Songfacts®:

• "Day 'N' Nite" was our introduction to Kid Cudi, and it remains his most popular song. It's autobiographical: Cudi is the "lonely stoner" who frees his mind at night. The song shows how his unbridled creative side is tempered by an isolation and paranoia that he tries to control with marijuana.
  
  "I was extremely high when I made 'Day 'N' Night'" he told Mass Appeal magazine. "I went in trying to express some feelings and it ended up being one of my biggest records."
  
  "My music is like a diary," he added. "I feel like I'm in my own world and alone, even if I'm in a crowd of people."
• Kid Cudi wrote and produced this song with Dot da Genius when the pair were living together in New York City and trying to make their mark. Cudi (real name, Scott Mescudi) was born and raised in Cleveland, but his laid-back, off-kilter style didn't connect there, so in 2004 he moved to New York, where there's more of a market for alternative hip-hop. After he and Dot wrote the song in 2007, Cudi posted it on MySpace, the social network of choice for musicians at the time. Bloggers took note, and the song got the attention of Kanye West's tour DJ, A-Trak, who released it on his Fools Gold label in Spring 2008. West then signed Kid Cudi to his Good Music label as the song became a hit across European dancefloors. Later in 2008, Cudi appeared on "Paranoid" from West's 808's & Heartbreak album, and Good Music re-issued "Day 'N' Nite." The song took off early in 2009 and peaked at #3 that May, about 18 months after Cudi posted it on MySpace.
• Kid Cudi told The Guardian January 20, 2009, that when he recorded this song, he was not in a great place emotionally. Cudi explained: "I was going through a lot of stuff at the time in my life and so I felt like I needed to write those things down just to get them off my chest. I wasn't really thinking about making a hit record or anything like that, I was just making the song to get my feelings out."
• This song has had a number of remixes. In Europe, a house mix by the production duo The Crookers has proved most popular, while in the US a Jim Jones remix did well.
  
  Cudi told The Guardian that when he heard the Crookers remix, he "immediately loved it." The Cleveland rapper added: "I thought they did an amazing job. I didn't think it was going to be as ill as it was. Before I heard it I thought, 'Ah, it's techno so it's going to be cheesy,' but it came out really ill."
• In the music video Cudi wanders through a world where he can't always tell what's real. It mixes animation with live footage to simulate drug-induced hallucinations, something Pink Floyd did quite well in their movie The Wall.
  
  A music video for the Crookers re-mix also appeared, which is set in a supermarket. That one Cudi disavowed. He wrote on his blog that not only did he not approve of the video, neither did his managers, the Crookers, or his record label. The rapper added: "We just expressed to the people who shot the video and told them we didn't like it and wanted to try (something different). Next thing u know, within hours it's alllllll over the f---ing Internet."
• The song was born from Cudi humming. He recalled to Complex magazine: "I was at work and I was sitting there humming ideas into my Sidekick."
• In 2004, Kid Cudi moved from his Cleveland hometown to New York City. He stayed with his uncle, Kalil Madi, until he kicked him out. "We were actually beefing because he forced me out the house when I didn't have another situation set up, so I was bitter," he told Complex.
  
  Kalil passed away in 2006; "Day 'N' Nite" was partly inspired by Cudi's feelings of regret at not patching up their differences before his death. "I never apologized for it, and that kills me," he said.
• The song inspired a TikTok trend in 2021 where users mouth the line "now look at this" before showcasing an unusual or funny video, while the song continues as an instrumental.
  
  Cudi admitted to being unhappy with the song's use on TikTok because it's far removed from the original intent behind his lyrics. "When I made 'Day N Nite,' I wanted it to help people. I never imagined it would be used in a joking manner. It threw me off a lil bit," he said.
• In 2022, Coldplay covered "Day 'N' Nite" for a Spotify Singles Session. The group rarely does cover songs, but this one called out to them. "In my head I could hear a version of it quite different from the original, that hopefully just reinforces what a brilliant song it is," lead singer Chris Martin said.
• When the song took off, Cudi's mental state frayed even further as he struggled with celebrity. In his 2025 autobiography he explains that he became dangerously dependent on pot, smoking up to 15 blunts a day, and when he leveled up to cocaine he had thoughts of self-harm. Cudi went to rehab in 2016 and was able to kick cocaine while moderating his marijuana use. He closely monitors his mental health and is very public about his struggles.