I Don't Want to Be

"I Don't Want to Be"
Single by Gavin DeGraw
from the album Chariot
Released	February 17, 2004 (2004-02-17)
Studio	Sunset Sound, The Hook, Larrabee East (Los Angeles) The Hit Factory (New York City)
Length	3:37
Label	J
Songwriter(s)	Gavin DeGraw
Producer(s)	Mark Endert
Gavin DeGraw singles chronology
"I Don't Want to Be" (2004) "Chariot" (2005)

"I Don't Want to Be" is a song by American singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw from his 2003 debut album, Chariot. The song gained exposure after being featured as the opening theme to The CW teen drama series One Tree Hill, and it was released as a radio single on February 17, 2004. It peaked at number 10 in the United States in 2005 and became a top-20 hit in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

The song is certified gold in the US, having sold over 500,000 downloads. In 2012, the song reached number 27 on the UK Singles Chart, its highest position, due to the finale of One Tree Hill's ninth and final season airing, which also featured DeGraw.^{[citation needed]} The song's music video follows the message of the lyrics, featuring a girl investigating her high school peers while they are frozen in time, and she eventually decides to be herself.^[1]