New millennium, same old story. One-hit wonders of the 2000s came and went,
but many found ways to thrive even after their stars had faded.
By the early 2000s, rock music had undergone a major transformation
with the emergence of rap-rock. Bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park led the way,
fusing hip-hop lyrical delivery with chunky guitar riffs. Crazy Town took rap-rock mainstream with
"Butterfly" when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks in 2001. With its success,
the band was catapulted to fame, but they faced backlash from some in the rock music
community for their soft sound. Singer Shifty Shellshock told Rolling Stone at the time,
"We have a lot to prove because of 'Butterfly.'
We have to prove we're aggressive punk kids — a real band and not a pop act."
Unfortunately, Crazy Town's 2002 follow-up album "Darkhorse" tanked on the charts and the band went
on an indefinite hiatus after its release. The band's hiatus was tough on its members. Former
guitarist Charles Lopez died in 2004. DJ AM, who survived a 2008 private plane crash along with
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, passed away in 2009. Crazy Town's remaining members eventually
reunited and even released an album called "The Brimstone Sluggers" in 2015. However, most of
the Crazy Town-related headlines in the 2010s centered around Shellshock's alleged behavior,
including his troubles with the law and health issues reportedly related to excessive drug use.
When Shellshock and bandmate Bobby Reeves were filmed fighting each other in April 2023,
the band was dropped from the "Nu Metal Madness Tour 2." Shortly after
the incident, Shellshock was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence.
In 2004, hip-hop collective Terror Squad had a massive hit with their
laidback dance anthem "Lean Back." Fat Joe founded Terror Squad Entertainment,
and the label's supergroup featured him alongside Big Pun, Remy Ma, Cuban Link, and Tony Sunshine,
among others. Sadly, Terror Squad suffered a serious setback when Big Pun died in 2000,
but the group reached its zenith when "Lean Back" topped the Billboard Hot 100 four years
later. The hit turn was a swan song of sorts for Terror Squad. They released an additional track
called "Take Me Home" from their album "True Story," but it failed to match the success
of its predecessor — and the collective hasn't released new music together since.
Life wasn't exactly relaxed for former Terror Squad members after
"Lean Back." Cuban Link and Fat Joe have beefed since the mid-2000s,
and both Fat Joe and Remy Ma served time. Fat Joe received a four-month prison sentence in
2013 for failing to file tax returns. Meanwhile, Remy Ma spent six years in
a correctional facility for her involvement in a shooting before being released in 2014.
Despite their legal woes, Fat Joe and Remy Ma have found continued career success not only in music
but also in movies and TV. He has made a number of appearances on both big screen and small,
while she became a reality TV star on VH1's "Love & Hip Hop: New York."
The summer of 2001 arguably belonged to Blu Cantrell's song "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)"
off her debut album "So Blu." A sassy breakup song about taking revenge on a cheating lover
by going on a massive shopping spree, it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Cantrell's 2003 follow-up album "Bittersweet" was nominated for a Grammy, and while her single
"Breathe" with Sean Paul was a hit in the UK, it unfortunately couldn't crack the Top 40 in the
United States. Its chart performance wasn't enough to clear Cantrell of her one-hit-wonder status.
Her record label contract wasn't renewed for a third album,
and despite swinging onto 2000s reality television with a stint on
"Celebrity Circus," her career in the studio stalled. But as she told Fuse TV in 2016,
"I've been eating off of those records and have been doing shows nonstop."
"I think the highlight was really just being on stage and having the fans
sing along with the words of the songs."
In recent years, the singer has maintained a pretty low professional profile — but the
real reason you never hear from Blu Cantrell anymore might be a bit more personal. In 2014,
she was hospitalized and put under a psychiatric evaluation after authorities found her wandering
the streets of Santa Monica, California claiming to have been poisoned, according to TMZ.
While her Instagram has been dormant since late 2016, Cantrell has since leaned into the throwback
phase of her career. In 2019, she joined the "Bring That Beat Back" tour in Australia and New
Zealand; the following year, Cantrell crossed the pond to partake in the "KISSTORY Blast Off!" tour.
Music super duo Gnarls Barkley's song "Crazy" was a smash hit in 2006,
peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that summer. Singer CeeLo Green
and producer Danger Mouse combined forces for the funky, melancholy track that served as an
early digital music distribution breakthrough. "Crazy" snagged a Grammy and became a popular
song to cover. Although Gnarls Barkley's 2008 follow-up album "The Odd Couple" failed to
produce any significant hits, CeeLo and Danger Mouse's solo careers were just ramping up.
CeeLo's 2010 single "Forget You" slow-burned its way to number 1,
and he became one of the original judges of NBC's reality competition series "The Voice" that next
year. He left the show in 2014, and while his departure was amicable, he did so amidst some
serious legal trouble. CeeLo faced accusations of sexual assault and was charged with a felony
for furnishing a controlled substance in 2013. According to the Los Angeles Times,
he pleaded no contest to the charge and served no jail time. Meanwhile, Danger Mouse continued
to build his reputation as a powerhouse producer, working with the likes of Adele, The Black Keys,
A$AP Rocky, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He also serves as one-half of the indie band Broken Bells.
Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Powter had the biggest hit of 2006 with his song "Bad Day," which
spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Licensed out for a French Coca-Cola ad campaign,
the tune also had European success before it found its way into "American Idol's" farewell
montage song that year. With that, "Bad Day" became ubiquitous in pop culture. At the time,
Powter admitted to MTV News that he didn't even watch the reality competition series,
but that didn't stop him from performing "Bad Day" during Season 5's finale.
Since then, Powter hasn't charted in the Billboard Hot 100,
but he's continued to make music, releasing albums like "Under the
Radar" in 2008 and "Turn on the Lights" in 2012. Although financially lucrative,
Powter confessed he struggled with his "Bad Day" notoriety, telling CTV News in 2012,
"I had such a hard time trying to break another song around 'Bad Day' because it was so big."
After stepping back from his music career, Powter eventually made peace
with his biggest song. However, in the shadow of "Bad Day's" success,
Powter also dealt with the pressures of fame through excessive drug and alcohol use,
per an interview with Metro. After five years, he went to rehab and got sober;
he's since embraced pastimes like surfing and yoga to maintain his mental health.
"I'ma hang it up, I'm hanging up the boots."
These days, Powter's still in the music game, and he's even remixed "Bad Day" for the Gen Z crowd,
releasing a dance version of the song with Agent Zed in April 2023.
California girl group Dream hit the big time when they signed to Sean "Diddy" Combs' Bad
Boy Records. A teenage foursome with the pop princess sound and look, Dream's hit 2000 song
"He Loves U Not" peaked at number 2 on the Hot 100 chart, and they became a staple of the wildly
popular video countdown show "TRL." They were so popular that they hit the road on the MTV "TRL"
tour in 2001 with other "TRL" stalwarts like Destiny's Child, Nelly, and Jessica Simpson.
Dream seemed poised for future success, but behind-the-scenes drama and some
unfortunate timing ultimately steered the group toward obscurity. Per Complex,
their former manager, Judith Fontaine, sued for a portion of their profits just before
their debut album "It Was All a Dream" dropped, and after the attacks on 9/11,
Bad Boy stopped promoting the record. Melissa Schuman soon left the group, and those who
stayed balked at the more mature, sexy look and sound demanded of them by their record label.
When their 2003 single "Crazy" barely cracked the Top 40, Dream went their separate ways.
However, the group's members have remained close throughout the years, and they even made
a comeback in 2015 with a cover of the holiday classic "O Holy Night" before joining other
millennial popsters for the "My2K Tour" in 2016. Sadly, Dream officially disbanded later that year.
MIMS's 2006 number 1 song "This Is Why I'm Hot" was born out of the rapper's frustration with the
music business. Ironically, its success brought him major label woes. In February 2023, MIMS
told BET that while "This Is Why I'm Hot" grossed millions of dollars, he personally received little
financial windfall from the track's success. He pointed to the label's accounting practices as the
reason for allegedly not receiving his fair share of profits. In an interview with AllHipHop, he
revealed that he spent seven years in litigation with Capitol Records. Financial disappointment
and his soured relationship with his record label made MIMS dispassionate about being a music star.
But his bad experiences in the music industry led to a successful career pivot into tech.
"I realized that you don't care about me as an artist,
you're worried about the numbers — you're worried about what you're gonna show your investors."
He co-founded the music app RecordGram, which promised artists the ability to
turn their phones into mini-recording studios. MIMS explained to Stereogum,
"I think a lot of those negative situations lumped me into the world of technology. That's why I was
able to create an app like RecordGram, because I wanted to democratize the way music works."
Although "This Is Why I'm Hot" holds a tumultuous history for its creator,
it seems MIMS is ready to embrace its enduring pop culture legacy. In 2023, he dropped a parody
of the song called "This is Beyond Hot" for Cheetos Flamin' Hot Tangy Chili Fusion.
In the 2000s, "American Idol" was a cultural phenomenon that introduced
the world to music megastars like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson,
and Fantasia Barrino. Season 4 runner-up Bo Bice's rock-infused version of the "Idol"
finale track "Inside Your Heaven" peaked at number 2 on the Billboard chart in 2005, and
his second-place status seemed to be setting him up for success. He told Rolling Stone at the time,
"The label 'American Idol' was not for me. I'm not
a pop person. It would have been harder to play my kind of music if I had won."
Bice played his kind of music on his debut album "The Real Thing,"
which also charted. But his career cooled after his "Idol" shine faded.
In the years after "Inside Your Heaven," Bice has
kept to his rock roots by becoming the lead vocalist for Blood, Sweat & Tears,
touring with the group for five years until 2018. In January 2023, he even applied his
hard-rocking persona to a production of the musical "Rock of Ages" in Florida.
Reflecting on his music career and his experience on "Idol," Bice told Swampland.com,
"I never called it work. I am doing what I always dreamed of doing at this level.
To have these great fans who voted on the TV show and still come out
to see us play is just a blessing — that's what this is all about."
Cassie had the sound and the look for music stardom when she dropped her song "Me & U" in
2006. The minimalist track peaked at number 3 that year, but the singer failed to follow it up with
another hit. Instead, Cassie's career branched off into acting and modeling. In the 2000s and 2010s,
she appeared in movies like "Step Up 2: The Streets" and "The Perfect Match," as well
as on the hit TV show "Empire." She's also modeled for brands like Calvin Klein, ASOS,
and Forever 21. Additionally, Cassie stayed in the public eye for her decade-long on-again-off-again
relationship with Diddy. She eventually moved on from him and married Alex Fine in 2019.
The couple have two children together, and these days, she shares both her
personal and professional life with her 9 million-plus Instagram followers. While
Cassie hasn't released a proper album since 2006, Diddy appeared to process
the demise of their relationship with the 2022 track "Gotta Move On." However,
it's safe to say she won't respond musically to her ex's laments.
"The experience of getting over it is usually pretty quick and
easy if you really don't think that he's right for you anyway."
As Cassie told The Cut in January 2023,
"I'm not fearful of the decisions that I make for myself because they're mine and
they're for the benefit of me and my family at the end of the day."
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues,
help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).