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Grayscale and Slowly Slowly Breathe New Life into “Kept Me Alive”

Grayscale has collaborated with Ben Stewart, frontman of Australian band Slowly Slowly, to release a new version of their song “Kept Me Alive.” This rendition was released on April 4, 2025, coinciding with Grayscale’s Australian tour. ​(reported by The Live Wire AU)

Ben Stewart expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating, “We are all huge fans of Grayscale at Slowly HQ. When they hit me up with the concept of a feature, I was immediately drawn to ‘Kept Me Alive’. It’s a timeless sentiment that has plenty of parallels to our new record.” (quoted from Good Call Live)

A Song About Unwavering Support That Helped The Band Hold On

The original “Kept Me Alive” is part of Grayscale’s album The Hart, released in January 2025. The song delves into themes of gratitude and resilience, with lead vocalist Collin Walsh noting it was written to express thanks to someone who supported him during challenging times.

“‘Kept Me Alive’ is about someone who stood by me during my darkest times. They helped me navigate past trauma, pain, and the overwhelming emotional weight that made me want to give up. I wrote this song as a way to express my gratitude for their love and selflessness. I hope that when people hear it, they think of that person in their life who has been there for them. We all deserve someone who helps us face our past trauma and work through the pain life inflicts, even when it feels like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. This song is a thank you to those who show up with love when we need it most.” – Collin Walsh

There’s something raw and cinematic about “Kept Me Alive”. It doesn’t just tell a story—it remembers one, like flipping through a scrapbook of bruised youth and quiet redemption.

Lyrical Depth: A Shared History of Hurt and Hope

The song opens in the trenches of a shared past—two kids growing up too fast, in homes where shouting echoed louder than comfort, where pills were passed around like candy for the chaos. They found escape in little moments—skipping stones, getting high, pretending they were part of something bigger, something American. A fragile freedom. A borrowed kind of hope.

And even as they grew apart—one healing, the other haunted—there’s a quiet loyalty that never fades. “You left the light on for me” the narrator says, and it’s maybe the most beautiful kind of love: the kind that waits, silently, without asking for anything back.

When Love Becomes Survival: The Meaning Behind the Chorus

But then, the ache deepens.

When the world closes in—those “lowlights” where the brain won’t shut up and the silence becomes a roar—this person becomes more than a memory. They become a lifeline. The only one. A steady hand when everything else feels ungrabbable. “You kept me alive” the chorus confesses, not as a throwaway phrase, but like someone who truly believes they wouldn’t be breathing without that love.

Each repetition of the chorus feels heavier, more urgent. It’s not just gratitude—it’s awe. A desperate, almost tearful realization that in a world full of cold shoulders and empty noise, someone held them close. Let them bury their head, carried them home—not in a literal sense, but emotionally, spiritually. That kind of home.

The Quiet Details: How Small Moments Speak Loudest

There’s something delicate in the way the second verse moves. It zooms in—on laughter after heartbreak, on the smell of rain clinging to rural dirt, on hollow winter light that barely makes it through.

These aren’t just metaphors—they’re moments. Little, lived-in fragments of tenderness. And the guilt lingers too, raw and unfiltered: “I’m sorry I dragged you through all my petulance.” This isn’t just about being saved. It’s about the weight of being saved by someone so good, it hurts.

And in the end, it’s not about two broken people finding each other. It’s about how one person’s quiet strength can anchor another—how love, real love, doesn’t always come with fireworks.

Closing

With the addition of Ben Stewart’s vocals, the new version of “Kept Me Alive” doesn’t overwrite the original—it deepens it. His voice blends seamlessly with Collin Walsh’s, echoing the song’s central theme: that the pain we carry becomes bearable when someone chooses to carry it with us. The collaboration feels less like a remix and more like a reunion between kindred spirits—two bands bound by emotional honesty and a shared reverence for storytelling.

By breathing new life into an already emotionally potent track, Grayscale and Slowly Slowly offer a reminder that songs—like people—can grow stronger when revisited with care, empathy, and a little help from friends.

“Kept Me Alive” is no longer just one person’s survival story. Now, it resonates louder—as a collective anthem for anyone who’s ever been saved by someone’s quiet presence.

And maybe that’s the most important part: not how the story started, but how it continues—together.

Grayscale – “Kept Me Alive” (feat. Slowly Slowly) Lyrics

[Verse]
You and I grew up fast in the thick of it
In bad homes with the same old narratives
With loud voices and prescribed medicines
High, we skipped stones, yeah it felt so American

You’re so pretty but don’t try a little bit
You grew up more and healed better than I ever did
Still, you left the light on for me, I won’t forget
Worried sick, knew I was caught in things I shouldn’t have been

[Pre-Chorus]
When it’s all lowlights
And my mind’s too quiet
You’re my one lifeline

[Chorus]
You kept me alive, and I mean it
Put your heart on the line when I needed
Somebody pulling me close
Bury my head in your bones
Found me and carried me home
You kept me alive

[Verse]
And that face you give me after I make you laugh
Is enough for me to cry when I’m hanging by a thread
When I hold onto my trauma that’s irrelevant
You come behind me and hold me in your arms again

You’re beautiful and you don’t even act it, no
Like the smell of rain on countryside sediment
Like hollow light through the wintertime weariness
I’m so sorry I dragged you through all my petulance

[Pre-Chorus]
When it’s all lowlights
And my mind’s too quiet
You’re my one lifeline

[Chorus]
You kept me alive, and I mean it
Put your heart on the line when I needed
Somebody pulling me close
Bury my head in your bones
Found me and carried me home
You kept me alive

(You kept me alive)

Somebody pulling me close
Bury my head in your bones
You found me, carried me home

[Chorus]
You kept me alive and I mean it
Put your heart on the line when I needed
Somebody pulling me close
Bury my head in your bones
Found me and carried me home
You kept me alive