Songfacts®:

• This is the first single to released from American Rock singer-songwriter Kevin Rudolf's third album. "It's the first song I wrote for this album and I wrote it right when I moved back to New York from L.A.," Rudolf said of the tune. "I was in L.A. doing a lot of writing and co-writing and production with other artists and I hadn't even worked on my own project for about a year. And I just picked up a guitar one day and this song completely came through me. And I didn't even feel like I wrote it." The song was made available on iTunes on April 17, 2012.
• The song was released on Cash Money, which is primarily a Hip-Hop label. However, Rudolf said the label's founders and co-CEOs, Ronald "Slim" Williams and Bryan "Birdman" Williams, are supportive of the his organic rock songwriting, as it represents who he is. "The thing about those guys is they just love real music," Rudolf said of the Williams brothers. "They're probably some of the few left in this game that just hear music as music and don't say, 'Where does this hit, what do we do with it how do we market it?'"
• The song's video was filmed during the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011.
• According to Rudolf, "the song really wrote itself." He told Artist Direct: "To me, it's a little bit U2 or Oasis in terms of vibe and feel. I can't even tell you where I'm coming from. I'm saying what I think people need to hear right now, which is what I needed to hear when I wrote it. It's very real, and it's got a life of its own."
• Rudolf explained the song's meaning to Artist Direct: "My message with 'Don't Give Up' is if you believe things will happen don't let anyone tell you they won't. Don't let anybody affect your ambition."