All Time Low’s New Song ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Is a Light Amid the Dark

All Time Low have just issued a music video for “Once in a Lifetime,” their first new song of 2021 which comes on the heels of the success of last year’s Wake Up, Sunshine, their eighth album. The group also made an appearance on daytime talk show Ellen, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, and performed their hit song “Monsters.”

“‘Once in a Lifetime’ is a song about loss and dealing with loss, facing harsh realities and coming out the other side stronger for it,” said frontman Alex Gaskarth.

He continued, “We wrote this song in bleaker times, in a world still asleep at the wheel that left us all relearning how to navigate the uncertain roads ahead, but ultimately there is a hopeful undertone to the entire sentiment. Things can only be so bad and once it’s over, it’s over; there’s room to start rebuilding. This song feels like it’s cut from the same cloth as ‘Monsters’: a progression and continued evolution from the celebration of All Time Low that was Wake Up, Sunshine.”

The latest single has a distinctly pop edge to it, embracing a laid back verse as Gaskarth adopts a quieter singing approach. When the chorus hits, the energy crescendoes with a driving drum beat and cascading melody.

Watch the music video, directed by Max Moore, toward the bottom of the page and read the lyrics directly below. Watch the Ellen performance beneath the new video.

All Time Low, “Once in a Lifetime” Lyrics

I wanna drink
Wanna think
Write a song about it
I wanna smoke,
Make a joke,
Try to hide the damage,
I wanna drive this car
Right over the edge
Of every bad idea
I didn’t have yet,
I look at you
Look at me
Feeling kinda tragic,
Dazed and confused,
Hard to see,
Where we lost the magic,
I never meant to be hypocritical,
This fucking crazy ride’s left me cynical,

Just like that,
I know there’s no turning back,
We already made this bed,
And I can’t even sleep in it,

Once in a lifetime
Never the right time
Take it fast,
And kill me slow,
Try to forget you
Gotta pretend to
Til I hit an all-time low,
Once in a life time,
Never the right time
To throw out everything we had
Try to forget you,
Gotta pretend to,
I Hope a heart only breaks this bad,
Once in a Lifetime

I try to run
Try to hide
Just forget about it,
I tell myself
Every night
I could live without it,
I wanna say goodbye to the loneliness,
But every time I do I make another mess,

Just like that,
I know there’s looking back,
We already made this bed,
And I can’t even sleep in it,

Once in a lifetime
Never the right time
Take it fast,
And kill me slow,
Try to forget you
Gotta pretend to
Til I hit an all-time low,
Once in a life time,
Never the right time
To throw out everything we had
Try to forget you,
Gotta pretend to,
I Hope a heart only breaks this bad,
Once in a Lifetime

All Time Low, “Once in a Lifetime” Music Video

All Time Low Perform “Monsters” on Ellen