Best Day of My Life

Dave Rublin spoke in a podcast of Songfacts where he disclosed that the song was being written when the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened in 2012. They were inspired to write the song to "make people happy and make people feel positive, because that's something that was missing from rock and from songwriting, just something so simplistic that can be an earworm, that can carry people."[1]

Zac Barnett told an interviewer for Blueprint Magazine, "Recently we have been experimenting with a lot of different instruments including banjo, mandolin and various percussion toys. Africa-influenced rhythms have been taking more of a prominent role in our songs which has then opened up our ideas on melodies. We're always open to trying new things and we get very excited to learn new instruments and experiment with new sounds. ... "Best Day of My Life" was an idea that James and I had been messing around with. We had the pre-chorus and chorus but once we showed the idea to the rest of the guys they came in and restructured the verses and added the stuttered "life" chorus. Looking back on it, the song changed a lot from the initial idea but that's what I love so much about it. I'll always remember that song being started on acoustic guitars in my tiny Bushwick bedroom, but all of us together as a band really took the song to a completely different place."[2]

(Barnett mentions "the stuttered 'life' chorus"—as in "the best day of my li-i-i-i-ife"; the "stuttering" also occurs in a recurrent "whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh"—by which he refers to a lyrical tradition of stuttering in rock music, popularized by Buddy Holly,[3][4] David Bowie ("Ch-Ch-Changes"),[5] Elton John,[6] and others.)

Bill Lamb, writing for About.com, praised the song's "opening banjo lick" as "a perfect first hook," its "irrepressibly upbeat lyrics," and "a blend of key elements from across a wide range of current successful pop music." He added, "The bass drum heavy backing percussion sounds a little like Imagine Dragons, and backed by a pop-punk style "Whoa Oh" chorus, "Best Day of My Life" takes some of the most distinctive elements of a variety of current pop hit genres and blends them into something new."[7]

The song also utilizes the Millennial whoop.

The single art for the "Best Day of My Life" single features a photograph of the skyline of Midtown Manhattan, with the Empire State Building in the center of the shot, from Brooklyn looking north. The photograph is overwritten by the American Authors logo on the majority of the photograph and the words "American Authors", with "Best Day of My Life" written underneath it.

The song received significant airplay on the radio for it to debut at No. 49 in the Hot Rock Songs and No. 40 in the Adult Top 40 for charts dated October 5, 2013. It began climbing the various rock charts and became a crossover hit on both alternative rock and top 40 stations, becoming big hits on those formats and peaking at No. 2, No. 18 and No. 4 on the Hot Rock Songs, Alternative Songs, and Mainstream Top 40 charts.[8] It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 93 for the chart dated November 30, 2013, and eventually peaked at No. 11 on the charts dated April 19 and May 10, 2014. By March, 2014, it had reached No. 1 on the Adult Top 40. The song reached its first million sales mark in the United States in March 2014,[9] and its second million in August 2014.[10] The song was certified 2× Platinum on July 16, 2014 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[11] The song was ranked number one on Billboard's chart of Adult Pop Songs for 2014.[12] To date, this remains to be the only single by the American Authors to break the top 40 in the United States.

The music video was released on October 18, 2013, via YouTube.[18] The video was filmed in Brooklyn, New York. It depicts a man engaging in various activities with a large furry monster, such as drinking in a bar called Sweet & Vicious in Nolita,[19] playing basketball, looking at the Brooklyn Bridge, getting matching tattoos, visiting a strip club, and going to a playground. At the end of the video, it is implied that the monster is his imaginary friend, but then the puzzled bartender finds a photo of the two.

Zac Barnett, in an interview with the Jim & Kim Morning Show (Fresh 102.7 FM, New York City, New York), explained that the video starts in Nolita and ends up in Brooklyn, and the journey of the man and his monster pal is the focus of the video. That journey is interweaved with shots of the band playing and singing as they also stroll through New York. "We started in Manhattan and walked across the bridge to the party which was down in Dumbo. What it was, we were kind of trying to do a reverse Where the Wild Things Are type thing. You know, instead of a human going into a monster dream world, what would it be like if a monster came into our world and experienced New York City and Brooklyn and all of these things. And playing off of that, it was kind of like an alter ego of a dude and these two, together, just showing each other the best days of their lives."[19]

Common Sense Media reviewed the video for parents: "There's nothing iffy to worry about in the song's upbeat, clean lyrics about having a positive outlook on life and never giving up, but the official music video shows a man and his furry monster friend drinking in a bar, going to a strip club, and getting tattoos. Kids will be more entertained by the adorable dog-version music video for "Best Day of My Life", which shows one lucky bulldog's adoption day in an effort to promote pet adoption."[20]

Adapted from Oh, What a Life liner notes.[21]

American Authors

• Zac Barnett – lead vocals, guitar
• James Adam Shelley – banjo
• Dave Rublin – bass
• Matt Sanchez – drums

Technical personnel

• Aaron Accetta – production
• Michael Goodman – production

• "Best Day of My Life" Official Music Video on YouTube