Shinedown have never shied away from grand gestures, but their new single “Searchlight” carries the weight of a band stepping into unfamiliar territory—and owning it. Released via Atlantic Records, the track first lit up the room during the group’s Grand Ole Opry debut in Nashville last month, a night when Shinedown fans flooded the storied venue and turned what could have been a novelty appearance into the most talked-about moment of the evening.
“Searchlight” was written by frontman Brent Smith alongside bassist-producer Eric Bass and veteran songwriter Dave Bassett, with Bass helming production at his Big Animal Studio in Charleston, South Carolina. The track leans into the emotional bombast and widescreen hooks that have defined Shinedown for two decades, but there’s a twist: subtle country inflections woven into the arrangement, a nod to the room in which it first thundered to life.
That genre-bending instinct comes through even more vividly in the song’s new music video, directed by Andrew Donoho. Shot in Nashville the day after the band’s Opry debut, the clip captures Shinedown performing with a rare intimacy—spotlighting each member as they handle their instruments, including a pedal steel and banjo that broaden the band’s sonic palette without sacrificing their trademark intensity. It’s part performance document, part emotional portrait, framing the song’s themes of perseverance and inner fire through close-ups and sweeping performance shots.
For a band whose catalog is filled with radio-ready anthems, “Searchlight” feels like a statement—proof that Shinedown can stretch into new musical spaces while still hitting with the same force that made them arena mainstays. And if the reaction at the Opry was any indication, fans are ready to follow wherever that beam of light happens to land next.