Hooked

“Hooked” is the debut single from Why Don’t We’s debut album "8 Letters". The song describes someone who shows a tendency of staying in a relationship despite its toxic nature. After a series of teasers on Instagram, both the song and music video released on June 7, 2018.

The song was presumed to be the second single from the band’s debut album, but is marked as the debut single after the removal of their debut single “Trust Fund Baby.” The song has been the second longest wait between Why Don’t We releases (February 1 – June 7).

While on tour in Italy, the boys posted a video to Twitter and Instagram shortly after the song dropped.

In a behind-the-scenes video with AwesomenessTV, member Jonah Marais revealed the meaning behind the song:

"It’s about like, being “hooked” on whatever it may be in life. Maybe you’re hooked on a girl, maybe you’re hooked on a feeling of adventure. You can be hooked on so many different things and we wanted to capture that in a song."

Why Don’t We started teasing the song five days before its official release, posting a cartoon comic of each band member on their Instagram page depicting a few lines for whichever member the comic was for and comic-versions of scenes from the song’s then unreleased music video.

Here’s each comic:

Corbyn Besson, teased 1 June 2018
Jonah Marais, teased 2 June 2018
Zach Herron, teased 3 June 2018
Daniel Seavey, teased 4 June 2018
Jack Avery, teased 5 June 2018

The final post was posted to both Instagram and Twitter 8 hours before the release.