PAPA ROACH And CARRIE UNDERWOOD Hit Gold With Their Powerful Collaboration 'Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)'

California rockers PAPA ROACH and country-pop superstar Carrie Underwood have officially gone gold with their collaboration "Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)", as certified by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America). The announcement fittingly came on World Suicide Prevention Day.

PAPA ROACH was joined by Underwood on stage during the band's April 5, 2025 concert at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for performances of the band's songs "Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)" and "Last Resort". Professionally filmed video of the "Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)" performance has now been posted online and can be seen below.

This performance highlights PAPA ROACH's ongoing mission to shine a light on suicide prevention and mental health awareness. In partnership with the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention all royalties from the song generated by both artists will be donated to AFSP in perpetuity. The performance represents a pivotal step in the band's commitment to using music as a force for healing and change.

Last year, Underwood teamed up PAPA ROACH to record a new rendition of the latter's 2022 track "Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)", which continued the band's mission to raise awareness for suicide prevention and mental health awareness. The new version of the song was released in August 2024, with Underwood sharing in a press release that she was "honored" to work with the rock group.

"I'm such a huge fan of Jacoby [Shaddix, PAPA ROACH frontman] and PAPA ROACH and was honored to be invited to record 'Leave A Light On' with them," Underwood said. "It's a beautiful song and the message behind it and the band's mission to shine a light on suicide prevention and mental health awareness has never been more important."

Shaddix was equally complimentary about Underwood, noting in the release that he and the other members of PAPA ROACH were "humbled that Carrie was open to our mission, and hearing the power of Carrie's voice in that recording session we were blown away. Not only is her vocal ability unequaled, but the impact of her voice brings a new meaning to our cause and will help people all over the globe."

"It's an honor to have a 'Rock Star' bring life to this track with us," he added.

Asked in an August 2024 interview with On With Mario Lopez how the Underwood collaboration came about, Shaddix said: "I was listening to SiriusXM Octane and she was doing an interview on Octane with this guy Jose [Mangin], and he's like a metalhead, right? And she was talking about her love for rock and metal music, and she brought up PAPA ROACH. And somebody had texted me, she's, like, 'Did you see this interview?' And I was, like, 'Oh, snap. What's up? Carrie's a fan. That's dope.' And so we had a show in Nashville, and I invited her and her husband out to the show. She came out to the show, loved the show. The wife and I were in Vegas and we checked out one of her residencies, and we rolled after her show and we just hit it off and became friends. And then one thing leads to another, and then we had this song and we hit her up, we're, like, 'Hey, we've got this song.' And we've always envisioned it with a female vocal on it, a duet. And she was all about it. And so it was just such a cool way that it came together and organically. It wasn't set up by the powers that be. And, yeah, she's just such a great vocalist. It was awesome."

Earlier this year, during PAPA ROACH's sold-out headline show at Wembley Arena, the band presented the Campaign Against Living Miserably with a £20,000 cheque raised during their U.K. tour.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention CEO Bob Gebbia noted that the organization is "incredibly grateful to PAPA ROACH and Carrie Underwood for their commitment to providing those struggling with their mental health information and resources that can help."

"Leave A Light On" was first performed live during PAPA ROACH's "The Revolutions Live Tour" starting in September 2023, with 250,000 attendees at 30 shows. In each city, the song was preceded by an emotional video PSA delivered by Shaddix, who pledged a donation to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) on behalf of each city’s attendees, culminating in a $155,000 donation at the end of the tour in Denver, Colorado. Following the tour, the band officially released the official video recorded on tour and subsequently renamed the single to radio as "Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)", in conjunction with the AFSP's "Talk Away The Dark" campaign. Following the critically acclaimed tour, they pledged a perpetual royalty from the song's use, in any manner, to the AFSP, continuing their mission to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide long after the "Revolutions Live Tour" finished.

"We had a passion for this song from the time we finished it," Shaddix said. "When creating the set list for the final leg of the 'Ego Trip' album cycle, we really wanted to see if the live audience would connect with 'Leave A Light On' the way we did — and the best way to do that is to perform it to ten thousand fans a night! From that first show, it connected. We could see it on their faces. We instantly knew the power of this song and its ability to help 'leave a light on' for those who needed it most."

"Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)" is taken from PAPA ROACH's tenth studio album, "Ego Trip", which came out in April 2022. The LP (produced by Colin Brittain, Nick Furlong and PAPA ROACH) also achieved three previous No. 1 singles: "Kill The Noise", "No Apologies" and "Cut The Line" featuring BEARTOOTH's Caleb Shomo.

Photo credit: Jeff Johnson