Vanessa Carlton Reveals Why Her 2002 Breakout Hit 'A Thousand Miles' Once Felt Like a 'Burden' (Exclusive)

Ilana KaplanTue, April 21, 2026 at 7:14 PM UTC

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Vanessa Carlton reflects on why her debut single "A Thousand Miles" once felt like a "burden"

Now, the singer-songwriter tells PEOPLE that she recognizes that the song "brings people so much joy"

Carlton released "A Thousand Miles" in 2001

Vanessa Carlton is opening up about why the success of her debut single "A Thousand Miles" once felt like a "burden."

The singer-songwriter's debut song, which was released in 2001, also became her breakout hit. And with that came a lot of mixed emotions.

"I went through a really bad period with it," Carlton, 45, tells PEOPLE. "Maybe it's interactions with certain people and how they would ask me to play. For a certain period there, it was like a burden to bear because it was my own burden that I created."

She added, "Because I couldn't figure out how to find freedom. I needed to disconnect myself, from all of that in order to move forward."

However, Carlton says that in hindsight, her issue with the song was more about "surviving your own success." She recalls not being "a very good pop star."

"I'm really good at surviving failure. I've gotten very good at that. Especially as a ballet dancer, every day in class you are failing. But surviving success is a different thing because we live in this schadenfreude type of society where it's like, 'Oh, you're [at the top]. I'm going to take you down now.' So to a certain extent, it feels like a burden," she says.

However, Carlton has since understood how the song's success benefited her career.

"Once I got through that period, I was like, 'Okay, grow up, and logistically you literally have the freedom now to do whatever the f--- you want, Vanessa, so go and do it,'" she says. "So, I released myself from this need to control this story about myself."

Carlton now appreciates that her breakout hit "brings people so much joy."

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"I'm like, 'This is the people's song.' I just got lucky with this music. So that's how I look at it," says the "White Houses" performer.

In VICE's "The Story Of" series, Carlton revealed that she "hated" "A Thousand Miles" for years.

However, that same year, she told Entertainment Tonight that she "figured out how to make peace with that song, how to honor people's connection with that song and realize that song does not belong to me anymore."

"That allows me to move forward as a musician," added Carlton.

She also told ET that "A Thousand Miles" was "about a crush I had on a Juilliard student."

"I can't say the person's name because they are a famous actor, and I don't want to say it," she added at the time.

Vanessa Carlton in 2002 in Wantagh, N.Y.Credit: KMazur/WireImage

Carlton says that she was "purposefully ... not attaching a gender" to the subject of the track, "and it will remain like that."

"A Thousand Miles" peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's U.S. Pop Airplay and U.S. Adult Contemporary charts, No. 2 on Billboard's Adult Pop Airplay chart and No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100. Carlton also earned three Grammy nominations for the song.

Carlton's seventh studio album Veils is out now.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”