The 2020s File Feature
High
High — The Chainsmokers (2022) The Chainsmokers, the production and performance duo consisting of Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall, released "High" in 2022 as pa…
01 The Story
High — The Chainsmokers (2022)
The Chainsmokers, the production and performance duo consisting of Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall, released "High" in 2022 as part of their fourth studio album So Far So Good. The album marked a creative recalibration for the duo, moving away from the mainstream EDM-pop crossover sound that had defined their commercial peak in 2016 and 2017 and toward a more guitar-forward, indie-rock-influenced aesthetic. "High" was among the tracks that most clearly embodied this directional shift, featuring a production approach that prioritized organic instrumentation and emotional intimacy over the drop-centric electronic framework of their earlier work.
The Chainsmokers had achieved one of the more dramatic mainstream commercial breakthroughs in recent pop history with "Closer", which spent an extraordinary 12 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016 and became one of the most-streamed tracks of that year by a substantial margin. Subsequent singles had maintained their commercial presence, but the pace of breakthrough success was difficult to sustain, and by the time of So Far So Good, the duo was navigating the challenge of artistic evolution in the context of a fanbase built largely around a very specific sound and era.
So Far So Good was released on May 13, 2022, through Disruptor Records and Columbia Records. The album was preceded by a period of significant public commentary about the duo's career trajectory and their relationship with criticism, both professional and cultural. The Chainsmokers had been the subject of considerable critical skepticism at the height of their commercial success, and their pivot toward a more rock-influenced sound was read by some observers as an attempt to earn critical credibility and by others as a genuine artistic evolution reflecting the members' personal musical influences.
The production on "High" reflected the album's broader sonic philosophy. Rather than the processed, sample-heavy electronic arrangements of their earlier work, the track was built around live or live-feeling instrumentation, with guitars providing the harmonic foundation and the overall production aesthetic closer to indie pop or alternative rock than to EDM. This represented a meaningful departure that required listeners already familiar with the duo to adjust their expectations while potentially attracting new listeners from different genre communities.
Andrew Taggart served as the primary vocalist on "High," as had become standard in the Chainsmokers' evolved format, and his vocal approach on the track was consistent with the emotional register the album sought: vulnerable, earnest, and focused on personal feeling rather than the dancefloor energy that had anchored many of their earlier releases. The lyrics engaged with themes of relationship complexity and longing for transcendence within an intimate partnership, subject matter well-suited to the more intimate sonic environment the production created.
The album performed on the Billboard 200 with moderate success relative to the duo's commercial peak, reflecting both the scale of their existing fanbase and the challenge of translating that audience from one genre framework to another. "High" was one of the tracks that received strongest promotion from the album campaign, receiving playlist support across streaming platforms and some radio consideration. The song's commercial performance was respectable without replicating the phenomenon-level impact of the duo's most commercially dominant period.
Critical reception of So Far So Good was generally more favorable than the reviews that had greeted some of the duo's earlier work at the peak of the EDM-pop moment. Critics who had been dismissive of the processed, festival-oriented sound of their 2016-2017 output found the acoustic-leaning production of the new album more sympathetic, and "High" was cited as one of the more emotionally effective tracks on the record. The shift in critical tone was notable even where the commercial impact did not match historical peaks.
The Chainsmokers' ability to sustain a recording and touring career through this creative transition was itself a meaningful commercial achievement. Many artists who build their initial success around a very specific moment in pop culture find it difficult to retain commercial viability as that moment recedes. The duo's continued activity and the genuine effort invested in So Far So Good's artistic coherence suggested that their longevity in the industry would be built on creative adaptability rather than the repetition of a formula that had already been commercially exhausted.
02 Song Meaning
Meaning and Themes in "High"
"High" by The Chainsmokers is organized around a central emotional metaphor: the experience of being in a state of elevated feeling with a romantic partner, a state that is compared throughout the track to a kind of intoxication or transcendence. The song explores what it feels like to be so thoroughly absorbed in another person's presence and in the shared experience of a relationship that ordinary consciousness is displaced by something more intense and vivid. This metaphorical territory is richly explored across popular music's history, but The Chainsmokers bring to it their particular sensibility, which combines earnest emotional openness with a slightly melancholy undertone.
The narrator's emotional state in "High" is one of grateful disorientation, a recognition that the feeling being described is exceptional and perhaps fragile. The song does not simply celebrate romantic happiness but interrogates what it means to exist in a state of heightened feeling, aware that the intensity of the present moment is part of what makes it meaningful. There is a quality of present-tense urgency to the emotional content, a sense of wanting to hold onto something that, by its nature as a peak experience, cannot be permanent.
The shift to a more guitar-driven, acoustically warm production palette on "High" and across So Far So Good was not merely aesthetic. It carried thematic implications as well: the choice to strip away the electronic processing and the dance-music architecture of the duo's earlier work created an environment in which emotional vulnerability could be communicated more directly. The production intimacy of "High" is itself a form of meaning, suggesting that the experiences being described are too personal and fragile for the monumental sonic machinery of festival EDM.
Andrew Taggart's vocal performance on the track is characterized by a restraint that differs meaningfully from the more produced, layered vocal approach common in EDM-pop. The relative directness of the delivery creates a sense of genuine confession, of someone actually trying to communicate a feeling rather than perform one. This intimacy is central to the song's emotional effectiveness, and it reflects the broader artistic intentions of the album from which it comes.
Thematically, "High" participates in a long tradition of songs that use altered states, whether from substances, love, or transcendent experience, as a framework for exploring extraordinary moments in ordinary life. The comparison of romantic feeling to intoxication is a cliche that popular music has deployed so many times that it risks meaninglessness, but the song earns its use of the trope through the specificity of its emotional description and the genuine vulnerability of its vocal performance. What makes the metaphor work is not its novelty but its execution.
For The Chainsmokers' catalog, "High" represents a departure that also functions as a clarification of intent. The duo had spent several years managing the expectations created by their commercial peak, and this song and the album it came from were their most explicit statement that they intended to define their artistic identity on terms other than the replication of their most commercially successful moment. Whether that project was entirely successful was a matter of critical debate, but "High" at least demonstrated that the emotional instincts underlying their best work were transferable to a different sonic context.
The song also engages with the contemporary cultural conversation about emotional honesty in male romantic expression. Taggart's willingness to inhabit a position of romantic openness and grateful vulnerability without ironic detachment reflects a broader shift in what is considered acceptable emotional territory for male pop performers. This openness is itself a form of meaning, connecting "High" to a generation of male pop and rock artists who have made vulnerability a central feature of their artistic identity rather than a liability to be disguised or managed. In that context, the song is as much a statement about how emotions can be expressed as it is about the specific emotions being expressed.
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