Songfacts®:

• This is the first single from American alternative rock band Lifehouse's fifth studio album, Smoke and Mirrors.
• "Halfway Gone" was co-written by Lifehouse lead singer Jason Wade, Kevin Rudolf and producer Jude Cole (Rocco Deluca, Beth Orton, MoZella). Rudolf came onto the scene in 2008 with his international hit single "Let It Rock." The song's success led him to work with Kris Allen, Alison Iraheta and Cobra Starship. As a singer-songwriter Jude Cole had five US Top 40 hits in the 1990s including the #16-peaking "Baby, It's Tonight." He later became Lifehouse's manager and has co-written several other songs with Jason Wade.
• Wade told Billboard magazine: "A good year and four months into making the record, we didn't feel like we had that leadoff single." He added, noting that Cole was a big fan of "Let It Rock": "We wanted to experiment sonically and just come up with a fresh sound for Lifehouse, and Kevin really added that. He added this really modern edge to what we do."
• Lifehouse recorded Smoke and Mirrors between tour dates, whereas in the past, the band tended to take a break from touring in order to record an album. Frontman Jason Wade explained to Billboard magazine: "I'd say a good six years out of the 10 years we've been a band has been out on the road. The process was a little bit different for us in that we would record Monday through Friday and fly out to do a gig over the weekend. So we basically never got off the road."
  
  Jude Cole added that the first few songs the band recorded embodied the edgier sound of the band's live show, while the rest of the tracks, such as this one, were planned more with radio in mind. He explained: "We had taken a little bit of time off (from recording), and when we went back into the studio - I think because they weren't coming fresh off the road - it was more like, 'I'm kind of in the mood to write something that's radio-worthy."