In 2025, Ondrasik performed on season six of The Song (episode “Five for Fighting”), accompanied by a string quartet. Later that year, the performances were released as a live EP.
Referring to Five for Fighting’s success, AllMusic called Ondrasik “one of contemporary pop music’s most enduring balladeers”. In 2025, The Plain Dealer called Five for Fighting “a defining voice in American pop rock “. Business Insider has referred to the artist as a two-hit wonder for the songs “Superman (It’s…
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On January 18, 2024, Ondrasik released “OK” in response to the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent global rise in antisemitism . He referred to the song as “a call to action to stand for good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, and call evil by…
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In March 2022, Ondrasik released “Can One Man Save the World?” about the Russian invasion of Ukraine , which he then performed on July 9, 2022, in Kyiv with the Ukrainian Orchestra. Ondrasik said:
In the 2020s, Ondrasik released a trio of songs about current geopolitical events. The first of these was “Blood on My Hands”, a 2021 song critical of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan . The song prompted media discussion over censorship in music following YouTube’s banning and subsequent restoration…
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In 2018, Ondrasik recorded a song entitled “Song For The Innocents” for the end credits of the film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer .
Most prominently, Ondrasik was the featured artist in season three of the CBS drama Code Black , covering Gary Go ‘s ” Open Arms ” in episode one. He also appears on screen performing the song. Ondrasik’s cover of “Open Arms” appeared on the Billboard’s “Top TV songs” chart in…
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Some of Five for Fighting’s notable live performances in this era included the Lincoln Center Series, American Songbook, in February 2017, the 2017 National Memorial Day Concert and parade, and a TV special called Christmas Under the Stars .
As Ondrasik entered his fifties, he decided to “change the field of play” rather than continuing to pursue chart position and record sales: “I just can’t be doing it the same way I’ve always done it.” Much of his activity in these years focused on television. Ondrasik and Stephen Schwartz…
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Five for Fighting’s sixth studio album, Bookmarks , was released through Wind-up and Aware Records in 2013, peaking at number 54 on the Billboard 200. “What If” was the album’s lead single and it reached number 29 and number 28 on the Adult Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, respectively.…
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