my illusions
    To cut through the confusion


    Hawkins explained to HM magazine that this is a literal New Year's resolution he made at the beginning of 2017. "I had a very fun New Year's Eve," he recalled, "but I also had a very sobering moment in the month of January where I was by myself and a lot of things sunk in that had transpired in the last two years."
  • Sonically, "Don't Stop" is a progressive metal song with an electronic and industrial beat and elements of nu-metal. "I think 'Don't Stop' is totally genre-bending for us," said Hawkins. "We find inspiration in so many different kinds of music and felt it was important to not make rules about what we could or couldn't do with this record."
  • The single version contains guest vocals in the bridge by Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix.
  • Hawkins told Kerrang in a 2019 interview that "Don't Stop" is his favorite song to perform live. "This has so much energy and I go crazy and get to be more reckless," he said. "I don't have to worry about melody, because in the chorus and the verse it's more screamy. I don't have to judge myself as there's definitely less pressure so much on this one."

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