"Never Let You Go" is a song by American rock bandThird Eye Blind. It was released in January 2000 as the second single from their second album, Blue. The song peaked at number 14 on the US BillboardHot 100 and spent three weeks at number one in Canada. It also reached number 26 in Iceland, number 15 in New Zealand and number six on the UK Rock Chart.
Content
Jenkins commented in the liner notes of the band's compilation album, A Collection, that it was written about a muse of his at the time, and it was written to "freak her out" when she heard it on the radio. The writing credits of the song are a subject of debate among frontman Stephan Jenkins and former bassist Arion Salazar. Despite Jenkins being credited as the sole writer of the song, Salazar claims to have written the bass melodies, bridge, and chord progressions. In an interview with RIFF Magazine, Salazar claimed that Jenkins approached him, stating, "I really want to get the credit on . Maybe if I give you a little more percentage I could just leave my name on it?".
Billboard music reviewer and editor Chuck Taylor said that the song "packs in the hooks; a compelling opening guitar riff, a celebratory party ambience, an end-of-song spoken part that kids everywhere will be reciting ad-nauseam, and lead singer/writer/co-producer Stephan Jenkins' dead-on vocals, delivered in a pleasing falsetto at times". He continued to praise the song, calling the chorus "easy, spirited, memorable — the stuff that hits are made of." Elysa Gardner of Entertainment Weekly called the song "crackling, power-pop", commenting that it is nearly as captivating as "Semi-Charmed Life". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the song's hook, referring to "Never Let You Go" as the album's highlight. Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club declared that the song is a standout on Blue, calling it a "sparkly, hitworthy single". Julie River of Punknews.org praised the "beautiful chord-based hook", favorably comparing the song to lead single "Anything".
Music video
A music video for the song was released in January 2000, directed by Chris Hafner. In it, the band performs on a metal platform high in a sunset-filled sky. Interspersed with the sky scenes are scenes of the band eating in a dimly-lit Chinese restaurant with several girls. At one point, lead singer Stephan Jenkins hangs from the bottom the platform while his fellow bandmembers and several girls hang onto him, looking down apprehensively. Meredith Gottlieb of MTV News referred to the video as "abstract".
Cover versions
Portuguese-American musician RAC released a remake of "Never Let You Go" featuring Matthew Koma and Hilary Duff on February 12, 2020, by Counter Records. A lyric video was uploaded onto RAC's YouTube channel that same day. The cover was Duff's first release since "Little Lies" in 2016.
