Kane Brown & Jelly Roll – ‘Haunted’
Official Release Date: January 24th, 2025
Album: The High Road
Songwriters: Kane Brown, Gabe Foust & Jaxson Free
Kane Brown has never shied away from being vulnerable, but even so, ’Haunted’ finds the ’Miles On It’ singer-songwriter digging further than ever before as he delves into themes of depression and suicide on this powerful Jelly Roll collaboration.
Kane Brown first teased ‘Haunted’ in a 2024 discussion with Holler, with the title of the track being initially inspired during a stint at the UK’s Stock Exchange Hotel, which he felt had an eerie ambience. Of all the tracks on Brown’s 2025 album, The High Road, ‘Haunted’ is the perfect one for Jelly Roll to guest on, with the ’Save Me’ crooner accentuating the darkness and drama of the track with his raspy, charismatic delivery, as the duo trade verses on their mental health.
Kane Brown’s 2025 album, The High Road, is pervaded by a willingness to blur the lines between genres such as traditional country, R&B, EDM and much more. ‘Haunted’ is grounded in country, but with the help of Jelly Roll’s atmospheric vocals and gravitas, the brooding offering takes on a cinematic, rock-tinged energy.
The fact that the title is repeated throughout the hook and the outro gives it the feel of a persistent, invasive thought piercing the narrator’s peace, with the fiery electric guitars and deliberate drum pattern consolidating the angst and turbulence of this anthem.
“Waking up in cold sweats
California king beds
Got the diamond set
Shoes that ain’t released yet
Maserati sports car
Singing songs that everybody knows on the guitar
They say I’m a superstar”
In both their verses, Kane Brown and Jelly Roll explain that their fame, fortune and status have not eased the mental anguish they’ve experienced from a young age – if anything, they imply the material wealth on offer to them has intensified their problems.
The nod to ‘California King beds’ could be an Easter Egg reference to a line in Kane Brown’s ’Miles On It’ (“Just you and me in a truck bed wide like a California King / We could break it in if you know what I mean”) which is much more celebratory and carefree, emphasising the contrast with the more personal ‘Haunted’.
“But oh (Oh)
I still got this feeling in my bones (Bone)
Happens every time that I’m alone
Part of me is feeling like a ghost, oh-woah”
Kane Brown builds on the titular theme by describing the feeling of being ‘a ghost’, perhaps conveying his sense of hollowness and emptiness. Despite his success, he describes being dogged by a sense of detachment and numbness due to his mental struggles.
“’Cause I’m haunted by the voice in my head
I’m haunted by the taste of that lead
I wanted too many times to jump off the edge
Thinkin’ I was better off dead
I’m haunted only ever other night
I’m haunted and I wish I knew why
I wanted too many times to be gone by the mornin’
If I’m honest
Yeah, I’m haunted
Woah, yeah
Yeah, I’m haunted (I’m haunted)”
The hook is particularly striking and candid, with the protagonists admitting they’ve experienced suicidal thoughts, as is highlighted through the line, “haunted by the taste of that lead”, which seemingly refers to the act of putting a gun in one’s mouth. This theme of wanting to escape their demons through death continues over the course of the hook, but thankfully, in the broader narrative of the album on which ‘Haunted’ appears, the protagonist manages to overcome his depression.
“If I’m bein’ real
I spent my whole life escapin’ the pills
If I’m bein’ real
I think I was happier when I couldn’t pay the bills
If I’m bein’ real (If I’m bein’ real)
I’m searchin’ for purpose
I feel wealthy but worthless
If I’m bein’ real
I don’t know if it’s worth it”
Jelly Roll’s verse introduces a new dimension to these mental health struggles, with the Nashville native touching on a dependence on pills, before calling back to Kane Brown’s opening lines by confessing he thinks he was happier when he wasn’t as rich.
This mentality is underlined in the visceral lyric, “I’m searchin’ for purpose / I feel wealthy but worthless”. Although Jelly Roll did not write ‘Haunted’, he has spoken about his struggle with drug abuse in the past, so this verse seems to resonate with his story.
What has Kane Brown said about ‘Haunted’?
During a 2024 interview with Holler, Kane Brown explained where the kernel of ‘Haunted’ came from, “I was in Manchester at the Stock Exchange Hotel – the craziest hotel I’ve ever been to with very big rooms like a bank vault, because the whole thing used to be a bank. They give you a key right when you check in, and if you have the bank vault room, you have your own secret entrance, which was really cool…”
Brown expanded, “But anyway, I thought it felt haunted, so when I was with my writers in the room we automatically had a title…It’s about depression, and you know, no matter how much money you make, no matter what you go through in life, if you go through depression, you do kind of feel haunted because you can’t escape it…You have to kind of find your way out of being depressed. So we just went to our darkest and deepest parts of our minds and wrote this dark, beautiful song”.
For the full lyrics to Kane Brown and Jelly Roll’s ‘Haunted’, see below:
“Waking up in cold sweats
California king beds
Got the diamond set
Shoes that ain’t released yet
Maserati sports car
Singing songs that everybody knows on the guitar
They say I’m a superstar
–
But oh (Oh)
I still got this feeling in my bones (Bone)
Happens every time that I’m alone
Part of me is feeling like a ghost, oh-woah
–
‘Cause I’m haunted by the voice in my head
I’m haunted by the taste of that lead
I wanted too many times to jump off the edge
Thinkin’ I was better off dead
I’m haunted only ever other night
I’m haunted and I wish I knew why
I wanted too many times to be gone by the mornin’
If I’m honest
Yeah, I’m haunted
Woah, yeah
Yeah, I’m haunted (I’m haunted)
–
If I’m bein’ real
I spent my whole life escapin’ the pills
If I’m bein’ real
I think I was happier when I couldn’t pay the bills
If I’m bein’ real (If I’m bein’ real)
I’m searchin’ for purpose
I feel wealthy but worthless
If I’m bein’ real
I don’t know if it’s worth it
–
‘Cause I’m haunted by the voice in my head
I’m haunted by the taste of that lead
I wanted too many times to jump off the edge
Thinkin’ I was better off dead
I’m haunted only ever other night
I’m haunted and I wish I knew why
I wanted too many times to be gone by the mornin’
If I’m honest
Yeah, I’m haunted, oh
Haunted
–
If I’m bein’ real
I spent my whole life escapin’ the pills
If I’m bein’ real
If I’m bein’ real
–
‘Cause I’m haunted by the voice in my head (Yeah, I’m haunted)
I’m haunted by the taste of that lead (I’m, oh, so, haunted)
I wanted too many times to jump off the edge
Thinkin’ I was better off dead (Was better off dead)
I’m haunted only ever other night (Wish I knew)
I wanted too many times to be gone by the mornin’ (By the mornin’)
Bein’ honest
Yeah, I’m haunted
–
Haunted
Haunted
Haunted
Haunted
Haunted”
For more on Kane Brown, see below:
The haunting lyrics of “Haunted” by Kane Brown and Jelly Roll tell a story of heartbreak and regret. The song explores the pain of losing a loved one and the lingering memories that continue to haunt the narrator.
The opening lines set the tone for the song, with Brown and Jelly Roll singing about the pain of losing someone they loved. The chorus repeats the haunting refrain, “I’m haunted by the ghost of you,” emphasizing the lasting impact of the loss.
As the song progresses, the lyrics delve deeper into the emotions of grief and longing. Brown and Jelly Roll express feelings of guilt and remorse, wondering if they could have done more to prevent the loss. The haunting melody and melancholic vocals capture the raw emotions of the song, leaving listeners with a sense of sadness and nostalgia.
Overall, “Haunted” is a powerful and emotional song that delves into the complexities of grief and loss. The haunting lyrics and haunting melody create a haunting atmosphere that resonates with anyone who has experienced the pain of losing a loved one.
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