The Best

Why 'The Best' by AWOLNATION Feels Unsettled

The meaning of The Best AWOLNATION comes from a tension many listeners know well: wanting to improve, but never feeling finished. On paper, the song sounds like a self-belief anthem. In practice, it is more complicated. AWOLNATION turns the hunger to succeed into something catchy, nervous, and a little hollow.

Released on November 5, 2019, the song arrived ahead of Angel Miners & the Lightning Riders, AWOLNATION’s 2020 album. The band is the Los Angeles project led by Aaron Bruno, with a catalog that often mixes big hooks with emotional strain and alternative-rock intensity. That background matters here because “The Best” fits their style of making restless songs that sound huge while exposing weakness underneath.

A Chorus That Sounds Proud but Feels Needy

At the center of the song is a repeated wish: “be the best”. The phrase is plain, almost childlike, which is why it lands so hard. It does not describe a clear goal. Instead, it captures the endless American urge to level up.

The chorus expands that idea into three modest but revealing desires: to walk taller, feel stronger, and think smarter. Those are not flashy dreams. They are basic forms of self-repair. Interpretation: that choice makes the song less about domination and more about insecurity. They are not saying they already are great. They are saying they still feel smaller, weaker, and less certain than they want to be.

“walk a little bit taller”
“feel a little bit stronger”
“think a little bit smarter”

That short climb from body to emotion to mind shows how total the hunger is. They want improvement in every direction.

Watch the official The Best music video

The Verses Admit the Problem

If the hook were the whole song, “The Best” would read as a pure pump-up track. The verses keep that from happening. Early on, the speaker admits they are “hardly perfect” and “barely good”. That is a harsh self-assessment, and it immediately reframes the chorus.

Then comes one of the song’s strongest images: “heavy metal and hollow wood”. The line combines toughness and emptiness. Something can look solid, loud, or impressive while still lacking substance inside. Interpretation: that image may describe the speaker, but it can also describe modern success culture itself—strong branding on the outside, fragility underneath.

This matters to the meaning of The Best AWOLNATION because the song is not simply chasing excellence. It is exposing the emotional cost of that chase.

The “Doctor” Scene and the Fear of Artificial Perfection

The second verse sharpens the critique. The speaker turns to a doctor and admits confusion, then asks to be fixed with cosmetic, almost sci-fi tools. The imagery of being patched together with surface solutions suggests a world where identity can be edited like a product.

Instead of healing, the song imagines beautification as assembly. That is why the verse feels uncomfortable. Interpretation: AWOLNATION may be pointing to how people are pushed to optimize themselves—physically, socially, digitally—until they become less human and more designed.

This is where the song moves beyond private insecurity. It starts to sound like commentary on a culture obsessed with upgrades.

How the Sound Turns Ambition Into Anxiety

AWOLNATION has long mixed alternative rock with electronic energy; the band’s broader style has been described as alternative rock, electronic rock, and indie rock in sources such as Wikipedia. “The Best” uses that blend well.

The beat and vocal repetition make the track feel chant-ready, almost like a sports-arena anthem. But the arrangement also has a mechanical push to it. It never fully relaxes. The hook loops so insistently that it starts to sound less like celebration and more like self-programming.

That production choice supports the lyric idea. A person who keeps repeating they want to be the best may be motivating themselves, but they may also be trying to drown out doubt. Aaron Bruno’s writing often lives in that unstable space, where confidence and collapse are close neighbors.

Artist Context Gives the Song Extra Weight

AWOLNATION is fronted by Aaron Bruno, whose project broke through with “Sail,” a major hit that later reached diamond certification in the United States, according to Wikipedia. By the time “The Best” arrived, the band had already built a reputation for big, emotional songs that connect personal tension with larger cultural feelings.

“The Best” was also one of the lead singles for Angel Miners & the Lightning Riders, released April 24, 2020. That album was shaped during a difficult period touched by trauma and disruption, including the destruction of Bruno’s home studio and property by fire, as summarized by Wikipedia. Even without forcing the song into a single biographical reading, that context helps explain why its optimism sounds strained rather than easy.

A Clear Message With Two Valid Readings

There are at least two strong ways to hear the song:

1. Personal reading: it is about self-improvement and the painful honesty needed to admit weakness.
2. Cultural reading: it critiques a world that tells people they must constantly upgrade themselves to matter.

Both fit the lyrics. That is part of the song’s appeal. It works as a motivational chant and as a warning about obsession.

Why the Song Sticks

What makes “The Best” memorable is its simplicity. The words are easy to absorb, but the feeling beneath them is thornier. The song knows that ambition can inspire people. It also knows ambition can make people feel broken.

So the meaning of The Best AWOLNATION is not just “work hard and win.” It is closer to this: people often chase excellence because they feel incomplete, and the chase can become its own kind of trap.

Disclaimer: This interpretation is based on the song’s lyrics, sound, and publicly available artist context. Like most songs, “The Best” can support more than one valid reading.