Love Songs From The 2000s That Will Never Go Out Of Style
The 2000s were full of defining moments — Beyoncé began her solo career, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston got married, and "American Idol" was an unmissable mid-week event. Fashion was on point, with everyone following in Paris Hilton's and Christina Aguilera's footsteps, sporting low-rise jeans and halter tops. Oh, and there was an abundance of body glitter in the air. Additionally, some of our favorite artists stepped into the spotlight at this time.
The 2000s were also a hell of a time to fall in love — and get your heart broken — because some of the best love songs were released throughout the decade. Whether on the radio, your favorite mixed CD (remember those?), or your MP3 player, it was hard to escape the romantic R&B, pop, and indie tracks that defined a generation. The timelessness of many 2000s love songs has us listening on repeat 20-plus years later. So, take a trip back through time and reminisce about your first love, because we've rounded up the best love songs from the aughts that will never go out of style.
Somewhere Only We Know by Keane
When you hear Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know," you're instantly transported back to 2004 when romantic, soft piano rock was king. Many have coined it as one of the best love songs, but Keane has clarified that the true inspiration behind the song stemmed from friendship and nostalgia. The band formed during their school years in East Sussex before they eventually moved to London in hopes of finding success. In an interview with The Guardian, lead singer Tom Chaplin, said, "I always thought that it is about a place where we grew up — and a longing for something pure and simple."
In the same interview, Tim Rice-Oxley, pianist and the writer of the hit song, explained, "The song is about us being back and having something to cling to. I picture a particular place in Sussex, just a bit of scrub where we used to go when we were kids."
Listening to the song again with this viewpoint, you can see how the meaning can be shifted to that of friendship, childhood, and innocence. The track has definitely been the backdrop to many a breakups and listeners have given their own meaning to the lyrics. Rice-Oxley added, "People still love that song and a lot of them have pored over the lyrics, trying to work out what it means. As a songwriter, it's a dream come true."
Yellow by Coldplay
Chris Martin's vocals have been giving us chills for decades, but it wasn't until Coldplay's debut album "Parachutes" was released in 2000 that the band became a household name. Their hit single "Yellow" became an instant classic and even helped the group win their first Grammy Award. Given the immense success of the song, it's hard to believe that Chris Martin and the band somewhat threw the hit together on a whim.
In an interview with BBC News, Chris Martin spoke about the making of "Yellow." After a few recording sessions in London hadn't gone to plan, Coldplay's label sent them to the famous farm-turned-studio in Wales, Rockfield Studio. The band was under pressure knowing this was their one opportunity. After some recording, they went outside for a break, where they were taken aback by the night sky. Ken Nelson, their record producer, said, "Look up there lads, look at the stars." As we all know now, "Look at the stars" became the first line of the hit song.
Martin said, "It was really mind-blowing. We'd been in London for like five years so we hadn't really seen anything beyond smog for a while." With that in mind, Martin began working on the acoustics, incorporating a Neil Young impression with the word "stars." The title "Yellow" was pure luck as well, inspired by the Yellow Pages that Martin spotted nearby. The song came together, and while it may not have the most romantic origin, it remains a classic love song people still love to sing along to.
She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5
Adam Levine found insurmountable fame as Maroon 5's frontman, and for good reason. The band is known for writing their own music, which put them on the map with their 2002 debut album, "Songs About Jane." Levine wrote many of the songs on the album following the breakup with his ex-girlfriend, Jane Herman, and while the majority of the album is said to be about her, "She Will Be Loved" was actually written about someone else.
The song tells the story of a boy chasing after a girl who will never fully commit to him, and the two's tendency to always come back to each other. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Levine explained, "I wrote about a girl and a guy that I knew who just have a very tumultuous, kind of troubled, relationship. I was looking at it from an outside perspective." Despite it being the fastest song the band had written, taking only around an hour to come together, they knew immediately that they had created something special. Levine continued, "I just knew ... it was lightning in a bottle."
Since "She Will Be Loved" was released, it's been featured in many romantic movies and shows, acting as the perfect soundtrack to two people finding their way to one another. If that doesn't scream timeless love song, what does?
Bubbly by Colbie Caillat
"Bubbly" was a debut single that launched artist Colbie Caillat into the spotlight. She'd been discovered on Myspace and quickly rose to fame after "Bubbly" went viral. Caillat was signed to a label by 2007, and in that same year, she released her first album titled "Coco," which included another one of her hits, "Realize." It's hard not to smile when listening to the uplifting acoustic pop song. Years later, listeners are still bobbing their heads along to Caillat's warm voice, singing about what it feels like to fall in love.
Unlike many love songs of the time that reflected on the ups and downs of singers' real love lives, Caillat has said that she didn't write "Bubbly” for anyone in particular. Speaking with The Sun Chronicle, Caillat said, "I wrote it about the feelings you get when you have a crush on somebody, and when they give you butterflies in your stomach and they just make you smile."
Others surmised that the tune is about more sexual feelings, particularly when Caillat sings, "I get the tingles in a silly place." However, Caillat quickly dismissed the rumors while speaking with TooFab, stating she was only singing about butterflies and how she felt embarrassed when listeners read more into the meaning of the lyrics.
Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's
Plain White T's were a fundamental product of the 2000s. In 2007, you couldn't turn on the radio, go into a coffee shop, or walk through the mall without hearing their hit "Hey There Delilah." The line that we all belted out the most, "Oh, it's what you do to me," was actually meant to be a "throwaway" line, Higgenson told Nylon. While millions fell in love with the tune and the singer, Tom Higgenson's raspy ode to this mystery girl, Delilah, the real-life inspiration behind the song felt differently.
Delilah DiCrescenzo spoke to ESPN about how the song affected her at the time. DiCrescenzo and Higgenson met through mutual friends while she was studying at Columbia. Higgenson told DiCrescenzo, who was dating someone else, that he planned to write a song about her. With her schooling, athletic career, and boyfriend already, it wasn't a welcome surprise when she listened to the CD Higgenson dropped off for her. After hearing the song, DiCrescenzo remembers thinking, "Oh no! Did I lead Tom on?" and feeling guilty about the effort Higgenson went to.
Once "Hey There Delilah" became a Grammy-nominated hit, she felt scrutinized by the public but ultimately used this newfound fame to leverage her professional running career. "I'm proud of my accomplishments since the song blew up, and I'm now in a place where I can fully enjoy the song," she revealed in 2013. This is probably not the reception Higgenson hoped he'd get, but the tune has no doubt been the backdrop of many couples' love stories.
We Belong Together by Mariah Carey
We would all have been worse off without this R&B track Mariah Carey released in 2005. And, so would she — "We Belong Together" was widely considered a big part of her comeback. Part of her eight-time Grammy-nominated album, "Emancipation of Mimi," the classic breakup track describes ending things with a partner and later regretting the decision.
According to People, Carey dubbed the making of the song a "labor of love," saying it took a lot of collaboration and many long hours to get the end result. She explained, "Some songs that I write I'm sitting alone writing the lyrics by myself and sometimes when you collaborate with others you can brainstorm and really work together for the end result. That was one of those songs." The hard work paid off, and it remains one of her favorite songs to perform.
In an interview with Vogue, Carey described how she doesn't know if the song can ever be topped, saying, "I set my standards so high, that it's hard to live up to." The song will certainly live on as one of the best love songs of the decade.
A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton
Some 20 years ago, Vanessa Carlton released "A Thousand Miles," an iconic love song that dominated the radio with its infectious piano riff and Carlton's lyrics about yearning to be with a loved one. However, it became so popular after being featured in the movie "White Chicks" that Carlton reportedly hated the song. When speaking to Vice, she said, "You don't want to complain about such luck and such success. It does come at a price, though." She went on to describe her struggle to grow as an artist with such a famous track under her belt.
"A Thousand Miles" was released around the time Carlton was dating John Mayer, leading fans to speculate who Carlton would walk a thousand miles for. She clarified in the same interview with Vice, however, that she wrote the song in the '90s about a crush she had on a Juilliard student. She declined to speak about the person further as they've since become a famous actor who is unaware that the song is about them.
Carlton said she the crush wouldn't pan out, leading to the line "if I could fall into the sky" — that is, she'd have a greater chance of falling upward than dating her muse. While the success of "A Thousand Miles" may have been a mixed bag for her, the song remains a staple of the 2000s and a must-have in any romantic playlist.
Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol
According to music licensing company PPL, the most played song of the 21st century in the U.K. was "Chasing Cars." The indie rock song has been played on the radio and in emotional TV and movie scenes since 2006, and it never gets old.
Snow Patrol's lead singer and guitarist, Gary Lightbody, actually wrote the song after getting sober. Of "Chasing Cars," he told Rolling Stone, "It's the purest love song that I've ever written. There's no knife-in-the-back twist. When I read these lyrics back, I was like, 'Oh, that's weird.'"
The title of the tune was actually inspired by a conversation Lightbody had with his dad about a girl he was interested in. His dad would say, "You're like a dog chasing a car. You'll never catch it and you just wouldn't know what to do with it if you did" (via Smooth Radio). With the soft melody and devastatingly beautiful lyrics that detail an unrequited love, it's no wonder that "Chasing Cars" became one of the most-played love songs of the century.
Love Story by Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift was a huge player in bringing country pop to the foreground of the 2000s (perhaps with a little help from Carrie Underwood), and while she's shifted more toward pop and cottagecore now, she's left a legacy of undeniably romantic acoustic hits like "Love Story." Swift is renowned for writing songs based on her real-life romances and heartbreaks. Back in 2008, when her album "Fearless" was released and "Love Story" became a sensation, everyone wanted to know who her muse was this time around.
She was dating Joe Jonas at the time but has not revealed whether or not the song is about him. She did, however, claim that she took inspiration from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet” and her teenage angst, telling ABC News, "I think I was mad at my parents for not letting me go on a date or something, and it also is a good example of what a hopeless romantic I was — and still am!"
Having written the song at only 17 years old, the success of the track makes clear that she was destined for fame from the start. "I've just ever since been so honored by the fact that people have celebrated this song so much," she told the publication. "I feel really lucky that people responded to it the way that they did and continue to." With fairytale-esque lyrics and folk instrumentals to back it up, "Love Story" has held on as a 2000s song that will never go out of style.
Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis
"Bleeding Love," the heart-wrenching ballad that took Leona Lewis from "X Factor" winner to Billboard chart-topper, was everywhere in 2007. While it seems the song was always made for Lewis' incredible vocal range, she almost didn't get to sing it. Originally, "Bleeding Love" was written by Ryan Tedder for Jesse McCartney. McCartney and Tedder worked on the song for some time until McCartney's label pulled the song from his album, claiming they didn't think the song was a hit (via The Guardian). What was McCartney's loss became Lewis' gain, as Tedder gave the song to her shortly after hearing her perform.
Regarding "Bleeding Love," Tedder told The Guardian, "I wanted to write a song that was about love but devastating, so thought about breakups that had crushed me in college." Lewis was able to channel the same energy Tedder had envisioned, having just gone through a bad breakup herself. Lewis has since struggled to replicate the success of "Bleeding Love (which would be no small feat), but her love song is forever cemented as a hit.
I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
"I'm Yours" — the reggae-meets-ukulele pop song that had us all humming and dancing along in '08 — was actually meant to be just a novelty song, Jason Mraz explained in an interview on Channel 4's "Sunday Brunch." It took Mraz all of 45 minutes to write "I'm Yours," according to The Sydney Morning Herald, so when it started to catch on, he was pretty surprised.
On "Sunday Brunch," Mraz further explained, "I started playing it live, and by 2008 I could tell that it needed to be on an album because audiences were really responding to it." He ended up including this song on the album, "We Dance. We Sing. We Steal Things." And from then on, you could hear the tune wherever you went.
Mraz said the song changed him in a big way. "People use this song at their weddings, and they celebrate life with this song, so I want to be that kind of person," he explained on the British television program (via Digital Spy). The song undoubtedly launched his career and has led us to associate his bubbly lyrics with true love. Mraz isn't in the spotlight much anymore, but "I'm Yours" has left an impact that won't soon be forgotten.
Make You Feel My Love by Adele
Originally written by Bob Dylan in 1997, "Make You Feel My Love" was covered by Adele in her distinguished, rich vocals and released in 2008 as part of her album, "19." Many artists have covered this song, including Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, and Kelly Clarkson, but Adele gave them a run for their money. The song, which is about the regret over not being with someone and the lengths one would go to make their romantic interest feel cherished, has since become a wedding requisite.
Years later, Adele's version is among listeners' favorites and has become her personal favorite track on the "19" album. In an interview with Manchester Evening News, Adele spoke about how she came to cover "Make You Feel My Love," saying, "I wrote nine songs in a short space of time, all about this awful relationship I was in. I never quite got down what I was really feeling in those songs, though." She explained that her manager played her the Bob Dylan classic and it deeply resonated with her. Adele continued, saying, "The lyrics ... summed up exactly what I'd been trying to say in my songs."
Since then, Adele has become an icon for singing about love and heartbreak, winning Song of the Year at the Grammys for her 2015 song, "Hello".
Crazy In Love by Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z
Hands down, one of the best upbeat songs about that feeling you get when you're falling head over heels is "Crazy In Love." It's no wonder it was a monumental success. Beyoncé had only just left Destiny's Child, releasing her first solo album, "Dangerously in Love," in 2003.
Despite this being the start of Beyoncé's stardom as we know it today, she initially wasn't sure about the track. In an interview with MTV, Beyoncé discussed the horns in the song, sampled from "Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)" by Chi-Lites. She said, "It has this go-go feel to it, this old-school feel. I wasn't sure if people were going to get it."
Thankfully, Beyoncé warmed up to the track. She'd started dating Jay-Z a couple of years prior, and his part was added after Beyoncé's recording, becoming one of the many collaborations the couple would work on. Today, no love song playlist would be complete without this number, and a wedding without "Crazy In Love" is a wedding we don't want to attend.