Shinedown’s single “Searchlight” gives the band their 22nd #1 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, extending their record for the most leaders in the ranking’s 45-year history. Beyond that, the song has a very personal meaning to frontman Brent Smith.
“‘Searchlight’ came from a lot of conversations that I was having with my son about him becoming a man, turning 18 … and how this world is waiting for him, but that your direction can change at any given moment,” Smith tells ABC Audio. “Your purpose can change, your story can change.”
With its chart success, “Searchlight” has something in common with 21 other Shinedown songs, though sonically it sticks out in the band’s catalog as it leans into more country music sounds. As Smith explains, though, it didn’t really start out that way.
“The demo was a different thing,” Smith recalls. “I knew the song wanted to be something else. I went in with [bassist] Eric [Bass] and I said, ‘Hey, I wanna recut the vocal. … I just need an acoustic, let me just show you what I’m talking about.’ Went in, did that, Eric was, like, ‘That’s the way you wanna go with this?’ And I’m, like, ‘I think that’s what it wants to be.'”
“Searchlight” isn’t an indication that Shinedown is “going country” — they have no plans to record a country album, and Smith says there isn’t another song like it on their upcoming album, EI8HT. Instead, the track reflects the ethos of the band.
“It’s something we’ve worked really, really hard at to be able to say that we can actually achieve, and that is: Shinedown is for everyone,” Smith says.
EI8HT is due out May 29. It also includes the singles “Dance, Kid, Dance,” “Three Six Five” and “Killing Fields.”
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