High Hopes

The overarching theme of the Pray For The Wicked album is growth and maturity. Panic! At The Disco mainman Brendon Urie has seen the trials and tribulations of the music industry firsthand over the years as the other band members gradually left, leaving him the last remaining member. It was this tale of triumph over adversity that set the tone for the album. Had to have high, high hopes for a living Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision The song came from the beginning of a fresh realization for Urie that he'd been setting his bar too low amidst all the turbulence within the band. "I spent too long not setting my expectations high enough, worried about how it felt to fail," the singer explained. "I hit a point when I realized I had to aim high and fail, fail, fail in order to keep growing."

This song was years in the making and involved nine different songwriters. The "Mama said, don't give up" refrain was written by Tayla Parx (Fifth Harmony's "Bo$$," Normani's "Love Lies," Ariana Grande's "7 Rings" and "Thank U, Next") at a BMI writing camp in September 2016. Penned as an experimental motivational rock song as a nod to her beloved mom, Parxx gave the track to Panic! at the Disco after two years of looking for a vocalist. Brendon Urie then worked on the song with several other collaborators, including his producer, Jake Sinclair. Eventually, the massive chorus came together. It was clear the song had immense hit potential, but needed a storyline to tie it all together. This is when Sam Hollander, who had worked on the 2015 Panic! track "Emperor's New Clothes," came into the picture. Using the "mama said" theme, he came up with opening verse: Mama said Fulfill the prophecy Be something greater Go make a legacy Manifest destiny Back in the days We wanted everything, wanted everything "On 'High Hopes,' we were talking about Brendon's story and Brendon's journey, but I was also thinking about my own," he said in a Songfacts interview. "The first verse channels part of a conversation with my mom. She provided me with the confidence that I needed as an insecure little kid. And then the flip side is a dialogue with my own daughter. She comes home from school and we have these talks, and just like any other kid she has good days and bad days. There are fragments of those conversations in there as well." Along with Urie, Sinclair, Parxx and Hollander, the other writers who contributed to the song are Lolo (Lauren Pritchard), Jenny Owen Youngs, William Lobban-Bean, Ilsey Juber and Jonas Jeberg.

The dream of maintaining success in the music industry is something that Urie has felt from a young age. He told Topsify: "I want[ed] to talk about my childhood and having this dream as a kid. Making a cardboard cutout of a guitar and standing front of the mirror, dreaming of being on stage. Now it's come to fruition, and that is what ["High Hopes"] is about. It's [this] all encompassing idea of how it started and where I am now [and] the vision I had."