How to Deal with Existential Anxiety

Song Review: The Best I Feel is Numb by CODE:WORDS

CONTIBUTING AUTHOR Abby

“When is it enough, will it ever be enough?” These are the questions CODE:WORDS explore in their newest single “The Best I Feel is Numb”. As a whole, the song feels like it could be an anthem for the current generation that feels unseen and unsupported by the ones that came before. 

For a few seconds as the song opens, there is no noise beyond a high-pitched droning that immediately sets the tone for this frustration-filled, stress-laden track, evoking the perpetual buzzing of anxious thoughts. The lyrics of the verse illustrate the constant presence that is the existential anxiety of “Gen Z”-ers and millennials everywhere, with lines like “Am I fucked, or is this just another bad day?” hitting especially hard. The syncopation of the drums in the instrumental sections add to the rising tension. 

That building anticipation is quickly broken by the chorus, guitar, and drums as vocalist John Dillon screams that “the best [he feels] is numb”, his voice filled with the kind of resentment that comes with being a young person in this chaotic day and age. The rhythm of the instrumentals here has almost a djent feel, with the disjointed time signature only adding to the overall mood of the track.

With that, the breakdown hits. Drumbeats and guitar notes intertwine to form what feels like a musical representation encompassing Dillon’s angst finally breaking through the wall of numbness.