The song was developed in a home studio that had been built out inside a rented mansion. DeLonge and Hoppus went to separate rooms to write lyrics based on the theme, finding ways to combine them after time apart. The song explores vulnerability and heartache in love, conveying the fear of emotional loss and unreciprocated feelings. The song's artful music video, shot by Jonas Åkerlund, depicts the trio in a haunted mansion run by ghosts. "I Miss You" topped Billboard'sHot Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US; it also charted across the globe, and was a top ten hit in the United Kingdom.
Music critics complimented the song's unconventional structure and tone. The song's dark, emo-inflected feel built lasting popularity, and DeLonge's distinctive vocal delivery in the song became iconic. "I Miss You" has been frequently covered by artists across genres; it was a primary inspiration for the 2010s hit "Closer" by the Chainsmokers. It has been recognized in retrospective rankings as one of the band's best songs. It is among the songs to surpass one billion streams on Spotify.
Background
The song was co-written by guitarist Tom DeLonge (left) and bassist Mark Hoppus (right), both seen here in 2004.
"I Miss You" was recorded in 2003,[1] and began production at the Rubin's House, a rented home in the San Diego luxury community of Rancho Santa Fe. The song was written using the same method with which the band wrote "Feeling This"; namely, DeLonge and Hoppus would discuss themes and then set off to separate rooms of the home to write alone.[2] The two would first have a discussion about the themes of the song "so that we were on the same page," and then they would go away to write, putting both parts together at the end.[2] Tom wrote the second verse, and Mark wrote the first verse and the chorus. In 2018, Mark shared the original handwritten lyrics on Twitter.[3][4] "Mark was always really, really good with words, so a lot of times I would ask him for help with things, to get help with how I say things better [...] But we never really explained song meanings to each other," said DeLonge.[2] Hoppus referenced Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas at the request of Barker, with the lines "We can live like Jack and Sally if we want... and we'll have Halloween on Christmas", toward his then-wife, Shanna Moakler.[2][5]
The trio struggled recording "I Miss You" at first, originally employing a completely different chorus reminiscent of what they considered adult contemporary music.[2] The track was directly inspired by the Cure song "The Love Cats".[2][5] In expanding on the song's lyrical meaning, DeLonge said: "The song's more about the vulnerability and kind of heart-wrenching pain you feel when you're in love and when you're a guy and you're trying to tell a girl, 'Don't waste your time coming and talking to me because, in my head at least, you probably already gave me up a long time ago.'"[6]
Composition
The song is composed in the key of B major and is set in the time signature of common time with a tempo of 110 beats per minute.[7] Hoppus and DeLonge's vocal range spans from F#2 to F#4.[7] The instruments are all acoustic, featuring a piano, cello, acoustic bass guitar, and a "brushstrokedhip-hop groove."[8][9] The song's production was very layered, requiring multiple tracks. "There's probably 50 tracks of instruments going on the record," DeLonge said.[6] In an interview with The Washington Post, he re-estimated the amount: "It's got about 70 tracks of instruments, all of which are organic/acoustic, none of them plugged-in."[10]
"I Miss You" was supported by a controversial initiative dubbed "spin buys" by Billboard, in which labels, in Blink's case Geffen, spent thousands of dollars per week to have singles played multiple times from midnight to 6am at small and middle-market radio chains.[25] While overnight airplay at radio at that time was "nothing new for the recording industry," label-sponsored spin-programs had risen considerably in popularity in 2004.[25] By May 2004, the track had accumulated more than 50,000 spins at radio,[26] and more than 100,000 by July.[27]
The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on October 25, 2004, for sales of over 500,000.[28]
Critical reception
"I Miss You" received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Jesse Lord of IGN praised the "well-thought-out dissonance" between Hoppus and DeLonge's respective vocal tracks, opining that it "expertly showcases and highlights the differences between the two."[29] Nick Catucci of The Village Voice praised the song, writing, "It's how Tom and Mark zing off of one another that makes Blink-182 one of the greats. Name another two dudes who can so naturally share a tender, swelling ballad like 'I Miss You.'"[30] A.D. Amorosi of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that "post-teen amour drips through an acoustic 'I Miss You', with singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge in Marshall Crenshaw mode."[31]Spin called it an "interstate breakup song," commending its use of strings and jazz brushes.[32]
Retrospective lists
In 2016, Stereogum ranked the song number four on their list of the 10 greatest Blink-182 songs,[33] and in 2022, Kerrang ranked the song number three on their list of the 20 greatest Blink-182 songs.[34]
Music video
"I think with this song we were rebelling against the pop side of our band, which we'd had for many years. We wanted to do something that was a little darker and more atmospheric and I guess people would have been surprised when they first heard it."
The song's music video is shot in the style of a 1930s film, and find the trio performing in a haunted house with ghosts circling around.[6]Jonas Åkerlund, who also directed the Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" and Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful," directed the video, which was filmed on December 17, 2003, in Los Angeles.[6] "He's done amazing videos," DeLonge said. "We kind of had an idea of what we wanted to do, but it's gonna be interesting because with a guy like that, they bring so much artistic vision to the project. You don't really know what's going on in their head, like how they wanna film it and all that stuff."[6] It also features Mark Hoppus playing a double bass, inspired by Phil Thornalley of the Cure's use of one in the video for "The Love Cats".[5]
The song achieved heavy airplay on music video channels. It achieved its best airplay on Canada's MuchMusic, where it was the number one most-played video for the week ending February 22, 2004, as monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. For Fuse, the song was the eighth-most played that week, eleventh for MTV, and fourteenth for MTV2.[35] It continued to be a strong performer on Fuse and MuchMusic into May, with the issue dated May 15 reporting it at numbers 9 and eleven, respectively.[36] It remained in the top 30 most-played at MuchMusic into January 2005.[37]
The song was a primary inspiration for The Chainsmokers' 2016 hit single "Closer". According to Chainsmokers member Andrew Taggart, the duo repeatedly listened to the song while writing it.[46] In 2019, American singer-songwriter Skye employed an interpolation of "I Miss You" in his single "Voices", posthumously featuring rapper XXXTentacion.[47] In other forms of entertainment, the song appeared in several video games, including SingStar Amped and Rock Band 2, and was also featured on the television show Legit.
Popular singer Halsey has become infamous online for a cover of the single performed inside of a mall. In the clip, a 20-year-old pink-haired Halsey, who had gotten a small following on social media app Tumblr, was hosting an impromptu meetup with her fans. In an interview, she said: “I went and met all these fans,” the singer continued. “It was the first time I’d ever met a fan before, and they were like, ‘Will you sing?’ and I was like, I never sang outside of my bedroom before.” The performance was recorded in 2015, became popular due to her singing being noted as "terrible", and became one of her biggest career-defining moments.[48]
Legacy
"I Miss You" continues to enjoy popularity decades after its release; it is one of several songs to count over one billion streams on Spotify, joining the platform's "Billions Club".[49] DeLonge's singing style on "I Miss You"–particularly his verse lyrics "Where are you / and I'm so sorry" and pronunciation of the word head as "yead" in the chorus[50]—has been widely referenced throughout popular culture, and is considered something of a meme.[51][52] DeLonge has publicly embraced the attention.[53][54]Finneas once described DeLonge's delivery: "Tom comes into that song like he was on a balcony and he jumped off the balcony onto the song."[55] A 10-hour YouTube loop of only DeLonge's verse from 2015 went viral; an A.V. Club commentator dubbed it oddly "hypnotic."[56]
The song has been a staple of the band's live performances since its release. It is typically ended with an extended coda that builds into a crescendo.[57] Chris Payne of Stereogum described "I Miss You" the band's most enduring song, highlighting its gothic embrace of the Hot Topic scene.[58]Variety ranked it as one of the best emo songs of all time,[59] and Rolling Stone ranked it among the "250 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century So Far" in 2025, praising its "vulnerability and mature candor."[60] "I Miss You" has been considered such a singular track in the band's ouvre that later hits by the band, like "One More Time", emulate the brush-stroked approach.[61]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
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