3 Sad One-Hit Wonders From the 2000s That Make Us Feel Less Alone

We’ve all had tough days. We all know what they feel like—the frustration, the annoyance, the worry. Sometimes it can feel like you’re a walking ball of emotion. But how can you purge yourself? Well, sometimes you just need a little sonic permission.

Videos by American Songwriter

Here below, we wanted to dive into three songs that do just that. We wanted to highlight three tracks we love that give listeners an excuse to let it all out. Indeed, these are three sad one-hit wonders from the 2000s that make us feel less alone.

“Bad Day” by Daniel Powter from ‘Daniel Powter’ (2005)

Daniel Powter is a genius. He did something that no one else did, even though the idea was sitting there on the table for all to grab. Indeed, Powter wrote the anthem for bad days. Sometimes you just have to hit the nail on the head, and that’s exactly what he did here. He spoke a simple phrase into melody, and because of that, he will forever be immortalized. In television, movies, commercials—for the rest of time, this song will play whenever a person is having, well, a bad day.

“Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley from ‘St. Elsewhere’ (2006)

Life is a weird, strange thing. It just is. It’s so weird and strange that sometimes you can be walking around on a random Thursday and think you’re going a bit insane. We all think sometimes we might be going bonkers here and there—it’s just a part of the deal. And that’s the feeling that Gnarls Barkley put to music in 2006 with their infectious tune “Crazy”. In a surprising way, the song made a lot of people feel understood. It normalized that feeling of being on the brink of sanity. We could all acknowledge it together!

“Collide” by Howie Day from ‘Stop All The World Now’ (2004)

Sometimes you just need a sappy song to get your heartstrings tingling. Howie Day knew how to write lyrics that stuck in your head, but that also offered this sense of starry-eyed remorse. Even the songs about connection seemed to be distant, forlorn. And his hit single “Collide” made music fans feel that pang over and over again in 2004. With a strummed acoustic, Day summoned emotions and let them fall out of you like water.

Photo by Toni Anne Barson Archive/WireImage