What happened to the biggest one hit wonder artists from the noughties till now?

It must be pretty crushing to hustle your absolute hardest to get to the point that you can record a song that is enjoyed by millions, perhaps even gracing one of the hotly contested slots on a Now That’s What I Call Music CD, just to fall from the face of the earth. Maybe it’s the pressure of having to create a single of equal magnitude to your last, or the realisation that fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – whatever it is, there are a LOT of one-hit wonders knocking about.

This is something that many musicians have experienced throughout the years, but what happens to them once they have one big single then fade into obscurity? Well, from Lukas Graham to Metro Station, let’s find out what the one-hit-wonder artists of the past are up to now.

Sam Sparro

Now, Sam Sparro has to be the textbook definition of one-hit-wonder. Yeah, we can paint other artists with the same brush, but seriously, when have you heard a different Sam Sparro song? Where did he go? Has he even made any music since Black and Gold?!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBY3WyLnYs2/

Counting fellow musician Adam Lambert of current Queen fame as a friend, he has been consistently working on musical projects since his heyday. He released his latest album “Boombox Eternal” this year which, from a quick Google, has received mixed reviews.

In other news, he recently had an accident in which he fractured his elbow and sprained “a bunch of stuff”. Looking more black and blue than black and gold if you ask me (sorry, hope you have a speedy recovery Sam and all the best with your future endeavours).

Plain White T’s

Hey there Delilah, what’s it like in New York City?

It actually is going too bad. Below is the Plain White T’s looking all grown up and shit, not that you ever really knew what they looked like anyway – this may not even be any of them, but we know mullet-red-leather-jacket from a mile away as the lead singer at least.

What have they been up to since? Well, they recently celebrated 15 years of their only noteworthy hit (if you discount “1234”, which you do) with a cover… of their only noteworthy hit.

Other than that, I’m sorry to announce that not a lot has gone in with them since, not least because nobody has done anything particularly interesting in the last few months.

Metro Station

Metro Station is (yes, IS) currently still a thing, and they’ve had a busy time since their one-hit-wonder “Shake It” was revealed to the world. Both lead members of the band are older brothers of Hannah Montana cast, Trace being Miley Cyrus’ older brother and Mason being Mitchel Musso’s (Oliver Oken) older brother. They met on the set.

From disbanding in 2010, to returning in 2014, to disbanding again in 2015, to (you guessed it) returning in 2019, their relationship in the band seems to be about as stable as theirs out of it.

Trace was dating actress Brenda Song on and off for 6 years, even being engaged in 2011, but now has a fiancee named Taylor Lauren Sanders who is 23 years old, who he shares regular photos with on Instagram.

They recently released a single called I Hate Society, which seems quite fitting seeing as how 2020 is going:

A smaller sound than what we’re used to with Metro Station, but it’s a cute little pop song nonetheless.

Gotye

There was a small period in life where you could not escape this song – and what made it worse is that it managed to travel between different age ranges so even your parents were blasting it constantly. Although to be fair, what a bop.

You haven’t heard anything from Gotye since, and there’s good reason for that. He decided to dedicate a significant portion of his life after his hit single to preserving the musical legacy of a man named Jean-Jacques Perrey. Here’s an event he set up to honour the “Ondioline” instrument that Perrey had used in his work:

In other news, he revealed in 2017 that he had chosen not to allow advertising on his YouTube music videos, meaning that he has missed out on 1,500,000,000 views worth of advertising revenue. This could easily be millions of dollars.

The View

The View are that Scottish band that burst onto the scene with their hit Same Jeans. Supposedly they’re just as big in Scotland now as they were in the rest of the UK, regularly topping their charts and playing gigs up there.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCiNPPhHAYE/

They’ve made a shedload of music since Hats Off to the Buskers, and it seems like they’re really busy currently. Unfortunately, their lead singer, Kyle Falconer, has had a string of controversies in the last few years. He was arrested for possession of three grams of cocaine in 2007 after a gig at Abertay University, for which he claimed he had been passed the drugs by a music industry insider. The band have since been refused entry to the US.

On several occasions, he has not been able to perform due to drinking too much, including a Nottingham gig that they had to reschedule as he had to be replaced with the vocalist from their supporting act.

In 2016 he had to sit in front of his partner instead of the same row on a flight to Glasgow, which resulted in him verbally abusing the couple sat next to him before calling a member of the cabin crew a “poof”. The flight was diverted to Nantes where he was arrested and had to pay £25k in damages.

Calum Scott

Calum Scott, who originally appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, covered the original banger by Robyn making it into the ultimate sad-time tune that we all know and love.

He’s still making music, he’s still playing gigs (or he was before all this) and he even met up with Robyn again recently to discuss the 10 year anniversary of the song that changed everything for both of them:

Calum’s last music seems to have been released in 2018, one of which was a tune with fellow TV show contestant Leona Lewis, titled You Are the Reason.

LMFAO

LMFAO have to be one of the most notorious cases of shooting to fame, being everywhere and then being nowhere at all. With nearly 26 million likes on their Facebook page (which now appears to have been sold, as it now just reposts viral videos every day), they were undoubtedly absolutely HUGE at one point.

The two members are uncle and nephew, with the elder and more recognisable afro-clad Redfoo being the son of Berry Gordy Jr, the founder of Motown Records. Going to school with Will.I.Am and remaining friends with him, LMFAO got their big break when Mr I.Am introduced them to someone in the music industry.

Since the days of old, neither of them have made any collaborative efforts under the name of LMFAO. Redfoo became a vegan in 2017, and has a pet turkey named Jive. Obviously. He spends his days playing tennis and learning coding by the looks of his Instagram, and he still makes beats occasionally.

In 2016, Sky Blu posted a dramatic photo on Facebook looking up to a billboard of Redfoo with a dramatic message which at one point read: “You never once called me to ask me how I was recovering, you just kept shuffling every day without me” which is… kinda funny that he used “shuffling”.

Both are making music separately and doing their own thing. Keep shufflin’, fellas.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• From Tinchy Stryder to Taio Cruz: Where are the forgotten artists of the noughties now?

• Okay, for real now: Where is Paolo Nutini and why haven’t we heard from him?

• We asked boys what’s on their sex playlists and now all music is banned, forever