"Little One" is a song by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Highly Suspect
Highly Suspect is an American Rock music, rock band from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The band consists of twin brothers Rich (bass, backing vocals) and Ryan Meyer (drums, backing vocals), Johnny Stevens (guitar, lead vocals), and Matt Kofos (guita ...
. It was their second single off their second studio album, ''
The Boy Who Died Wolf
''The Boy Who Died Wolf'' is the second studio album by American rock band Highly Suspect. It was recorded in Bogotá, Colombia and Brooklyn, New York. The album's lead single "My Name Is Human" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock cha ...
''. As of October 2017, it peaked at number 2 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' US
Mainstream Rock Songs
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...
chart.
Background
The song "Little One" dates back to 2015, where the band would perform the then-unreleased track live at concerts while touring in support of their first studio album, ''
Mister Asylum''.
The band noted that the song was played live with such frequency that audience members would have the lyrics memorized, despite no studio version in existence.
The studio version of the song was first premiered in October 2016, in promotion of their then-upcoming second studio album, ''
The Boy Who Died Wolf
''The Boy Who Died Wolf'' is the second studio album by American rock band Highly Suspect. It was recorded in Bogotá, Colombia and Brooklyn, New York. The album's lead single "My Name Is Human" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock cha ...
''.
The song was later released as the second single from the album, along with a music video, on April 26, 2017.
Themes and composition
''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' described the song as an "anthemic love song".
Frontman Johnny Stevens described that, like all of the songs from the album ''The Boy Who Died Wolf'', the lyrics were self-referential to things the band had gone through in the years leading up to the album's release.
He described it as a "heartbreak song", stating that the lyrics "Hey, little one, I'm so scared of what this could have been/ I know that today I lost my only friend" refer to his own accidental self-sabotage of a woman he was romantically involved with in the past.
Music video
The song's music video refers to the same thematic material as the song lyrics, involving a character's reaction to lost love.
The video stylistically takes after a 1980s themed
cop drama
The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eithe ...
, frontman Johnny Stevens, distraught by lost love, goes about a retail store, trashing many of its items, while bassist Rich Meyer and drummer Ryan Meyer play cops who are in his pursuit.
The video culminates with the policeman capturing Stevens and dragging him out of the store, just as the woman he was distraught about, Madison Parker, arrives, and looks at Stevens, without interest.
The scene was meant to be symbolic of the real life events; Parker is the real life woman Stevens wrote the song about, while the cops (played by band members) dragging him away symbolizes the band getting in the way of the relationship.
The band said the video's style was made out of inspiration of videos like
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
's
"Thriller" music video, with the band preferring videos with plots over basic performance-based videos.
Reception
Loudwire
''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...
named it the 12th best
hard rock song of 2017.
Personnel
* Johnny Stevens – vocals, guitar
* Rich Meyer – bass
* Ryan Meyer – drums
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{authority control
2017 songs
2017 singles
300 Entertainment singles
Highly Suspect songs