“Amerika” was the first song released from Young The Giant’s third studio album, Home of The Strange.

Per a press release, “Amerika” was inspired by Franz Kafka’s posthumously published and unfinished novel of the same name.

The band stated that, “We find ourselves searching for our own ethics in between the often-contradictory beliefs of this polarized American Modern Age and those of the romanticized cultures of our forefathers.”

Our perspective is irreversibly tinged with this rhetoric of the immigrant conscience and guilt. “Amerika” explores the contradictions of our psyche and America at large. Searching for the American Dream is to lust for excess, power, sex. There is wonderment. There is disappointment. On this roller-coaster ride, we realize that when we achieve our goals, they often leave us more hollow than before. Behind it all, we just want to feel at home, to belong, and to be loved.