"Won't Stand Down" is a song by English rock band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

. Released as a single on 13 January 2022, it is their first single from '' Will of the People'', their ninth studio album. It topped the UK Rock & Metal chart and reached number 56 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game or other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release, but eventually became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have ...

in the United States, reaching number 1 on ''

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''s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in May 2022, becoming the first Muse song to do so.

Release

On 25 December 2021,

lead singer and guitarist

Matt Bellamy Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English singer, songwriter and producer. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and lyricist for the English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccentric stage persona, wide tenor vocal ...

held a brief livestream on the official Muse

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account. In the video, he can be seen driving his Tesla on Autopilot mode, with his 10-year-old son Bing in the passenger seat. The pair are listening (and, in Bing's case, headbanging) to a then-unreleased Muse song, entitled "Won't Stand Down" on the car stereo screen, while Matt provides occasional commentary over the track. In total, the livestream previewed a roughly one-minute-long section of the song. Muse's own Instagram account hinted towards the release of a new single in a post on 31 December, initially uploaded with the caption "Looking forward to WSD. We'll see you on the other side!" before "WSD" was changed to "2022" after a few minutes. The release of "Won't Stand Down" as a single was officially confirmed by Muse on 7 January 2022, with the release date set for 13 January on all digital platforms. On 9 January, a further snippet of the song, this time consisting of the opening verse, was posted to Muse's

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account as well as a "Won't Stand Down"-themed Instagram Stories mask filter.

Writing and composition

Musically, the song has been described as heavy metal,

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

, and

electronic rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...

. Prior to release, the song was described as Muse's "heaviest material yet", featuring a

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

breakdown. The song also contains "heavy guitars and industrial-like distortions", and "triplet-flow-type vocals in the verse". According to vocalist and guitarist

, "'Won't Stand Down' is a song about standing your ground against bullies, whether that be on the playground, at work or anywhere."

Artwork and music video

The digital artwork for "Won't Stand Down" was described as "dark and ominous", featuring a hooded priest-like figure hovering over ten disciples, figures wearing digital-style masks and gothic chandeliers. A short teaser of the music video was posted to Muse's

account on 9 January.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal Muse *

– lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, production * Chris Wolstenholme – bass, backing vocals, production * Dominic Howard – drums, production Production *Aleks Von Korff – additional production,

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* Dan Lancaster – mixing * Chris Gehringer – mastering *Rhys May – mixing assistant *Andy Maxwell – studio assistant *Joe Devenney – studio assistant *Tommy Bosustow – studio assistant *Chris Whitemyer – technical assistant *Paul Warren – technical assistant

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Awards and nominations

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2022 singles 2022 songs Muse (band) songs Songs written by Matt Bellamy British heavy metal songs British hard rock songs Electronic rock songs Metalcore songs