Devil (Shinedown song)

"Devil" is a song by American rock band Shinedown. It was their first single off of their sixth studio album Attention Attention. It reached number one on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in May 2018.

Background

The song was first released on March 7, 2018, as the first single from the band's sixth studio album, Attention Attention.^[2][3] An accompanying music video was released on the same day,^[4] also including the intro track "The Entrance" at the beginning of the video. The video was directed by Bill Yukich, who had previously directed the videos for Beyonce's Lemonade videos for HBO.^[5]

Themes and composition

Lyrically, the song has been described by Alternative Press as "a deep dive into the heart of fear".^[6] Attention Attention is a concept album that details a persons progression, from being in a dark, negative space, to working through their issues and eventually progressing into be a new more positive person; "Devil" is the second track from the album, and the first fully formed song after the intro track, placing it in the more negativity-themed side of the album.^[5] Frontman Brent Smith outlined the meaning of the song:

'Devil' is about being afraid, 'Devil' is about being terrified of not only yourself, in some respects, but the world around you, and understanding that there are so many things and so many different situations and people and places and atmospheres and exposure that human beings are put in front of on a daily basis, [and] the world can be a really difficult place to navigate. So that's where the story starts.^[5]

Musically, Loudwire described the song as having a dense, wall of sound quality to it, describing it as having a "sliding guitar lick and off kilter beat"...backing choirs.. layers of synth, piano and guitar textures."^[7]

Personnel

Band

• Brent Smith – vocals
• Zach Myers – guitar
• Eric Bass – bass
• Barry Kerch – drums

Charts

References