Being unable to speak upon common truths creates a bottleneck of emotions, and if anything pushes individuals towards more extremist views and venues, feeding the bigotry and hatred that the stifling of certain speech purports to work to resolve. In a very granular and passionate manner, Aaron Lewis captures this fomenting frustration among large swathes of Americans who feel they can’t share what are ultimately very mainstream opinions without fear of losing their careers and their place in polite society. The fundamental reason “Am I the Only One” is resonating so widely is because it’s tapping into an unfulfilled and voraciously hungry desire for counterpoints in popular American culture.
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So despite the flame war that surely will ensue, here are some thoughtful and informed opinions that hopefully the adults in the room will find some value in, and hopefully the rest will leave it be if they can’t participate in a good faith discussion, though admittedly, this is probably wishful thinking. Because ultimately when you have a politically charged song that’s a mixed bag and requires nuanced and complex thoughts to dissect accurately and objectively, it’s just going to be misunderstood by more people than not, as folks read what they want and infer the rest in black and white notions in a reality of grey, or they’re just sent off the deep end by some dog whistle.īut “Am I The Only One” by Aaron Lewis has gone from a surprise single to a cultural phenomenon topping charts where commentary and discussion now feels required, and frankly, it might be a little cowardly to remain mum.