“Don’t Wanna Fight” by Alabama Shakes
“Don’t Wanna Fight” captures the seemingly endless fights that go on in a relationship filled with disagreements. Right from the beginning we see that the singer claims that they are individuals with different choices hence they shouldn’t venture into each other’s business.
It appears that both sides are constantly striving to prove themselves right and maintain their pride at the expense of the other; hence the unstable state of their relationship. Another issue revealed in the second verse of the song is that the singer is struggling to keep up financially and feels trapped in a cycle of working hard to pay bills.
The narrator’s plea to end the fights therefore does not just cover she and her partner’s frequent arguments, but her general struggle to live comfortably in life.
Facts about “Don’t Wanna Fight”
Brittany Howard (best known for being the vocalist of Alabama Shakes) exclusively wrote “Don’t Wanna Fight”.
American composer and producer Blake Mills worked on the song’s production.
In February 2015, Alabama Shakes released this from their “Sound & Color” album. This album, which is their second, spawned approximately 4 singles. This song was the first of the four songs released as singles.
It managed to chart in a few countries, including Japan (where it reached 61). In America, while it was unable to enter Billboard’s Hot 100, it charted impressively in a number of Billboard charts.
In 2016, Alabama Shakes won two Grammys with this song. One was for “Best Rock Performance” and the other was for “Best Rock Song”. In winning the latter, Brittany Howard became the third female artist in history to win that Grammy honor.
Alanis Morissette was the first female recording artist to be the recipient of this award. She grabbed it in 1996 with the song “You Oughta Know”. In 2015, Hayley Williams became the second female artist to be bestowed with that Grammy. This happened at the 2015 Grammys when she and her band Paramore won it with their song “Ain’t It Fun“.
NOTE: These are the four songs Alabama Shakes’ “Don’t Wanna Fight” beat to win this notable Grammy:
- Elle King’s “Ex’s & Oh’s”
- James Bay’s “Hold Back the River”
- Highly Suspect’s “Lydia”
- Florence + the Machine’s “What Kind of Man”
