"I'm Just a Kid" is the debut single by Canadian pop punk band
Simple Plan, written by
Pierre Bouvier. It appeared on their debut album ''
No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls''. It was featured in the films ''
Grind
A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back ( ...
'', ''
The New Guy
''The New Guy'' is a 2002 American teen comedy film directed by Ed Decter, written by David Kendall and starring DJ Qualls and Eliza Dushku.
The film tells the story of high school loser Dizzy Harrison (Qualls) who gets himself expelled so t ...
'', and ''
Cheaper by the Dozen
''Cheaper by the Dozen'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, published in 1948. The novel recounts the authors' childhood lives growing up in a household of 12 children. The bestsel ...
''.
The song saw a resurgence in popularity in April 2020 on the social media platform
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version o ...
, where the song was used in a
challenge that involves family members re-creating childhood photos.
Track listing
# "I'm Just a Kid (Single Version)"
# "One By One"
# "Grow Up"
Music video
The music video is about how an awkward, average guy (
DJ Qualls
Donald Joseph Qualls (born June 10, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in films including ''Road Trip'' (2000), ''The New Guy'' (2002) and '' The Core'' (2003), and for several appearances on television series such as ''B ...
) attempts to impress a popular girl (
Eliza Dushku
Eliza Patricia Dushku (; born December 30, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Faith in the supernatural drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1998–2003) and its spin-off series ''Angel'' (2000–2003). She als ...
) by attempting to perform dangerous stunts, but other, more popular boys interrupt to take his place. They fail to succeed and are injured, and the main characters look on with pained expressions of pity and a certain amount of
schadenfreude. Ending with the average guy simply speaking to the girl and her walking off with him while the heavily injured popular boys watch in disbelief. There is also a
surreal
Surreal may refer to:
*Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art
* "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki
* ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze
*Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor
...
sequence, in which the archetypal popular boy, played by rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist
Sébastien Lefebvre
Sébastien Lefebvre (born June 5, 1981) is a Canadian musician, who is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the rock band Simple Plan. He has also released solo albums and duo work.
Equipment
Lefebvre currently uses Fra ...
, is hit by a school bus. The video was made with actors from the movie ''
The New Guy
''The New Guy'' is a 2002 American teen comedy film directed by Ed Decter, written by David Kendall and starring DJ Qualls and Eliza Dushku.
The film tells the story of high school loser Dizzy Harrison (Qualls) who gets himself expelled so t ...
'', such as Qualls and
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...
. As such, it was released as an extra on the DVD and VHS of ''The New Guy''. As well, in the video, there is a clip of Hawk taken from the final football game in the movie. Most of the scenes in the video were filmed at
Long Beach Polytechnic High School
Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...
in Long Beach, California.
Jesse Heiman
Jesse Wayne Heiman (born May 23, 1978) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his uncredited work as an extra in a wide variety of films and television shows. He is also known for appearing in a GoDaddy commercial at Super Bowl XLVII, ...
appears as a nerd.
Chart performance
The song peaked at number 64 on the
Canadian Hot 100.
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:I'm Just A Kid
Simple Plan songs
2001 songs
2002 debut singles
Atlantic Records singles
Songs written by Pierre Bouvier
Songs written by Chuck Comeau
Songs written by Arnold Lanni
Songs written by Sébastien Lefebvre
Songs written by Jeff Stinco
Songs about children
Songs about loneliness