“I’ll Still Destroy You” by The National

Matt Berninger, the lead singer of The National as well as co-writer of “I’ll Still Destroy You”, has implied that this song is about drug addiction, i.e. the band speaking out against “self-medicating” and “overindulgence”, as he put it.

And he’s not even taking about the hardcore stuff but some of the milder intoxicants, like “weed or wine”. So with that in mind, when the chorus concludes with the phrase “I’ll still destroy you”, we’ll take it that he’s making that statement from the perspective of the substance itself.

Berninger went on to explain that when he uses the word “still”, he’s doing so in a generational sense. In other words, he’s not just speaking of drug addiction messing up the life of the addict. But he also recognizes that addictions, even in the form of bad behavior, is something we pass on to our children. So it’s like even if you can’t break a bad habit for yourself, then do so for your offspring.

But at the end of the day, the battle boils down to you versus your inner demons. So most of the lyrics are dedicated to the war being waged within the vocalist and how ultimately his aforementioned habits, despite how strongly they may tempt him, ultimately have no effect in terms of overcoming his depression or what have you, as idealized. So basically what he’s saying is that the substances he’s addicted to are useless and, as put forth earlier, harmful even.

Takeaway

So without being said, the thesis sentiment of this piece would logically be something like addiction simply not being good. Or flipping it to the other side of the coin, it’s better to genuinely confront an internal issue as opposed to relying on an external substance to defeat it.

“I’ll Still Destroy You” and The National

The directors of this track’s music video, Allan Sigurðsson and Ragnar Kjartansson, opted to film it in (or use footage from) Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. But to note, The National is actually a music act that came to the world via the University of Cincinnati.

The National, as it currently stands (and since 2001) is a five-man unit. Three members of the crew – Bryce Dessner, Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger – wrote this song with Carin Besser. Moreover, Bryce and his twin brother Aaron acted as the producers of “I’ll Still Destroy You”.

“I’ll Still Destroy You” came out with the rest of The National’s album “Sleep Well Beast” on 8 September 2017, as backed by the label 4AD. And honestly put, the song did not prove to be a hit, though the LP was a major critical success.

However, as far as the track itself goes, despite not blowing up, fans of The National seem to really dig it.