Regardless of how old you were in 2012, most everybody can recall singing en masse “Tonight, we are young”— a part of the entourage of feel-good Top 40 hits. Peaking at number one, and winning the 2012 Grammy for Song of the Year, “We Are Young” by Fun (stylized fun.), featuring Janelle Monáe, skyrocketed the band into mainstream success and solidified their place as reputable musicians in the industry.
Feburary 21, 2025, marked the 13th anniversary of the release of Fun’s second album, Some Nights, which included singles such as the aforementioned “We Are Young,” “Some Nights,” and “Carry On.” Some Nights globally ascended the band, catapulting them on a trajectory of even more bangers and acclaim… that never came.
Fun has not released another album since.
Band Background
Transplants from other bands, the members of fun. were frontman Nate Ruess from The Formats, guitarist and percussionist Jack Antonoff from Steel Train, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost from Anathallo. Come 2008, the three men banded together in the aftermath of their bands’ breakups to create Fun, a project where they “make fun records when [they] are super inspired to do so,” as per their website.
Fun released their debut album, Aim and Ignite, in 2009. The record received generally positive reviews, despite little commercial success and peaking at 71 on the U.S. album charts.
2012 saw exponential success for Fun, with their sophomore album Some Nights debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 charts. “We Are Young” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Fun the first multi-member rock band to have a number one Billboard debut since Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” in 2001. This single also made digital sales history, being the first, and only at the time, to gain 300,000+ downloads for seven weeks straight. “Some Nights” and “We Are Young” topped the Alternative charts back-to-back from the start, a feat achieved only by two other previous acts— Green Day and Alanis Morissette. Fun went on to win two Grammys at the 55th Annual Awards, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.
The world couldn’t get enough, and fans, both new and old, eagerly awaited more.
(Unofficial) Band Breakup
On March 11, 2014— two years after their initial blowup— the band released a new single, “Sight of the Sun.” Originally meant for Some Nights, “Sight of the Sun” lived an unreleased life until the creator of HBO’s Girls, Lena Dunham, requested that Fun contribute a song. Thus, “Sight of the Sun” saw daylight, serving as the band’s first new release since their rise to fame.
The single would also be the last.
On June 18, 2014, it seemed this wouldn’t be the case when Fun performed “Harsh Light” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. With an assurance that the third album was on the way, the trio squared away time in the studio for such endeavors.
Then, eight months later, on Feburary 4, 2015, the band unexpectedly announced, via their Facebook and website, that, though they were not splitting up, they were taking time to pursue other projects. The website reads, even now: “Currently, Nate is working on his first solo album, Andrew is scoring films and Jack is on tour and working on Bleachers music.”
They elaborated, “We want to treat YOU GUYS (our amazing fan base) with the respect you deserve; and that is by making music when we are fully ready to make it and never giving you guys anything that is less than 100%.”
The band continued to explain that, although Some Nights was a commercial triumph, capitalizing on momentum and creating music when it’s beneficial does not mean anything to them. Being the most honest with their fan base, to them, means creating music when inspired to do so.
Present Day
Since then, Ruess did indeed release his debut and only solo album, Grand Romantic, on June 12, 2025, to little acclaim. Critics claim it’s a rather underwhelming listen, with some nods towards the theatrics of Fun’s works but nothing consistent enough to make Grand Romantic stand on its own. Though he hasn’t released another solo work, he has been featured in releases such as “My Shot” on 2015’s The Hamilton Mixtape; written songs for the likes of P!nk, Keith Urban, Kesha, and Hayley Williams; and is rumored to be working on a musical based on Dr. Suess’s If I Ran the Circus.
Dost also, in fact, worked on a film score for 2015’s The D Train, starring Jack Black and James Marsden. He currently serves as lead singer of the indie jazz band Metal Bubble Trio. He is also a founding member of The Ally Coalition, an LGBTQ+ equality organization, along with Antonoff.
Perhaps most notable has been Antonoff’s work, as he has gone on to work with influential names in music. Most recently, he co-produced Sabrina Carpenter’s newest album, Short n’ Sweet, including her sensation “Please Please Please.” He’s also worked with worldwide sensation Taylor Swift, in addition to Lorde and Florence + The Machine. This doesn’t include his new wave rock band Bleachers, which has amassed over nine million listeners on Spotify.
The Future
According to a Rolling Stone interview titled “Nate Ruess on Going Solo and the Future of fun.,” Ruess assures that failed friendships aren’t the reason for the band’s demise, neither is Antonoff’s dedication to Bleachers. (A resounding “Fuck no,” from Ruess met this question, according to the article.) Rather, Ruess’s decision to go solo lay in the fact that he was writing songs he wanted full control over. He wasn’t willing to compromise artistic integrity. The other two bandmates, supposedly, did not receive this news well.
As Fun’s members continue to work on their passion projects, though, the future of the band remains more uncertain. Rumors say that Ruess and Antonoff no longer speak. There is even more speculation around whether newfound egos are what definitively got in the way of the band’s continuation. As fans, nevertheless, we can only hope that inspiration will strike soon, blessing the music world with a little more Fun.
