The song was released in May 1999 as the second single off their album Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too. Lyrically, the song explores the confusion over why a relationship ended.
The group dissolved before the single’s release, and as a result the song failed to match the success of the preceding single, “You Get What You Give”, which had topped the charts in New Zealand and Canada and peaked within the top 5 in the United Kingdom.
In contrast, “Someday We’ll Know” became a top 40 hit in only one country, Brazil, and failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is the group’s final single, and has been covered by numerous artists, including Mandy Moore and Hall & Oates.
Hear the song below:
“Someday We’ll Know” by New Radicals
Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too (1999)
The single failed to match the success of the previous single, due in part to the announcement by lead group member Gregg Alexander that the New Radicals “[would] no longer be a recording, promoting, or performing entity” and that he would focus on producing and writing material for other artists, going on to state “the fatigue of traveling and getting three hours’ sleep in a different hotel every night to do boring ‘hanging and schmoozing’ with radio and retail people is definitely not for me.”
As a result, the song received minimal promotion and was far less successful than its predecessor, “You Get What You Give”. “Someday We’ll Know” achieved its highest peak in New Zealand, where it reached number 45. The song debuted at number 48 on the UK Singles Chart on the chart dated 25 September 1999, falling to number 76 the following week. The song failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, though it managed to enter the American Adult Pop Songs chart, peaking at number 28 on the chart dated 7 August 1999.
Hear more Great Forgotten Songs