What Doesn't Kill You

Album: Shangri La (2013)
Charted: 44
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Songfacts®:

  • The lead single from Slumville Sunrise tells the true story of Jake and a friend getting turned over by some dealers. "That song was written after my mate Olly and myself were in Germany and came out of some place," Bugg recalled. "These guys asked if he wanted to buy some stuff, he went off with them and when he came back he'd been robbed. It wasn't a big thing, and where I'm from that happens all the time. But it sort of taught me that wherever you are in the world, that kind of thing goes on. So it was a small event for me and him, but the song itself is a large message."
  • Shangri La was named after producer Rick Rubin's Malibu studio where much of the album was recorded. Speaking about the decision to name the record after it, Bugg said: "I called the album Shangri La because it means a place of peacefulness and that's exactly what Rick's place feels like. Some people really worry about their second album. I've worked hard on it, but at the same time making this record has been like a holiday. Creatively, you can't help but feed off the studio's therapeutic atmosphere."
  • Bugg explained the meaning of the lyric, "my life would be a bunch of souvenirs," to Coup de Main magazine. "That's talking about how being on the road and living out of suitcases just keeps giving you lots and lots of souvenirs to put into storage," he said, "and not really having anything to do with them."

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