Who's Gonna Love Me Now by Cold War Kids

Album: New Age Norms 2 (2020)

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Cold War Kids frontman Nathan Willett told ABC news that "Who's Gonna Love Me Now" is the "start of the hero's journey" told in the album New Age Norms 2.

The song has Willett singing about how he turned his back on straight society and now finds himself feeling down and frightened, fearing no one is going to love him.

All those times when I imagined
What it'd be like to have my freedom
Not be so uptight, live my best life
Oh what a fool I was only dreamin'

He doesn't see his move to reject society as a strength, anymore. It was just weakness, and now it's gotten him in a difficult position.

Face down in the pavement
I could use a little healing
Wonder if I held you
Could you see past all my weakness

The song ends with Willett lost in this state of disappointment, but it's only the first part of the longer narrative that is New Age Norms 2.
This was the first single released off New Age Norms 2. Cold War Kids put it out February 10, 2020, seven months ahead of the album.
Cold War Kids made two videos for the song. The first has Willett up late in a messy apartment, seemingly writing this song. At the end of the video, his bandmates appear sitting on his couch. A second video, released June 24, 2020, feels more like the definitive video for this song.

Mezzy, who previously worked on the Lil Peep documentary (among other notable projects), directed the second one.

The story in the second "Who's Gonna Love Me Now" video follows the narrative started in the video for "You Already Know," the second single released off New Age Norms 2.

The "You Already Know" video shows three young adults cruising down a winding road. "Who's Gonna Love Me Now" shows them at the end of that cruise, their car broken down in the city. The characters bicker for most of the video. Near the end, two of them make up over cigarettes. Everything seems to be shaping up nicely until one of them starts bleeding out his eyes and becomes a zombie.

The video series was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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