Never Too Late (Three Days Grace song)

Popularity and censorship

The song reached the number 1 spot at the MuchMusic Countdown on June 29 for one week. It also reached the top of the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. This is the band's most successful song from One-X despite the fact that their prior hits Just Like You (from their self-titled album), Animal I Have Become, Pain and a few singles that were less successful did better on the U.S. charts. This is due to Never Too Late peaking at number 71, where Just Like You peaked at No. 55, Animal I Have Become at No. 60 and Pain at No. 44. Despite not hitting number 1, it was more successful than any of the singles from One-X and it stayed longer on the charts than their number 1 hits at 43 weeks, beating Animal I Have Become by 2 weeks and Pain by a hefty 13 weeks. It is the band's 2nd most successful song only behind I Hate Everything About You on the rock charts at 45 weeks.

This song is also the band's only cross-over hit to date charting on both Top 40 Mainstream and Adult Top 40 formats at No. 12 and No. 13. Their 3 prior hits failed to chart since Animal I Have Become and Pain were released to commercial radio after Never Too Late, even though they came to all rock stations before it and Never Too Late was the highest charting single on the Canadian Charts, making Never Too Late as Three Days Grace's most successful song from One-X. Its music video has also reached more views on YouTube than Pain has (with over 67 million) with "Never Too Late" having over 100 million views, making it their 2nd most viewed video only behind I Hate Everything About You with over 116 million views (Views as of April 2016).

The track managed to resurge in pop airplay, peaking at number 14 on Mediabase, and was added by the pop stations in the US, Z100 and Y100. It is the only song to be released to Mainstream Top 40 radio since their 2003 hit I Hate Everything About You peaked at No. 28 and Never Too Late hit No. 12. Certain radio stations and Sirius XM The Pulse play a version of the song which censors the phrase "end your life" in the chorus to "change your life" to eliminate the suicide reference from the song. It also quiets the heaviness of the guitar. It appeared on Now! 26, the only song from the album to appear on a Now! album in the U.S.

On October 23, 2007, Three Days Grace released a Single featuring "Never Too Late" and two Clear Channel acoustic recordings of "Pain" and "I Hate Everything About You". On February 12, 2008 an EP was released through iTunes containing the album version of "Never Too Late", an acoustic version and the music video.

Song meaning and usage

This song's meaning was explained by former Three Days Grace frontman, Adam Gontier, at a live performance on March 7, 2007 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., where he stated, "This song is about being in a very dark place, but being able to see a way out." Then, on the Live at the Palace 2008 DVD, he explained it as, "Feeling like you don't really belong here anymore, and it's about wanting to sort of end everything. But really, this song is about not giving up at all." The song was featured in a promo for the television show Eleventh Hour.

Music video

The video begins with a little girl (Played by Matreya Fedor) in her room dancing with her parents. Later, it shows her older self (played by Adam Gontier's then-wife, Naomi Brewer) struggling against doctors as they strap her down to a hospital bed. As they restrain her, the woman looks toward her younger self dancing with her parents (Through the woman's eyes, her young-self appears to have sprouted or be wearing monarch butterfly wings on her back while dancing). The video then cuts to her younger self, showing a man touching her and she smiles hesitantly. The video shows her dancing with her parents, who have bandages over their eyes, signifying that they don't know what is going on. Later, hands marks covered in a black substance are seen all over her, her bedroom, and the man's hand. It is revealed that she was sexually abused as a child, explaining her traumatic breakdown when she is older. As the woman remains strapped helplessly to her hospital bed, the straps from head-to-toe are replaced with the man's hands. Her younger self is shown again; hiding in her room from her attacker, who lifts up the bed to find the girl lying in a fetal position when she sees an angel who fights off the man, scattering his feathers over the girl's room in the process. As the angels's feathers rain down on the grown woman's bed and the man's hands -- in place of the straps -- lose their grip on her and die (in reference of the attacker's defeat by the angel), eventually her older self is able to overcome her fear and leaves the hospital bed smiling, while her younger self goes back to her own bed.

The band is seen performing the song throughout the video, though it also shows scenes Adam Gontier singing and playing guitar in the girl's bedroom.

Personnel

Charts

The RIAA certified the single as Gold in the U.S.