Disturbed released Divisive on November 18, 2022. Their eighth studio album arrived through Reprise Records with producer Drew Fulk and a renewed emphasis on heavy guitars and tightly locked rhythms. It also introduced a first for their studio catalog: Heart singer Ann Wilson joined David Draiman on “Don’t Tell Me,” becoming the first guest vocalist on a Disturbed studio album.
The heavier direction followed Evolution, the 2018 album that devoted substantial space to acoustic material. Guitarist Dan Donegan told Razor 94.7/104.7 in December 2022 that those experiments had allowed the band to show different sides of Draiman’s voice. They had enjoyed that work, but wanted to reconnect with the guitar riffs, syncopated drums and more aggressive vocal delivery of their early records. Getting together mattered, too. With the musicians living in different states, the pandemic had complicated the shared writing sessions Donegan considered their best way of working.
Fulk became part of that process after Donegan went to California to meet him. As the guitarist explained in a 2023 interview with WDHA, the initial visit was about finding out whether they connected as people, before committing to a recording partnership. Donegan then recommended Fulk to his bandmates. Letting an outside producer influence the music required trust, but the sessions convinced him that Fulk’s suggestions could help. Their collaboration gave Draiman new musical ideas to respond to with melodies and lyrics, while combining familiar Disturbed elements with a different approach to production.
The title track captured how quickly that exchange could happen. In the band’s announcement for “Divisive,” Donegan recalled playing its riff with Draiman in the room and getting an immediate response from the singer. It was one of their early musical ideas for the record. Working face to face let them judge each other’s excitement as a song developed.
That sense of connection ran against the hostility the album addressed. “Our society has become addicted to outrage,” Draiman said in the band’s release announcement. He described music, particularly the experience of attending a concert together, as a way for people to recognize shared ground. The title reflected his frustration with polarization and the appetite for arguments that kept it going.
On “Don’t Tell Me,” separation became personal. Donegan told Billboard that he had been going through a divorce after 18 years of marriage. He supplied the concept and contributed some lyrical ideas before Draiman developed them further. The song dealt with the difficulty of letting go when affection remained, even though the relationship was no longer working.
Draiman and Wilson had already connected through social media. As the song developed, its vocal parts suggested a duet, and Wilson quickly accepted the invitation. Donegan, Draiman and Fulk traveled to California to record with her. Donegan recalled watching the two singers work out harmonies together, with Wilson taking direction while also having room to shape her own performance. The collaboration grew from the needs of a specific song rather than an unrelated guest feature added afterward.
Wilson later explained that she and her husband had admired Disturbed’s version of “The Sound of Silence,” and that the emotional importance of “Don’t Tell Me” helped draw her to the duet. The collaboration continued beyond the album’s release: its official music video followed on January 12, 2024.
