Sunsets & Full Moons

Editors’ Notes “There are so many starts and finishes to life,” The Script’s frontman Danny O’Donoghue tells Apple Music. “There are beginnings and ends. It really has been for us this year.” It’s been a time of heartache for the Irish band, and they’ve not shied away from that on their reflective—but uplifting—sixth album. “We had an ethos: Let's just reflect and write lyrics that feel deeper and more introspective than anything we've done before,” adds guitarist Mark Sheehan. The concept calls back to some of the trio’s history. “There's always a juxtaposition within the title,” says O’Donoghue. “Mark came up with a day and night concept: We have uptempo songs which have a nightclubby style, then the daytime is more reflective and easy listening.” Whether it’s the euphoria of “Something Unreal” or the tender ode to friendship “Run Through Walls,” there’s plenty of heart in each song. “After a breakup or the death of a loved one, you may go to a very dark place, but know that as dark as night gets, the sun is coming the next morning,” says O’Donoghue. “This year, it has been that. It's been life and death. It's been sun and moon. It's been everything.” Let the pair guide you through the tracks.

Something Unreal
Danny O’Donoghue: “This song came along very early in the recording of the album and we'd come up with the concept of sunsets and full moons. It's about sitting at home, checking through newspapers, clicking through sites and not feeling like you're connected to anything. You’re trying to get as many hearts [likes on social media] as you want. I would prefer one broken heart in my hands than a million digital hearts, and that's what this song is about. It's the feeling that there's something more out there than the screen in front of you. Go out and feel something that’s unreal.”

The Last Time
Mark Sheehan: “We thought it was a cool play on words, because when you're in that moment with somebody and you said that it would last, how come it's the last time? It's a way of thinking that somebody has miscommunicated something to you. They made you feel that they were going to be around forever, but they're walking out the door. In that song, we focus on the nuances of miscommunication. While a person is standing in front of you, saying one thing, they're playing with their chain or biting their lip. Sometimes what your mouth is saying and what your body is saying are two different things.”

Run Through Walls
DO’D: “This one's a hyper-personal song. Earlier this year, I lost my mum. She passed away on the 8th of February. We buried her on Valentine's Day, the same day we buried my father, 12 years to the day. I guess the comparisons are eerie, but when you're going through a very rough time like that, there's only one thing that'll get you through that, and that's your friends and family. I know now who my friends are, and I now know what the importance of life is; everything came into very sharp focus. It's an open love letter to those people who go above and beyond for people who are in need. Every one of my mates now knows that I'd run through walls for them.”

If You Don’t Love Yourself
MS: “We had this little poem that we wrote saying, ‘How can you love if you don't love yourself? If you don't love yourself, you can love no one else.’ We realized that a lot of time, young people don't like themselves. It’s a bit shocking to us because, to like anyone else, you've got to like yourself first. It's a hard concept to grasp, particularly for a young person. We want to have a positive message out there and use our music now and then, like 'Superheroes,' we wanted a song on the record that was super positive.”

Hurt People Hurt People
DO’D: “When Mark came in with the lyric, it was one of those moments that I remember just like when he comes in and goes, ‘When a heart break, it don't break even.’ As a songwriter, this is absolute gold to me. The idea behind the song is that the people who are bullying people and are angry towards others, maybe they've been bullied and people are angry at them. Maybe they're getting it at home and they're bringing it in school or the workplace and on and on it goes. We've all been in a relationship where you don't know why but there's angst within the relationship. I've been with people in the past who hurt me, but on examination, I know that they've been hurt as well. If you love that person and you want them to get rid of that hurt, then please just lay it all on me.”

Same Time
MS: “The idea behind ‘Same Time’ is when you’re away from someone that you're in love with and they're in a different country, no matter what time of day, there's a point when they know that you're thinking about them at the same time. It's almost like you can feel that energy, that you know another human is out there thinking about you because you're thinking about them. There's a weird little energy we wanted to try to bottle up and capture in this song.”

Underdog
DO’D: “If you compared this to any other songs, it'd be like ‘Superheroes’ or ‘Hall of Fame’ in the feeling that it evokes. I'm a massive fight fan and I always hear the word 'underdog.' Anybody who's slated and the bookies are against them, I like those types of characters. And I believe—even still to this day—we're underdogs. When you can go against the odds, there’s something awesome in that. This song felt like it would fit into one of our sets, and the emotion it evokes is huge. We've got everything from the sound of a bell, like in a fight, to us all acting like dogs barking underneath it. I challenge you right now to try and listen to this song and not either work out, go for a jog, or punch somebody in the face!”

The Hurt Game
MS: “This is about what goes on in a bad relationship where it's like you're part of a game. Like Dan says earlier about ‘Underdog,’ it's like being involved in the fight industry. You always know somebody—no matter what—is going to get hurt. Even though you're throwing abuse or negative energy at somebody else, it unfortunately comes back to you. This song deals again with the nuances of miscommunication and the intention to hurt somebody else but in turn really hurting yourself.”

Hot Summer Nights
DO’D: “On the last song on the album, we make the comparison between a summer romance finishing and an actual romance finishing. There’s very minimalistic production on it, so it's very laidback. Some of my favorite lyrics in it are ‘We were sitting there with one ear both listening to hip-hop because life is so much better in flip-flops/Got my heart like a postcard always wishing you were here.’ At the very end, there's an ad-lib which leads into the name of the title of the album, so it tops and tails the start and the end of the album.”