Songfacts®:

• Yungblud's music is often controversial and provocative, and he often makes statements that ruffle some feathers. Yungblud also has a large and passionate fan base who love him for his authenticity and his willingness to speak his mind. They see him as a refreshing voice in the music industry and appreciate his willingness to challenge the status quo. Here, Yungblud discusses his rise in popularity as an artist. He attributes his success to getting under people's skin.
  
  You gotta kill somebody
  To be somebody
  
  Yungblud realized he had made it when people started disliking him.
  
  Some people will thirst on watching you bleed
  And that's when you know that you made it
  You made it when you're hated
• The song also reflects Yungblud's personal journey. The English rocker has spoken openly about his struggles with mental health and has had to hit rock bottom before he could start to heal and rebuild his life. Throughout "Hated" he highlights some of his traumatic experiences.
• In the first verse, Yungblud reveals how a doctor molested him at the age of 7. He never told anyone about the incident until he eventually admitted it to his producer, Paul Meany, while writing this song.
• When Yungblud was growing up, his father, guitar shop owner Justin Harrison, struggled with bottling up his emotions. In the pre-chorus he recounts:
  
  But you don't want to do what your daddy did
  Bury it deep down, keep it under your skin
  
  Yungblud previously spoke on the track "Memories" of how his father abused his mother, which affected the rest of the family.
• The second verse finds Yungblud relishing his provocative image. He wears tracksuits and lipstick, which are often associated with femininity, and is unapologetic for "making the Catholics tearful."
• Yungblud has two sisters, Jem and Izzy. In the third verse, he reveals how one of them stopped talking to him after he outed her as bi. "She was stressing about telling my parents and she rang me because obviously I'm like, 'Be what you want to be. If you believe you're an ostrich, cool,'" he told Attitude magazine.
  
  Your sister can't even look at you
  She won't open the door
  The story you told was only partially yours
  You outed her in a magazine
  
  On the bridge he admits to upsetting Jem. He sings about not calling his sis and forgetting about her. He's sorry, but "things are pretty crazy right now."
• Ultimately, "Hated" is an exposition of Yungblud's soul. "The song is ultimately about freeing yourself from bad experiences and trauma," he wrote on social media, "finding inner strength. acknowledging your past, accepting the pain and having the courage not to let it define your future."
• Yungblud co-wrote "Hated" with LA songwriter/producer Jake Torrey, his guitarist Adam Warrington, and the track's producer, Mutemath frontman Paul Meany.