Tower (Don't Look Down)

Album: Don't Look Down (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is one of four holdovers from Invincible, an album Holly Hafermann originally intended to release as her debut under the Skylar Grey moniker. After scrapping the original project, she decided to title her new set after this tune. "I think a song that can make it through the past year that I've had of writing new songs and throwing ones away is worth having the album title named after," she told Rolling Stone.

    "I put out [the single] 'Invisible' and I was feeling like I was so busy promoting an album and a song and I felt like I hadn't finished my album yet," Hafermann added. "So I kind of took a step back and had a conversation with Jimmy [Iovine, label boss] and he was totally on my side. He said, 'Look, this is your first album; it has to be exactly what you want it to be.' So we mutually agreed to slow down the whole process and let me take my time finishing the songs until I felt like it was there."
  • Skylar Grey explained the song's meaning to Artist Direct: "I moved to L.A. when I was like seventeen to pursue my dreams," she said. "I knew by doing that I was going to be leaving a lot behind, but it was all for the best. It was a positive move for me. At the same time, I was leaving a lot of things behind like a certain person. It was written from the perspective of the person staying in the small town and watching me go off and chase my dreams and never having this future we dreamed of when we were kids."

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