Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
"If You're Not the One" is a song by New Zealand-British singer Daniel Bedingfield. It was released on 25 November 2002 as the third single from his debut studio album, Gotta Get Thru This (2002). The single entered the top 20 on the majority of charts that it appeared on, including becoming a number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart and reaching number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Background and writing
"If You're Not the One" is written as a love ballad. Bedingfield claims to have been inspired by the band Westlife, when writing and recording the song.Bedingfield himself believes that the song is "cheesy." Bedingfield admitted he began writing the song because he realized that material he considered more "complex" was unlikely to get him a record deal. "Commercialism, sappy lyrics and meek tunes are the things I hate most in the universe, but I'm not sure even Bob Dylan could get record company interest without hooks these days", Bedingfield recalled in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "It's a different age. You need to go some kind of populist route. So, about three years ago, I sat down with a Westlife song and tried to write something similar."
Bedingfield also admitted that he did not even want to put the song on his album. He said, "I didn't want to put "If You're Not the One" on the album as I thought it was too cheesy. I thought it sounded like Westlife. But she (Natasha Bedingfield, his sister) loved it. Women that hear it go all soft and think it's lovely".
"If You're Not the One" is a song by New Zealand-British singer Daniel Bedingfield. It was released on 25 November 2002 as the third single from his debut studio album, Gotta Get Thru This (2002). The single entered the top 20 on the majority of charts that it appeared on, including becoming a number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart and reaching number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Background and writing
"If You're Not the One" is written as a love ballad. Bedingfield claims to have been inspired by the band Westlife, when writing and recording the song.Bedingfield himself believes that the song is "cheesy." Bedingfield admitted he began writing the song because he realized that material he considered more "complex" was unlikely to get him a record deal. "Commercialism, sappy lyrics and meek tunes are the things I hate most in the universe, but I'm not sure even Bob Dylan could get record company interest without hooks these days", Bedingfield recalled in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "It's a different age. You need to go some kind of populist route. So, about three years ago, I sat down with a Westlife song and tried to write something similar."
Bedingfield also admitted that he did not even want to put the song on his album. He said, "I didn't want to put "If You're Not the One" on the album as I thought it was too cheesy. I thought it sounded like Westlife. But she (Natasha Bedingfield, his sister) loved it. Women that hear it go all soft and think it's lovely".
