<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to imagine a more breathtaking conclusion to The Format\u2019s first release in 20 years<\/a> than \u201cBack to Life.\u201d<\/p>\n A gospel-flavored power ballad, \u201cBack to Life\u201d begins with Sam Means<\/a> on piano as a melancholy Nate Ruess<\/a> vocal sets the scene.<\/p>\n \u201cBeen gone away too long,\u201d he sings. \u201cGot lost inside the storm\/ I never meant to say goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n As the band kicks in, the singer\u2019s voice becomes more animated, his phrasing more soulful, testifying \u201cI\u2019m here to reclaim what is mine\u201d as the ballad builds to a euphoric chorus of \u201cI\u2019m back to life\u201d to end the album on a note of pure transcendence.<\/p>\n You\u2019d never know it was a late addition to the album, much less written with an entirely different voice in mind, its lyrics based on someone else\u2019s set of circumstances altogether.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s exactly how it came to be the closing track on \u201cBoycott Heaven,\u201d the reunited bandmates\u2019 first release since \u201cDog Problems.\u201d<\/p>\n As Ruess recalls, \u201cMy buddy Young Thug had just gotten out of jail and his manager hit me up, like, the day he got out and was like \u2018Thug\u2019s out. We gotta do something. Do you have any ideas?\u2019 I’m like, \u2018I’ll figure something out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Young Thug was released from jail in late October 2024 after pleading guilty to assorted gang, drug and gun charges, bringing the longest criminal trial in Georgia history to an unexpected finish.<\/p>\n Ruess had co-written and appeared on two Thug tracks before that phone call \u2013 \u201cLove You More\u201d in 2021 and \u201cGlobal Access\u201d two years later. He even joined the hip-hop star on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d in 2021 to sing his part on \u201cLove You More.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I was so fatigued from writing at the time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I just called up Sam. I’m like, \u2018I need some piano chords. Can you just send me some piano chords?\u2019 So he sent those piano chords and I cut them up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n The lyrics came to Ruess more quickly than anticipated.<\/p>\n \u201cI was about to go for a run on the beach,\u201d he says. \u201cThat’s what we get to do here in Santa Barbara. I was about to go for a run, and I was getting ready to put it in my headphones on repeat and I stopped my truck and just wrote.\u201d<\/p>\nHow a call from Young Thug’s manager inspired ‘Back to Life’<\/h2>\n