Touching on the ideas of personal accountability, regret, and catch 22 of trying to fit in, Florida native metalcore band Royal Hearts bears it all with their new single “I Might Be Dead.”
There are few bands whose lyrics are as resonant, powerful and have an impacting effect upon the first few listens. Upon the first few opening lines of Royal Hearts' new single "I Might Be Dead," few lyrics hold such weight that connects with many on such a deep level. A melodically aggressive, nostalgic, and meditative experience, "I Might Be Dead" fine points the inner struggles of emptiness, incompleteness, and melancholy that are surely felt by many today.
“We decided to try and focus more on introspective ideas and the process of personal growth. In each of the last four singles, a slightly different step in growth is prevalent. With "Fairweather," the speaker is still projecting their unhappiness on others with a voice telling him that “desire won’t face away.” But as "TWHW" and "Six Feet In Conversation" came out, the discussion focuses even more inwards and delves into the notion of accountability and personal responsibility.
You can almost see that both of last year's singles are the same moment, but from two different perspectives: the first, taking accountability, and the second, trying to make someone finally take it."I Might Be Dead" is the next step in what I feel that cycle is. Like “Ok, I’ve taken responsibility, but everything is in such disrepair because of what I’ve done. So what do it do? ”
While this isn't the first single that Royal Hearts has written that had a sound, attitude, and outlook that connected many that felt the same way, their new single "I Might Be Dead" is expanding a story for the band that is very important to them, personal growth.
While their sound architects a style that is not new, Royal Hearts has expanded upon a nostalgic metalcore soundscape and has painted a brilliant new voice on a memorable scope of the genre. "I Might Be Dead " is not only showing that growth is prevalent when it comes to dealing with real-life issues, maturing within the band, and embracing the greater renaissance of nostalgic metalcore. It shows that Royal Hearts is firing on all cylinders, and the journey is just beginning.
What started Royal Hearts? What made you guys want to start making music?
Honestly, we met through a classifieds ad. We all just wanted to write music that reminded us of what we grew up listening to. Being kids of the early 2000s, we were all raised on Fuse, Myspace, and Hot Topic culture and wanted to create something that kept the spark of that alive.
What are your music influences? Your new single definitely has this nostalgic melodic metalcore to it.
We try to pull from a bunch of different influences, but all of them orbit core styles: Mike and Nelson bring a lot from bands like August Burns Red, Counterparts, TDWP, and a bunch of heavier, in-your-face bands. I personally pull more from the emo side of the 2000s, with bands like Silverstein, Senses Fail, and Thrice as some of my bigger influences for how I like to write and perform. We’ve been jokingly calling ourselves Emotive Metalcore because we really do try to instill a lot of thematic similarities to that 2000s vein, but try to keep it heavy (enough) to dance to at shows.
How was this creative process different from other singles you have worked on before? Last year I know you guys released "Six Feet In Conversation" and "These Words Have Weight." Instrumentally, those have some different kicks to them.
Interestingly enough, "These Words Have Weight" was the last song that we wrote while being in the same room together. In June of last year, I moved across the state with my wife and the three of us transitioned to a more remote style of writing. We still collaborate, in fact, I think we are more detailed in our writing now that we are establishing ideas using more fleshed-out demos and taking notes and discussing them. "Six Feet In Conversation" was the first song that was finished remotely. “I Might Be Dead,” was written entirely across the state from each other. The first time we all were in the same room together for this song was when we began recording it with our friend Javi Melo, who works with Revolt Entertainment out of Fort Lauderdale.
Lyrically your new single "I Might Be Dead" digs into the themes of positive reaffirmation. How we may feel like not going on to that next day or that next step in a healing process, but we still keep moving. Can we talk about that more? What made you guys want to write this single?
It’s a culmination of a few things, which started back with our first single, “Fairweather,” where we decided to try and focus more on introspective ideas and the process of personal growth. In each of the last four singles, a slightly different step in growth is prevalent. With "Fairweather," the speaker is still projecting their unhappiness on others with a voice telling him that “desire won’t face away.” But as "TWHW" and "Six Feet In Conversation" came out, the discussion focuses even more inwards and delves into the notion of accountability and personal responsibility. You can almost see that both of last year's singles are the same moment, but from two different perspectives: the first, taking accountability, and the second, trying to make someone finally take it.
"I Might Be Dead" is the next step in what I feel that cycle is. Like “Ok, I’ve taken responsibility, but everything is in such disrepair because of what I’ve done. So what do it do?”
The song as a whole takes that rock bottom and shows it as a ladder, “Moving forward even if I have to pretend,” internalizing a fake it ’til you make it approach, but in a genuinely positive way. The chorus, is that scream, that exclamation, “I might be dead but I’m still trying. Persevere in spite of my fears.” It’s totally common to feel defeated, but from our perspective, it’s imperative to keep on trying to make it through, both when we earn small victories and suffer from days riddled with anxiety and fear.
How has this new single impacted you on a personal level? I know you're a band that is very much about self-love and growth and your music has shown that over the past few years.
I think it’s solidified our ideology on what our music can do and what it should do. If a song is cathartic for us on that emotional level, then we know that it can be the same for someone else. We want to write music that is energetic and couple it with lyrics that can be motivational. The response we have gotten from it so far, just by showing it to family, friends, and our closest supporters has given us some validation, which is wonderful. I know that the further songs like “I Might Be Dead,” reach, the more people might find some sort of reinvigoration in its message.
What is next for you guys this year?
We’ve been discussing the second half of 2022, and there’s no doubt that we’ll be writing more music. We have a few songs in the works currently and we are making it a goal to keep performing steadily throughout the state. Hopefully, we will make it up north into the southeast as we keep moving forward.