Listen to the full songs for work playlist.
This week’s tune is about following your own path and chasing after your dreams. If you’ve ever had a dream for the future, we recommend you listen to High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco.
As a kid I thought I would never make it. I only had dreams and fantasies of being a rock star, making cardboard cut-outs of a guitar, standing in front of my mirror just dreaming of the day. – Frontman Brendon Urie
A Song About Chasing Your Dreams
About the Band
Panic! At the Disco, an alternative pop/punk band, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Ryan Ross and Spencer Smith. Soon after, they invited Brent Wilson and Brandon Urie to join. Over the next couple of years, the band had their fair share of lineup changes as many split off on their own endeavors. As of 2021, the band has turned into the solo project of remaining member Brendon Urie. He continues to release music under the name Panic! At the Disco.
About the Song
In High Hopes, Urie talks about his childhood and the dream he had as a kid.
The first verse channels part of a conversation with my mom. She provided me with the confidence that I needed as an insecure little kid. And then the flip side is a dialogue with my own daughter. She comes home from school and we have these talks, and just like any other kid she has good days and bad days. There are fragments of those conversations in there as well. – Urie
The song was released on May 23, 2018, and produced by Jake Sinclair and Jonas Jeberg. It was co-written by Brendon Urie, Jenny Owen Youngs, Lauren Pritchard, Sam Hollander, William Lobban-Bean, Taylor Parks, Ilsey Juber, and Jonny Coffer. High Hopes achieved the rare chart feature of reaching #1 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs, Adult Pop Songs, and Pop Songs charts. Interestingly enough, this has only been done by the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” in 1998, Green Day’s “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” in 2005, and Gotye and Kimbra’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” in 2012. In 2021, the song surpassed one billion streams on Spotify.
Lyrics
Shooting for the stars when I couldn’t make a killing
Didn’t have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn’t know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Fulfill the prophecy
Be something greater
Go make a legacy
Manifest destiny
Back in the days
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Burn your biographies
Rewrite your history
Light up your wildest dreams
Museum victories, everyday
We wanted everything, wanted everything
All tied up, no more love and I’d hate to see you waiting
Shooting for the stars when I couldn’t make a killing
Didn’t have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn’t know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes (high, high hopes)
It’s uphill for oddities
Stranger crusaders
Ain’t ever wannabes
The weird and the novelties
Don’t ever change
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Stay up on that rise and never come down, oh
Stay up on that rise
Stay up on that rise and never come down
All tied up, no more love and I’d hate to see you waiting
They say it’s all been done but they haven’t seen the best of me
So I got one more run and it’s gonna be a sight to see
Shooting for the stars when I couldn’t make a killing
Didn’t have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Didn’t know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn’t make a killing
Didn’t have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn’t know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes (high, high hopes)
