Would It Matter

Skillet's "Would It Matter" is written from the bottom of a bad night, the voice of someone asking, "If I wasn't here tomorrow, would anybody care?" The verses stay close to isolation, with lines like "hard and hollow" and "stuck inside this sorrow," and the narrator admits, "I know I'm a mess and I wanna be someone I'd like better."

The chorus turns the questions inward. "What if I just pulled myself together?" and "What if I just tried not to remember?" describe self-repair by willpower, and each time the answer hangs unresolved with "Would it matter at all?" Regret over "all the chances that have passed me by" keeps pulling against a small hope in "one more try."

A shift arrives in the final verse, where "Don't wanna feel like this forever" becomes "Can you help me forget?" The plea is directed outward, which opens the door to passages such as Psalm 34:18 on God's nearness to the brokenhearted, Romans 8:1 on freedom from condemnation, and the fresh mercies of Lamentations 3:22-23. The song asks the question honestly and leaves room for the gospel to answer it.