I Don't Want to Be

"I Don't Want to Be"
A man wearing a grey t-shirt and yellow ball cap is lying down on a pile of leaves.
Single by Gavin DeGraw
from the album Chariot
ReleasedFebruary 17, 2004 (2004-02-17)
Studio
Length3:37
LabelJ
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]

  1. ^ "Behind the Mask: Gavin DeGraw's 'I Don't Want to Be' Will Dig Deep into Who You Really Are". Society of Rock. February 29, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2022.