Songfacts®:

• The lead single from The Serenity of Suffering is a typically Korn-ish track featuring dark lyrics and a heavy groove. "'Rotting in Vain' was written about being in that black place, being in situations that I don't like in life, be it relationships, or feeling when you're stuck and you're just being abused or you don't like where you're at, and you just sit there and rot," shared vocalist Jonathan Davis to Rolling Stone. "It takes you years and years to figure out how to claw your way out. That's where 'Rotting in Vain' came from. I'm just sitting there, f--king dying and letting it happen for years and years and not helping myself to get out of that place. That's the vibe that inspired the song."
• The song was performed live for the first time by Korn on July 16, 2016 during the band's set at the Chicago Open Air festival in Bridgeview, Illinois.
• Jonathan Davis expanded on the song's meaning to Rolling Stone. "It's a song about relationships, about dealing with people and their bulls--t," he said. "All the pain and ... putting yourself through this constantly and constantly, going through this negative stuff that really irritates you. You're sitting rotting and you're doing it for no reason because it's never going to get better."
  
  "I have lots of instances in my life where I've done that, and I have a problem," Davis added: "I'm too nice of a guy. I've let people hurt me over the years."
• The gothic and creepy video features Sons of Anarchy star Tommy Flanagan, who plays a mad scientist that brings the band to life to perform the song. The clip was shot by famed rock video director Dean Karr, whose visuals such as his eerie video for Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," frequently center on the dark and the disturbed.
• Jonathan Davis told The Pulse of Radio that The Serenity of Suffering album title describes his tortured relationship with suffering, which makes him feel safe and serene. "I feel like sometimes I'm in that place so much, I feel serenity when I'm there," he explained. "That's where I feel comfortable, when I'm down. And I think people who have ever battled depression and stuff like that, it's not enjoyable, but that kind of feeling you can relate to."