Songfacts®:

• A track from Third Eye Blind's fifth album Dopamine, "Rites of Passage" finds the band exploring EDM elements, something that is heard throughout the album. This is best heard at the end of this song, where it turns into a dance track suitable for a nightclub.
  
  In our interview with lead singer Stephan Jenkins, he said that while the group is very much a rock band, they have embraced the pop label and enjoy crossing genres. "Who gives a f--k about any of these kinds of distinctions anymore?," he said. "Why do I want to spend any time engaging in whatever some self-appointed arbiter of what box you're in says? I don't think anybody else cares."
• This song is about moving on in life, and seeing painful events as "rites of passage" that help us grow. Stephen Jenkins wrote the lyrics as a conversation, addressing another person and saying, "I wish I could help you through this phase."
• Two David Bowie titles show up in these lines:
  
  It's like Bowie says,
  'You pretty young things
  You go through ch-ch-changes'
  
  Both Bowie songs are from his 1971 album Hunky Dory: "Oh! You Pretty Things" and "Changes."
  
  Stephan Jenkins is a big Bowie fan. "I'm definitely moved by his music and his wonderful sense of artifice," he told us. "You never get to unravel it."
• Third Eye Blind guitarist Kryz Reid got a writing credit on this track along with Jenkins.