Lead singer Rob Thomas wrote on Genius.com that the idea behind this song came from not feeling comfortable in his own skin in the music industry. This discomfort "led me to having really crazy panic attacks and having to figure out a way to get all of that under control," he wrote. "Once I started to get older, once I started to grow up, the fabrication that I'd made of how comfortable I was and how secure I was in myself started to go away. I was left with the reality [that] I need to deal with how uncomfortable I am at all times, how unsure of myself I am, every word that comes out of my mouth, in every situation. 'Unwell' was the beginning of that for me."