“Hurt” by Oliver Tree

Oliver Tree came up with “Hurt” after he suffered a devastating scooter accident. And even though he has insisted that he does not want the interpretation of the lyrics to be pigeonholed by that incident, based on his own explanation of them we can conclude that they are by and large at least based on his experiences as a pro-scooter rider.

That is to say that the aforementioned injury occurred while he was actually participating in a pro race. And overall, there are two groups of people whom he is apologizing to for ‘hurting’. One is his sponsors and supporters who were actually depending on him to fare well in the race in which he got injured. But as for the actual chorus, the way Oliver tells it is that he is addressing his long-time scooter buddies who got left behind when he was promoted into the pro circuit. In other words they felt betrayed by or jealous of Tree, so he is using this opportunity, to some degree, to make amends.

Ultimately we can see that scooting was a really big part of the singer’s life. Also considering that on the music video to “Hurt” he depicts himself being crucified on a scooter and all. But overall, Oliver’s shtick is that he’s bit of a scatterbrained artist. And true to that presentation, there’s a whole lot going in this song even outside of the scooting aspect. 

Conclusively it can be said to be philosophical in nature. But the underlying narrative centers on Oliver’s terse experience as a professional athlete.

“Hurt” Facts

Atlantic Records officially released this tune on 6 December 2018. It appeared on the following studio projects by Oliver Tree:

• His third EP, “Do You Feel Me”
• His second studio album, “Ugly is Beautiful”

Oliver wrote and produced this song alongside Whethan. Furthermore, Oliver also served as the co-director, in conjunction with Brendan Vaughan, of the track’s music video. Said video was filmed in the European country of Ukraine.

This song appeared on a couple of Billboard charts, peaking at number four on US Alternative Songs, and it has been certified Gold by the RIAA.