Daughtry

Daughtry is a rock band from North Carolina, USA, named after the lead singer. A fourth-place runner-up of American Idol Season 5, Chris Daughtry decided to form his own band after the show, rejecting Fuel's offer of a lead position.

The band rose to fame with their first single, "It's Not Over", as well as their self-titled debut album. Daughtry was produced under the labels of 19 Entertainment and RCA Records and stayed at #1 on the Billboard 200 for two weeks straight, making it the number one selling album of 2007 as well as the fastest-selling debut rock album in Soundscan history.

Albums:

• Daughtry (2006)
• Leave This Town (2009)
• Break the Spell (2011)
• Baptized (2013)
• Cage To Rattle (2018)
• Dearly Beloved (2021)

Tropes:

• After the End: "Artificial" takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where science has evolved enough to create android copies of humans.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Chris says that "Artificial" is about the idea of humans being replaceable and A.I. becoming a nightmare; that the loss of the human touch means the loss of creativity, heart, and soul, and that the creative arts should be protected from it or risk being destroyed. The song as a whole paints Artificial Intelligence as a killer of mankind that should be feared. The official music video shows Chris being studied in a lab and reveals that the scientists have built a Cyborg copy of him. The first thing that the cyborg does is kill Chris.
  Welcome to your WORST NIGHTMARE
  Days are getting dark, you should be scared
  It doesn't have a heart, plug into the new you
  Don't resist 'cause it's no use, it's no use
  It's digital warfare
  The death of who we are is right here
  It's never gonna stop, plug into your new soul
  Ice cold, mechanical, artificial
• Anti-Love Song:
  • "Break The Spell", of the subliminal variety.
    I'm so addicted to the pain,
    Got your poison running through my veins,
    The way you pull me in,
    The way you chew me up,
    The way you spit me out
  • "Outta My Head", of the lovesick variety.
    Ain't no doubt about it
    I can't live without it
    Tried to forget you
    But I can't get you outta my head
  • "Break Into My Heart" is another subliminal song, starting off sounding like the singer is wishing to feel love again, but then turns to focus on all the negative feelings associated with love.
    So break in to my heart
    Let me feel the blood rush in
    Break in to my heart
    I need to feel the pain again
    Tear it up and bruise it
    Wreck it and abuse it
  • "Somebody", another of the lovesick variety.
    Cause when I'm alone I don't do so well
    And on my own you know it hurts like hell
    It cuts to the bone every time I leave
    Without you next to me
• Album Title Drop:
  • The title of their second album 'Leave This Town' Leave' is uttered in the bridge for "September".
  • The title of their fifth album is dropped in "Death Of Me":
    Another day, another battle
    We all have a cage to rattle
• The Alcoholic: Sarah, the main character of the 'Over You' music video is one. Her drinking problem causes herself and her boyfriend to get in a car crash and the video ends with her seeking help at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
• Audience Participation: Chris’ been known to ask the audience to sing along (either as a call and response or just letting them have the chorus), even joking with them that it doesn’t matter what they sing as long as they sing^note This is calling out the constantly misheard lyric for "Home", "I'm going home", not "I'm coming home".
• Be Careful What You Wish For: 'Home'. The song follows the narrator as he looks back at abandoning his old life and deciding to return to it, even Name Dropping the trope.
• Blood from the Mouth: In the music video for "Pieces" Chris gets punched in the face at several points, resulting in him spitting blood from his mouth each time.
• Break-Up Song:
  • "Over You" deals with the difficulties of getting over someone.
  • "No Surprise": The narrator finally finds the nerve to end the relationship where there is nothing to save.
    It's no surprise. I won't be here tomorrow
    I can't believe that I stayed 'til today
    There's nothing here in this heart left to borrow
    There's nothing here in this soul left to save
• Cover Version:
  • Chris covered Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" as a part of The Passion live musical in 2016.
  • They covered Sia's "Alive" after Chris performed it on The Masked Singer.
  • At one of his performances on the Dearly Beloved tour, Chris covered The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights".
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: The official music video for "Waiting for Superman" shows a presumably homeless man doing a number of good deeds for various people across the city he's in, to include pushing a woman out of the way of being hit by a bicyclist, chasing and collaring a purse-snatcher, pulling a suicidal man to safety from off a ledge, and chasing off some bullies who're picking on a teenage girl. Not all of the victims are thankful, and in at least two instances he's mistaken for being up to no good by the cops and almost arrested, but the teenage girl at least demonstrates appreciation for what he's done for her at the end of the video.
• Cyborg: The music video for "Artificial" shows that scientists built a cyborg-looking android version of Chris.
• Destructive Romance:
  • "It's Not Over":
    This love is killing me,
    But you're the only one.
  • "Crawling Back To You", "What Have We Become" are similar.
  • "Bad Habits" likens the relationship to, well, bad habits.
  • "Battleships":
    And I don't want to fight this war
    Bullets coming off our lips
    But we stick to our guns and we love like battleships.
• Dress Rehearsal Video: "September" has the band performing in an empty theater accompanied by video projections of the band members in their youth.
• Dual-Meaning Chorus: "Cry For Help" is a song expressing that, when things become too much, it’s okay to "cry for help" — meaning both physically crying and sending a distress signal to others.
• Egocentric Team Naming: The band is named after lead singer Chris Daughtry, justified because it was easier to get started with the name recognition he had gained from his appearance on American Idol than it would have been if the band had chosen an obscure name[1].
• Every Car Is a Pinto: When Crhis' car crashes at the beginning of the music video for "Pieces", the car instantly erupts into a ball of fire, despite crashing into a forest.
• Greatest Hits Album: Had one of these released in 2016 called 'It's Not Over...The Hits So Far'
• Growing Up Sucks: "September" is about growing up and losing a friendship/romance.
• Homesickness Hymn: "Home" takes a less severe look at touring weariness: while the narrator is tired of being on the road and wants to go home to his significant other, he insists that he's "not running" and doesn't "regret this life I chose for me" — he's just tired and wants to rest.
• I Am What I Am: "Pieces" is about learning to accept all of yourself, no matter how broken you are, nor what demons you face.
  And I'm trying to cope, at the end of my rope
  While I'm doing the best that I can
  To live with the broken pieces of me
  That were shattered, can't stop the bleeding
  I'll never get over it, it's hard to move on
  But I'm learning to live with the pieces of me
• "I Hate" Song: "Traitor."
  I should feel sorry for you
  Watching you drown in your denial
  But I can't feel sorry for you
  Watching you drown 'cause you're a traitor
• In the Back: "Traitor"'s chorus mentions being stabbed in the back as a figurative expression to state just how severe the betrayal is.
  You put the knife right in my back
  Killed any history we had
  And now it's war
• It's Okay to Cry: The chorus of "Cry For Help" expresses that it’s okay to both physically cry and to ask others for help.
  Cry for help, cry like rain
  Let it fall down your face
  Let the dam break
  Cry for help, ease the pain
  When you can't hold the weight
  It's okay, yeah
  To cry for help
• Kill and Replace: The end of the video for "Artificial" shows Chris being killed by an android copy of him, with the android taking his place as the band's lead singer.
• Love Is a Drug: "Bad Habits" compares love to smoking and drinking.
• Love Is Like Religion: "Baptized."
  Take me down, take me down by the water, water,
  Pull me in until I see the light,
  Let me drown, let me drown, in you honey, honey,
  In your love I wanna be baptized
• Love Makes You Evil: "Evil" is about the singer falling for a woman who is a bad influence, calling her the devil at one point, which drags him down to "The Dark Side of life".
• Lyrical Dissonance:
  • "Break The Spell" is a tender Anti-Love Song.
  • "Battleships" is an upbeat song about The Masochism Tango.
• Lyric Video:
  • The lyric video for "Waiting For Superman" uses comic book style pop-art.
  • "Alive" has a nature-themed lyric video.
  • The lyric video for "Lioness" has the lyrics appear in the open jaw of a lioness.
  • "Artificial" is very tech-themed, the lyrics appearing over a screen that shows scans and has occasional glitches.
• Lyrical Cold Open: "Asylum" opens straight with Chris singing the first two lines before the rest of the band joins in.
• Masochism Tango: "Battleships".
  And I don’t wanna fight this war
  Bullets coming off our lips
  But we stick to our guns and we love like battleships
• Melismatic Vocals:
  • Featured in "Broken Arrows", where Chris dances along on the second syllable for "arrows".
  • "Traitor" has the long-sung notes on "war".
  • Less prominent, but the chorus for "Desperation" is also melismatic on "home" and "bones".
• Misery Builds Character: "Somebody" takes this attitude that suffering is good for you.
  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
  What doesn't hurt just isn't real, oh yeah
  The in between I learned to suffer
  Reminding me how to feel
• New Sound Album: The 'Baptized' album is poppier and stripped-down than their previous work. This album also added some folk elements to their sound.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: "Waiting For Superman" is about a man who wanders the city doing good deeds. When he knocks down a woman who was about to be hit by a cyclist, the woman yells at him for shoving her, having not noticed the cyclist. When he stops a purse snatcher, he gets roughed up by security guards who assumed he was in league with him. When he pulls a suicidal man away from the ledge, the man yells at him. Finally, he saves a girl from street thugs and returns her to her mother, but a man who witnessed the event calls the police and he is nearly arrested until the girl and mother vouch for him. The girl gives him a hug, causing him to smile and consider it Worth It.
• One-Word Title:
  • Baptized and Daughtry are both one-word titled albums.
  • About half of the band's songs' titles are only one word.
• Pep-Talk Song:
  • "Backbone":
    We all fall on hard times, you know
    Each day is a high climb, you know
    Some days your body has to carry on
    So you gotta show a little backbone
  • "Torches":
    We keep waiting on a day that never comes and never comes
    Too late is not a thing and we just gotta be strong
    Love is like a torch that's burning bright
    Carry it on, carry it on and you'll see
    Fire will shine a light on the darkest side
• Performance Video:
  • The music video for "Crawling Back To You" is essentially the band performing in an abandoned parking lot.
  • "Deep End" shows the band performing in a place with lots of laser lights.
  • "Artificial" shows the band performed on a ruined building in a post-apocalyptic world.
• The Power of Love: "Desperation" is about love being the be-all-end-all solution to humanity's and society's problems and challenges.
  Love to come and lead us home
  Love is gonna mend these bones
  Desperation calls for love
• Race for Your Love: The first verse in "Life After You" mentions doing so.
  Believe me I won't stop at nothing
  To see you so I've started running
• Rage Against the Reflection: The end of "Pieces" includes Chris punching various mirrors, destroying the man that was not accepting of his faults.
• Raised Lighter Tribute:
  • Referenced in their song "Long Live Rock & Roll"
    "So throw your lighters up and darling sing with me tonight"
  • Invoked by Chris himself at one concert where he told the audience to hold up their phones, lighters, or "whatever you got that lights up" while he played "Home". He jokingly refused to play the song until enough lights were up, instead singing the following to the tune of "Home":
    I'm gonna need more phones
    I'm gonna need more phones
    I'm not gonna play this song until I get more phones
    I'm talking to you right here I know you got more phones
• Real Men Love Jesus: Chris Daughtry is a practicing Christian.
• The Runner-Up Takes It All: Daughtry's sold somewhere around 50 million albums worldwide. Taylor Hicks, that season's winner, was dropped by Arista Records after his debut album and hasn't been seen much, if at all, since.
• Self-Titled Album: Their debut album is titled "Daughtry".
• Silly Love Songs: "Crashed", "Supernatural", "Baptized", "High Above The Ground", "I'll Fight", "Just Found Heaven", "As You Are"...
• Shout-Out: The promotional single 'Long Live Rock n Roll' gives a shout-out to many classic rock musicians and some of their hit songs, as well as The 27 Club.
• Song of Song Titles: "Long Live Rock & Roll" is a tribute to the genre, with almost every line having a reference in one way or another. Seven of those references are either the title or a lyric to a rock song including: "Rock and Roll All Nite" (KISS), "Don't Stop Believin'" (Journey), "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (Def Leppard), "Summer of '69" (Bryan Adams), "Runnin' Down a Dream" (Tom Petty), "Livin' On A Prayer" (Bon Jovi) and of course, "Long Live Rock N Roll" (Rainbow).
• Stalker with a Crush: The music video for "Outta My Head" comes off as this, with Chris chasing a woman through the city and eventually culminating into a Chase Scene with her on a motorcycle and Chris in a Dodge Charger. Subverted in that it turns out she left her cell phone and he was trying to give it back to her.
• Title Track: "Break the Spell", "Baptized", and "Dearly Beloved" are all songs on albums with the same name.
• Unplugged Version:
  • They released an Broken Down version of "Pieces" which is just Chris performing with an acoustic guitar.
  • The band's Bare Bones Tour in 2023 was completely acoustic: drums, a piano, and four acoustic guitars.
  • The deluxe version of Daughtry contains acoustic versions of both "Home" and "What About Now".
  • The Baptized album included a bonus acoustic version of "Battleships".
  • On October 1st, 2023, the band released a version of "Artificial" dubbed the "Bare Bones Edition" as it's a recording of a live performance from the aforementioned acoustic tour.
  • April 25th, 2024 saw the release of a "Broken Down" version of their latest single, "Pieces". It's an acoustic rendering of the song performed solo by Chris.
• Uptown Girl: "High Above The Ground":
  I'm a small-town kid and you're an uptown girl
• We Used to Be Friends: "Traitor."
  We were just like brothers
  And we had each other
  We were down for the good times
  We were there for the troubles
  Like a thief in the night
  Broad daylight
  You stole my sanity
  Now you are the enemy