Stubborn

**Stubborn** is RIELL's fourth release of 2020, as well as the first track on her album PARADISE. It was released February 20, 2020.

Listen to **Stubborn**

## Theme

**"Stubborn** was inspired after dating someone who threatened to commit suicide if I ever tried to leave him but refused to get professional help. It comes from an insecure need to feel needed and a desire to fix people surrounding me, almost like playing God. Tatiana Zagorac and I wrote the chorus together where it’s a conversation between myself and the low pitched voice that is the person I’m trying to change who ultimately ends up being myself. It’s being too stubborn to acknowledge red flags about people, including myself. The music video further elaborates that sometimes you can be your own worst enemy because you are free to choose your actions, but you are not free of their consequences."

"**Stubborn** was inspired about the concept of flawed people and how that can come in many shapes and forms. I found myself consistently looking for emotionally unavailable or broken people to date and trying to ‘fix’ them as if such a thing were possible, and I think I kind of did that because it made me feel emotionally whole or something. If I was the one fixing somebody else, that must mean I didn’t need to be fixed, but the opposite was true. It’s a song to the people I tried to ‘fix’ which turned out to foundationally be myself. The video further illustrates this as it is an outward conflict between my younger me, present me, and future me."

When asked about how it was different from her past works, RIELL said that, "**Stubborn** is the first track I’m releasing as a solo artist as opposed to my past collab work. It is the first track I’ve co-produced, as well as my first music video. **Stubborn** is a lot of firsts for me which made it different from my past songs as I’m starting to be able to explore and come into my own as an individual artist. It’s also a lot poppier than the EDM songs I’ve been releasing as a set up for some of the full on pop songs off my upcoming record **PARADISE**."

## Lyrics

[Verse]

Tell me a secret, I promise you I’ll take it to the grave

Tell me your nightmares, I promise I won’t run, I’ll be brave

I have a desire to dance close to the edge of disaster

And I can feel it locked within you but you are hardly its’ master, oh no

[Chorus]

Broke my back to make you change

(I never wanted to, never wanted to be saved)

I pushed, you always made way

(I always wanted you, yeah wanted you to stay)

Just can’t watch you burn

(I’m just so)

But you never learn

(You’re just so)

Stubborn

(Don’t be so, don’t be so)

[Verse]

I went in blind, I thought I could fix you but it’s not what you wanted

You took my hand and step by step you lead me farther

To no man’s land, past the point of no return

And I stayed there, thinking I could resist you further, oh no

[Chorus]

Broke my back to make you change

(I never wanted to, never wanted to be saved)

I pushed, you always made way

(I always wanted you, yeah wanted you to stay)

Just can’t watch you burn

(I’m just so)

But you never learn

(You’re just so)

Stubborn

(Don’t be so, don’t be so)

Stubborn

[Bridge]

You know that I like the rush

I know that you like the pain

We shouldn’t get to pick and choose what parts to throw away

I could tell you were a phase

You always knew you wouldn’t change

We both know I needed you the way you needed me

You know that I like the rush

I know that you like the pain

We shouldn’t get to pick and choose what parts to throw away

I could tell you were a phase

You always knew you wouldn’t change

We both know I needed you the way you needed me

Don’t be so, Don’t be so

[Chorus]

Broke my back to make you change

(I never wanted to, never wanted to be saved)

I pushed, you always made way

(I always wanted you, yeah wanted you to stay)

Broke my back to make you change

(I never wanted to, never wanted to be saved)

I pushed, you always made way

(I always wanted you, yeah wanted you to stay)

Just can’t watch you burn

(I’m just so)

But we never learn

(You’re just so)

Stubborn

Don’t be so

Stubborn

## Background

* An acoustic version of Stubborn was released on May 8, 2020.

* RIELL performed a song on November 24th, 2017 at Sofar Krakow, which has very similar lyrics to **Stubborn** and may be an earlier version of the song.

## Sources

1. ↑ https://genius.com/18920290
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.thehypemagazine.com/2020/03/riell-shares-new-juxtaposing-solo-debut-stubborn/
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cT8fs7O2Rs