Haunted

Album

High Road, The

Label

RCA Records Nashville

Genre

Country rock

Composer(s)

Kane Brown;Jaxson Free;Gabe Foust

Entered Chart

Feb 8, 2025

Peak Date

Feb 8, 2025

Released

January 24, 2025

There is a particular art to writing about depression in popular music. Too somber, and you risk sending everyone into a spiral of gloom. Too lighthearted, and it starts to sound as if the songwriter thinks an existential crisis can be solved with a well-placed key change. Kane Brown attempts that balance with "Haunted," a song that marries the perks of stardom - California king beds, unreleased sneakers, the occasional Maserati - with the kind of bone-deep despair that no level of luxury can alleviate. The song is about feeling unseen despite being constantly in the public eye. Brown, whose face has been beamed onto jumbotrons and album covers worldwide, describes the eerie sensation of being a "ghost," a presence without real substance. It's the sort of paradox that reminds us that even the most successful people can feel like they're screaming into the void - except, of course, with considerably better wardrobe choices. "'Haunted' is a song that I wrote about depression," Brown explained. "It's about everything that I go through, and I know a lot of people that go through as well. It's really just a song that I wanted to put out there just to cause awareness, because if you don't go through it then you're not going to understand it, and I feel like this song sums it up quite a bit, and my boy Jelly Roll jumped on it just to turn it up even more." Brown recruited Jelly Roll to join him on the track, a man who has built an entire career on turning his demons into hit records. Brown felt his fellow Tennessean brought the song to another level. "I tell him that he's the 'mad' depressed and I'm the 'sad, in-the-corner' depressed. I think it's perfect," he said. The partnership between Brown and Jelly Roll was not always so chummy. Brown spent years under the impression that Jelly Roll actively disliked him. The misunderstanding, as it turns out, stemmed from Brown's naturally reserved personality. A mutual friend, songwriter Taylor Phillips, finally cleared the air by pointing out to Jelly Roll that Brown wasn't aloof, just quiet. Brown then sent an olive-branch text that was equal parts emotional support and video game invite: "Hey buddy, this industry's crazy. If you ever need to sit down and talk to me, or play Call of Duty." The rest, as they say, is history. A few late-night FaceTime calls, a handful of virtual battles, and a shared love of melancholia later, the two became fast friends, eventually culminating in their duet on "Haunted." Brown wrote "Haunted" with Gabe Foust and Jaxson Free. Gabe Foust is a songwriter and producer from Terre Haute, Indiana. The childhood best friend of Kane Brown, he moved to Nashville with him. Foust's other Brown writing credits include "Fiddle In The Band," "I Can Feel It" and "Gorgeous." Jaxson Free is a songwriter, artist, and producer from Raleigh, North Carolina. He's penned several Kane Brown hits, including "Thank God" and "Whiskey Sour." Brown, Foust and Free penned the song at a writer's retreat in London in what appeared to be a haunted hotel. Brown immediately seized on the atmosphere. "What if we write a song called 'Haunted'?" he remembered to Apple Music. "Then I was like, 'It could just be about our depression.' I always try to get dark with my writers, and sometimes they're like, 'Well, that's too dark.' I'm like, 'Is it, though?'"

Wakin' up in cold sweat
California King bed
Got the diamond ring set
Shoes that ain't released yet
Maserati sports car
Singin' songs that everybody knows
On a guitar
They say I'm a superstar

But, oh (oh)
I still got this feeling in my bones (bones)
Happens every time that I'm alone
Part of me is feelin' like a ghost
Whoa

'Cause I'm haunted by the voice in my head
I'm haunted by the taste of that lead
I wanted too many times to jump off of the edge
Thinkin' I was better off dead
I'm haunted only every other night
I'm haunted, and I wish I knew why
I wanted too many times to be gone by the mornin'
If I'm honest
Yeah, I'm haunted
Whoa, yeah
Yeah, I'm haunted (I'm haunted, I'm haunted)

If I'm bein' real
I spent my whole life escapin' the pills
If I'm bein' real
I think I was happier when I couldn't pay the bills
If I'm bein' real (if I'm bein' real)
I'm searchin' for purpose
I feel wealthy but worthless
If I'm bein' real
I don't know if it's worth it

'Cause I'm haunted by the voice in my head
I'm haunted by the taste of that lead
I wanted too many times to jump off of the edge
Thinkin' I was better off dead
I'm haunted only every other night
I'm haunted, and I wish I knew why
I wanted too many times to be gone by the mornin'
If I'm honest
Yeah, I'm haunted
Oh
I'm haunted

If I'm bein' real
I spent my whole life escapin' the pills
If I'm bein' real
If I'm bein' real

'Cause I'm haunted by the voice in my head (yeah, I'm haunted)
I'm haunted by the taste of that lead (I'm oh, so haunted)
I wanted too many times to jump off of the edge
Thinkin' I was better off dead (was better off dead)
I'm haunted only every other night (whoa)
Haunted, and I wish I knew why (wish I knew)
I wanted too many times to be gone by the mornin' (by the mornin')
If I'm honest
Yeah, I'm haunted (I'm haunted, I'm haunted)

(Haunted)
(Haunted)
(Haunted)
(Haunted)
(Haunted)