Korn’s “Here to Stay” Lyrics Meaning

“Here to Stay” has been described as being centered on a person who has been taken advantage of and now, having reached his breaking point, is taking back what’s his. But what is also arguable equally as notable is what brought him to this point in the first place. Or put differently, there’s a whole lot more going on within the lyrics.

And premise wise, the main sentiment the singer is expressing is depression. Indeed this melancholy runs so deep that he apparently practices self-harm and is contemplating taking his own life.

But it is almost as if in an instant his disposition changes. And that’s one of the things he means by being “here to stay”. No, he is not going to take his own life.  Furthermore, he is obviously making this assertion in the face of the same person(s) who contributed to his troubled mindstate to begin with. All of this is ascertainable by reading in between the lines.

For instance in the chorus, the singer asserts that he’s “not a whore”. This would imply that someone has and is trying to take advantage of him. Verily he goes on to expound that this unspecified entity has already “taken everything”, to the point where now he “cannot give anymore”.  So it’s like he’s tired of playing the puppet or perhaps is no longer able to since he has nothing left to give. 

However there doesn’t seem to be anything in the lyrics pointing to him going after his exploiters in the name retrieving what was taken. Rather it’s more like he’s not going to allow himself to be exploited any longer. Additionally, we can also say that he has resolved to stop the practice of letting his mistreatment by others totally f–k up his own self-esteem.

Is “Here to Stay” about Korn?

In closing, it would be easy to postulate a theory like this all being symbolic of Korn having some kind of beef with their label. After all, when famous artists come out with tracks like these, it is usually such a reality that serves as the real-life basis for the sentiment expressed. 

But truth be told, this narrative can be applied to a number of different scenarios. For example, youth victims of bullying sometimes contemplate suicide. In fact put into simplest terms that’s the person whom the singer represents, i.e. someone who is being bullied. But he’s not going to let the situation destroy him, nor is he going to allow his tormentors to revel in their exploitation any longer. Rather he is committed to ending this episode in his life here and now.

Release Date of “Here To Stay”

This is the first song on the playlist of “Untouchables”, the Korn album that Epic Records put out on 11 June 2002. And on that same date it was also issued individually as the lead single for the project.

Achievements

This track most notably resulted in Korn taking home a Grammy Award in 2003. “Here to Stay” bested the category of Best Metal Performance. 

And the music video, which Albert and Allen Hughes (aka the Hughes Brothers) directed, was also one of the most-popular clips of the year. In fact readers of Metal Edge magazine voted it the Music Video of the Year for 2002.

And going back to the audio, it also topped the UK Rock and Metal Chart, in addition to breaking the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart.

Also outside of its overall popularity, the video is also known for featuring the first videoed appearance of Jonathan Davis’s artistic microphone stand. This stand was designed by a prominent Swiss visual artist named H. R. Giger.

Writing Credits for “Here To Stay”

Four of the band members who participated on this song – Reginald Arvizu, James “Munky” Shaffer, Jonathan Davis and Brain “Head” Welch – are still down with the crew some two decades later. 

And the four of them along with their bandmate at the time, David Silveria (who left Korn in 2007), are noted as being the writers of “Here to Stay”.

And the producer of the track is Michael Beinhorn, who has made a name for himself working with some of the most-notable American rockers out there.

Korn

Korn is a band that came out during the last decade of the 20^th century and really hit their stride as the 1990s were transitioning into the 2000s. That is to say that between 1996 and 2010 they dropped seven studio albums which all placed within the top 10 of the Billboard 200, two of which actually topped the list. And as far as the album “Untouchables” is concerned, it fell just a slot short of reaching that lofty position, peaking at number two on the ranking. 

And interesting to note is that it marks Korn’s best showing in Britain even as at the onset of the 2020s, where the undertaking reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart.