Green Day have just released another new song from their 12th studio album, Revolution Radio. “Still Breathing” is the California band’s poppiest cut from the album yet, while also being the most emotionally heavy.
In anticipation for the release of Revolution Radio, Green Day have been pelting fans with new material. We’ve already gotten to soak in “Bang Bang” and the album’s title track, both residing in the harder realm of Green Day’s sound. With “Still Breathing,” the pop punk legends have shifted to the more radio-friendly version of their “revolution” while maintaining that classic Green Day feel.
“Still Breathing” visits the lives of various personalities. It covers the existence of a junkie, a gambler, a single mother and a soldier whose stories are intertwined by Green Day’s songwriting. “That was a very heavy song,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong recently told Rolling Stone about “Still Breathing.” “Sometimes I run away from being too heavy. But sometimes it just comes out that way. The chorus, ‘I’m still breathing on my own’ alludes to the fact that ‘at some point, we’re all going to have to be on life support.’ As time goes on, your thoughts get darker.”
When confronted with the idea that fans will interpret “Still Breathing” as being autobiographical about Armstrong’s recent personal issues, the frontman spoke of turning his lyrical focus outward. “I’d rather write something where my eyes are forward, not so much internal,” the singer tells Rolling Stone. “I hope it makes people happy and creates a difference in some way, just by people recognizing themselves in the song.”
