Songfacts®:

• There are only so many ways to express profound love in song, but Hoobastank found a new one with "The Reason," where lead singer Doug Robb explains that he's now a changed man, "and the reason is you."
  
  The song isn't about a specific person. Hoobastank guitarist Dan Estrin explained to American Songwriter: "People have asked him over the years, 'Who is it about?' and he said it's not about one specific person, it's more about him. He's not a perfect person, there's many things he wishes he didn't do, and he continues learning patterns that we all go through in relationships that we're in and you either realize that stuff at some point or you don't, and I think he did. It's a very relatable sentiment. Doug wrote the melody for the verse and the lyrics and the bridge, and without that, the song wouldn't be what it is. Those lyrics are undeniable, they're timeless lyrics. They'll be around forever when we're not."
• "The Reason" is the title track to Hoobastank's second album, released in December 2003. They had two minor hits from their 2001 self-titled debut ("Crawling in the Dark" and "Running Away"), but "The Reason" overshot expectations to land at #2 in June 2004, held back by Usher's "Burn." The song was huge internationally as well, particularly in Italy, where it went to #1.
• Dan Estrin was still living at home with his mom when he came up with the guitar part and chord progression for the song. "I thought it would be really cool if I could incorporate other chords with that and make a full chord progression, which I ended up doing," he told American Songwriter. "I ended up demoing the entire song at home that evening by myself with guitar bass, drums. I did everything and then sent it to Doug. He called me pretty quick afterwards... lyrically he had a journal at that time that if he thought of a line or a sentiment he would jot it down. I think that when it was time to start making new songs, he went back into his folder and he had started to see these thoughts that came to him over the years, patterns that he may have had in relationships and put it all together and it came out like that."
• "The Reason" got a huge boost when it featured in the final episode of Friends on May 6, 2004. Robb admitted to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that he wasn't one of the 52.5 million people who tuned in to watch.
  
  "I've never seen a single episode of Friends. I just don't watch sitcoms," he said. "The only sitcom I watch is The Simpsons. I rarely watch TV. I got more calls and e-mails about that than a lot of other things that were happening to us that were more impressive. But it was a good way to get the song out to a jillion people."
• This was Hoobastank's biggest hit by far. Their only other songs to reach the Hot 100 were "Crawling in the Dark" (#68) and "Running Away" (#44).
• In 2021 "The Reason" found a fresh surge of popularity when it became the soundtrack of choice for TikTok users posting confessional videos. Under the hashtag #NotAPerfectPerson, people admitted to failings and embarrassing moments from their past to the song's opening lyrics, "I'm not a perfect person."
  
  Hoobastank uploaded their own video in the #NotAPerfectPerson challenge on January 27, 2021. They posted the clip with the caption: "Realizing 20 years later that you named your band Hoobastank."
• "The Reason" plays in the first episode of the 2023 Netflix series Beef, garnering new interest in the song. The series soundtrack is loaded with tracks from the '90s and '00s, including "Lonely Day" by System Of A Down and "Drive" by Incubus.
• Hoobastank released an acoustic version of the song and posted a music video in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the album.
• "The Reason" holds up as one of the most popular songs from the early '00s, with lots of love on streaming services and TikTok. In 2024 it entered rarified air when it crossed a billion streams on Spotify.
  
  "What an amazing moment," guitarist Dan Estrin said. "Creating something with your childhood best friends and then watching it grow into an out of control wild fire has been absolutely surreal. None of us ever expected this, and at times it feels like a dream. Knowing how much 'The Reason' means to so many people in the world is an indescribable, proud, emotional feeling. I am way beyond grateful and realize how fortunate we are. We have played it all over the world. And to see everyone's faces while they sing along is priceless. Thank you world."