"Semi-Charmed Life" is a song by American rock band Third Eye Blind from their 1997 eponymous debut studio album. It was released to modern rock radio as the lead single from the album on February 18, 1997, by Elektra Records. Frontman Stephan Jenkins is credited as the sole writer of the song, although guitarist Kevin Cadogan has disputed the song's authorship through litigation. The song was produced by Jenkins and Eric Valentine. An alternative rock and power pop song with a rap-influenced singing style, the lyrics of "Semi-Charmed Life" concern a crystal meth addiction and transition periods in one's life.

"Semi-Charmed Life" was one of the first demos recorded for Third Eye Blind, in which it went through five iterations before the band settled on its final mix. Valentine recorded and mixed the song in and around San Francisco at Toast Studios, Skywalker Ranch, H.O.S., and The Site. The instrumentation used in the song includes guitars, brushes, and a drum machine. According to Jenkins, the refrain of "Semi-Charmed Life" was inspired by Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side", and the band intended for it to serve as an answer song. The song was conceived after Jenkins witnessed his friends using crystal meth at a Primus concert.

The music video for "Semi-Charmed Life" was directed by Jamie Morgan and it depicted an idealistic visual of San Francisco. The song received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its instrumentation and radio-friendly nature. In retrospective reviews, some critics have cited "Semi-Charmed Life" as one of the best songs of the 1990s. In the United States, the song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Internationally, "Semi-Charmed Life" was a top 40 hit in six countries.

"In terms of the dark lyrics and the catchy tune, I was just messing with whatever the paradigm was – I've always had a mischievous nature in that way. I'm not a formulaic writer – I don't have some cookie-cutter method. It's whatever is provoking me at the moment."

Frontman Stephan Jenkins is credited as the sole songwriter of "Semi-Charmed Life". Jenkins intended to write a song that acted as a San Francisco response to Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side", with the "doo, doo, doot" chants present throughout the song being directly inspired by Reed's song. In regards to the song's style, Jenkins explained that it was meant to reflect changes that occurred in the San Francisco music scene at the time, particularly a growing interest in hip hop. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Jenkins said that the concept of the song was developed through his observations of friends using crystal meth at a Primus concert. The juxtaposition of the music and lyrical content was intentional, as Jenkins intended to illustrate the "bright, shiny feeling" one gets when using crystal meth. Jenkins, however, maintains that the meaning of the song more broadly relates to changing periods in one's life. He further explained the meaning of the song:

It's about living in the Lower Haight [in San Francisco] and all the machinations that were going on at a time where my friend group was finally out of the [educational] institutions that we'd been in our whole lives – because we’d all been in school since kindergarten and everybody now was in their early 20s and out of college. And then probably underneath that, also the weight of coming to terms with the kind of agony that your life is always about to change and never be reliable.

The song was written well before Third Eye Blind was formed. During his time as a struggling musician in San Francisco, Jenkins recalled sitting in a room with future 4 Non Blondes singer and songwriter Linda Perry, who worked as a waitress down the street, performing their original compositions to one another. The two played each other early versions of "Semi-Charmed Life" and "What's Up?", both of which would later become massive hits for their respective bands. It would be decades later that Jenkins realized the songs performed in that private session would sell a combined 17 million records.

Jenkins was initially against the decision to release "Semi-Charmed Life" as the lead single from Third Eye Blind, as he did not believe that it was representative of the work as a whole. Guitarist Kevin Cadogan was concerned with the explicit lyrical content of the song, as he feared that radio stations would refuse to play the song. Elektra Records suggested that the band release "Semi-Charmed Life" as their debut single as opposed to "Losing a Whole Year", prompting the release of several radio edits of the song. Upon the song's success, Jenkins claimed that he believed most listeners misinterpreted the song to simply be a "happy summertime jam".