100 Bad Days

After AJR released their second studio album, The Click (2017), they faced severe writer's block.^[2] In an interview, Ryan Met tells Billboard "We were at Columbia University [and] we were having a tough time because we had terrible writer's block, and "100 Bad Days" was actually the song that solved that writer's block". The song's writing began with a note on Jack's phone: "A million bad days make a million good stories". The band then tweaked it into a more unique idea, turning the line into the song's hook.^[3]

Jack Met explained the inspiration for the type of song to Billboard, which they summarized "They had written both pre-game songs and mid-party songs for when everyone is comfortable and having a great time, but they had never written a song for the party comedown".^[4] AJR created the song in the living room of their apartment in New York.^[5]

"100 Bad Days" is composed in ⁴
₄ common time in the key of B-flat major, with a tempo of 144 beats per minute (bpm).

On March 7, 2019, an official music video directed by Tim Nackashi was released,^[6] featuring the band performing the song on drums in an empty room.^[7] The video heavily uses visual effects produced by London Alley, using chroma key to create surreal futuristic imagery and dismember the band as floating heads with disappearing and reappearing hands.^[8] During production, AJR favored creating a "visually compelling" and eerie music video in contrast to their previous story-driven videos. Nackashi abstractly conveys the song's meaning through this, stating that it's "a visual metaphor for [the band] being formed out of these rough experiences and memories they have, building the character of who they are".^[9] As of January 2024, the music video on YouTube has received over 29 million views.

The song has received positive reception with Rolling Stone describing "100 Bad Days" as "a catchy song, blending motivational pop vibes, light orchestral flourishes and more into a smooth whirl".^[10] Billboard comments that "the brother[s] sing about drunken foolishness, heartbreak and empty audiences at their gigs, all of which are sure to cause some sadness but are masked by a catchy pop melody and soaring instrumentation".^[1] The band performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on March 12, 2019, re-creating some of the visual effects used in the song's music video.^[11][12]

Credits adapted from Tidal.^[13]

At the 2019 Teen Choice Awards, AJR received a nomination in the Choice Rock Song category for "100 Bad Days", ultimately losing to Panic! at the Disco's "Hey Look Ma, I Made It".^[14]