AVC: One of the most memorable songs on High Violet is “Afraid Of Everyone,” which you wrote about being a new father. Did you have any trepidation about writing about such a potentially trite subject?
MB: I had a lot of trepidation. Once you do have a child you want to talk about every detail of it. And it is really boring to all your friends and it should be. I was really worried about even going there at all. One of my favorite bands, who I won’t mention, named a record after the singer’s first-born child, named the single after them, and the kid was on the cover. It was just such a drag. So yeah, I was kind of worried. It was just such a big part of my life in the past two years. My daughter is almost 16 months old now. It was a major part of what was going on in my head, so it was going to get itself in there somewhere as much as I tried not to. But I think I was able to do it without being too annoying.
AVC: One of the most memorable songs on High Violet is “Afraid Of Everyone,” which you wrote about being a new father. Did you have any trepidation about writing about such a potentially trite subject?
MB: I had a lot of trepidation. Once you do have a child you want to talk about every detail of it. And it is really boring to all your friends and it should be. I was really worried about even going there at all. One of my favorite bands, who I won’t mention, named a record after the singer’s first-born child, named the single after them, and the kid was on the cover. It was just such a drag. So yeah, I was kind of worried. It was just such a big part of my life in the past two years. My daughter is almost 16 months old now. It was a major part of what was going on in my head, so it was going to get itself in there somewhere as much as I tried not to. But I think I was able to do it without being too annoying.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/matt-berninger-of-the-national,41019/
Seems to reinforce the idea that it's about the fear that goes along with being a new father.