Shinedown - special (Official Audio)

The official YouTube channel of multi-platinum rock band: Shinedown. The group signed with Atlantic Records in 2001, releasing six studio albums including Billboard Top 10 double-platinum LP 'The Sound of Madness,' gold-certified 'Amaryllis,' gold-certified 'Threat To Survival,' and their most recent release, 'ATTENTION ATTENTION.'

Beyond sold out headline gigs worldwide and numerous festival headlining sets, Shinedown has been nominated for an American Music Award and Billboard Music Awards. The group has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide, has 11 platinum and gold singles, such as triple-platinum “Second Chance,” three #1 anthems “Bully,” “Unity,” and “Enemies,” and “GET UP,” “45," and "Devil." They have achieved four platinum and gold albums and averages more than 3.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify as one of the most listened-to rock bands on the platform with over 600 million streams, contributing to their more than 1 billion total overall streams to date.

[theroguequeen]

I think the best part of this song is the way they included 'get up' by the end of the song, it makes it a lot more powerful than it already was

[sarahsalway]

More than any of those ‘you can be anything’ songs out there, I find this song motivating and comforting to the extreme. I never felt inspired by the ‘special snowflake’ thing as a kid, only a tremendous pressure to BE somebody. The first time I heard this song, I nearly broke down for how much of a relief it was to realize I don’t have to be f-ing special! I can just be a damn human being, and that’s enough! Thank you so much for this song!!

[cassianojr]

I do not know why, but Shinedown has the power that no other band can do: the power to break into my heart and break it all down, and put it all over again. With this song I realized that. Thank you then!

[jacobsnow]

When he says you're not special, he means that all of us go through struggles, we all suffer, we all have to get up: you are not alone, you are not the only one who has suffered: you're not a special case: we all have to get up, we all have to keep going and fight for the faint of heart. We're all damaged, but we have to get ahead.
Attention Attention did not hand you the meanings of its songs: you have to really think about it or you'll miss the point entirely, which almost happened for me with this one. At first I thought "gee, that's real nice. Get up, but you ain't special". But in reality, it's an encouraging message: you are not some freak who suffered like no one else has. We're all suffering, we're all fighting to get by, so in that way, we're not special, which can honestly be exactly what you need to hear.
You just have to think about what he's saying, and it makes sense.

[idanbennaphtali]

I LOVE HOW EVERY TITLE IS CAPITALIZED BUT THIS ONE IS special

[Gunslingerwashere]

Expected a kickass album from Shinedown, got a brick wall of emotion thrown at my face.
10/10.

[KeblerKookies]

It's pretty rare when a band can make you truly feel the music they play, this song brings tears of joy along with uncontrollable emotions. That's fucking amazing. Love these guys.

[kristopherschermerhorn]

Definitely one of the most underrated Shinedown songs.

[amandarosee]

I love Brent's voice. I could listen to him sing all day. Can't wait to see them live in August.

[JD-jrnq]

Every time I hear this song I think everyone on the planet needs to hear it

[Officially_Bee]

They probably won't see, and no one probably cares, but shinedown means so much to me. They got me through a tough place in life and I'm so thankful that they're still putting out hit after hit. I can honestly say I don't dislike a single song they've put out. Also, I can honestly say this is my new favorite song by them. 💗

[ulysses_grant]

The connection between the songs is clear: Some compassioning love in "Get Up" and some tough love in "special". Because getting up itself is not enough, one needs to face the reality to keep moving on.

[jc]

Damn... heartwrenching. I can already tell this album will be one of their best. The message here is well said. For a concept album, this one I can really dig.

[jimh]

This album is amazing, just as I expected. It's a little poppy but it mixes so well with the heaviness and electronics. This is their masterpiece tbh

[ROOKIE_IX]

This song holds a real special place in my heart...

[Opixonic]

It's not uncommon for Shinedown's music to get deep, really deep. This song, however, just went complete meta-tier deep if you listen to the album in order, especially with Get Up right before this.

People are going to point out Get Up as the "top-40, Imagine Dragons" sounding song, where some people will imagine it as the music behind the credits at the end of a Disney movie. That was what I said when I first heard that. There will also be the people that are truly uplifted by it, because damn is it that sort of "feel good" tune that can put a smile on so many people's faces. It'll help a lot of people feel better. To actually get up and be happier. By itself, that's great, of course. Some might say it is too cheesy, too poppy though.

...However, maybe that was the point, because right after comes this welcome, and truly awesome sobering smack in the face. As if Shinedown actually made Get Up as poppy and uplifting sounding of a song as they possibly could, just to bring it back down to Earth and do a complete 180 right away. Musically, Special uses the same piano motif from Get Up, then even a very similar melody in the vocal line through the verse. Even that same "Get Up" line comes back again from time to time. However those same motifs from such an uplifting sounding song, now it all sounds...somber. Bittersweet. In terms of music theory, major keys are happy sounding and minor keys are more somber. Get Up is in the happy "C Major" key, whereas "Special" is in a more sad B minor key. The fact that the name of the song on this video is all lowercase, where the others are all caps isn't an accident either. Whereas Get Up had that Disney movie aspect, Special is the song that tells you that unlike a Disney movie, life isn't all peaches and cream. As the lyric says, "if you take it down a notch and you let me explain", we all have our demons to fight.

Then you go back to the concept of the record as a whole, where it really shines within these two songs. "Get Up" is this character in the story realizing they have the power to live again. We all have those days where everything feels right, nothing feels wrong. "Special" is the reminder that it's not always perfect though. On the wikipedia page for this album, an interview with Billboard is cited, one of the statements about the story within the album concerns the character "having to accept the fact that it's not always going to be great. It's not always going to be exactly the way you want it" (Thanks Wikipedia btw). These two songs are literally that in a nutshell. Nothing's perfect, but you still have to get up. We're not special in that we all have our demons to fight, but we're special in how we get up and rise from them. Our character truly is derived from adversity. Through the good and the bad, we have to keep going. We are defined by how we go about that.

Through musical motifs, lyrical motifs, a change in mood, the two songs really could act as one. Yes, there will be the great days, get up, rise and shine! then there's the bad days. Still have to get up and keep on keeping on. The underlying, connecting fabric of both songs that is the meat of the message in the album. Rise up from the fear, through the good and the bad. Keep moving on. Brent Smith's twitter bio even says "Deep breath...now move". Was that foreshadowing or something, Brent?

...yeah, Shinedown can get pretty deep with their music alright. Perhaps in even more awesome and interesting ways than even the most diehard Shinedown fan could expect from them. Well played.

[Sam-vbhp]

I think I'm in love with this album.
I've been pretty disappointed with the music being released over the last couple years from different bands, but despite Shinedown changing the sound, the soul and passion stayed.
And this song is something else. <3

[darthjager]

This song could silence the world, that’s an incredible achievement well done Shinedown.

[threesofthree]

This is one of the reasons I love Shinedown. There are a lot of really great motivational songs out there. Like Get Up off the new album, just as a current example. Upbeat and inspirational, and sometimes that’s what you need to get you up off the ground and get moving again. But then there are songs like this, which tend to be less common. Because sometimes what you really need is to be told that hey, everyone struggles. You’re not alone, you’re not special. Now get your ass off the ground and keep going.

[randompersononascooter]

I feel like “your not a god or a poet” was a powerful quote that made everyone think