Paula Cole could live to be 200 years old and still be known as the artist responsible for the Dawson’s Creek theme song, “I Don’t Want to Wait” — and that doesn’t bother her at all.

“I’m not tired of doing it. It’s like those songs they play themselves, especially ‘I Don’t Want to Wait,’” Cole, 57, exclusively told Us Weekly in 2024. “It’s like I get in the car and then the roller-coaster just goes. It’s like that song plays itself, and then the whole venue lights up, people in the audience are singing, there’s tears, there’s the hugs. It just means a lot to people.”

“I Don’t Want to Wait,” in fact, means so much to fans that there was an absolute uproar when Dawson’s Creek came to Netflix in 2020 without its iconic theme song because of rights issues. (The situation was rectified in 2021, but the replacement track “Run Like Mad” by Jann Arden is currently used as the theme song on Hulu.)

After releasing her debut album, Harbinger, in 1994, Cole became a staple of ’90s radio with “I Don’t Want to Wait” and her hit “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” As one of the original performers at the first Lilith Fair, she was part of a circle of female singer-songwriters that also included Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow and Shawn Colvin. By the time she took home the trophy for Best New Artist at the 1998 Grammy Awards, it seemed Cole was well on her way to superstardom.

Paula Cole performing at Lilith Fair in 1997. Bob Berg/Getty Images

None of her subsequent albums, however, quite matched the success of 1996’s This Fire, which included both “I Don’t Want to Wait” and arguably her biggest hit, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” But that doesn’t mean she stopped making music — far from it. Cole’s most recent album, Lo, dropped in March 2024, and she regularly tours.

“I do have a lot of other songs, you know? Twelve albums out, and I have a lot of songs and a lot of work, a lot of catalog,” she told Us last year. “So, I do hope people eventually find those things. It’s just that two of my babies — two of my songs — are really, really well known, but there’s a lot of other children!”

Paula Cole Still Loves Singing ‘I Don’t Want to Wait’ for Her Fans

While Cole may not be in the spotlight as much as she once was, true fans know she’s still around. In 2024, she appeared as the Ship on season 12 of The Masked Singer, stunning viewers with renditions of songs including Patti Smith Group’s “Because the Night” and Bastille’s “Pompeii.”

“My daughter encouraged me to do it, and I think it’s a very healthy lesson in lightening up and not taking myself so seriously, which I tend to do,” Cole told Us after her elimination from the Fox singing competition. “I tend to be this introverted, ponderous thinker. So, it was healthy for me to do this, and then they offered me that gorgeous costume. I couldn’t have done it if I had to be, like, a furry amoeba or something. They gave me this artistic piece that reminded me of my mother’s art projects, so it felt very natural. And then I just wanted to go beyond my comfort zone and kind of grow.”

Paula Cole performing in London on August 23, 2024. Gus Stewart/Redferns

Earlier this month, she performed at the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, at one point joining Lake Street Dive on stage for a rendition of “I Don’t Want to Wait.” This fall, she’s heading out on the road with fellow introspective ’90s artist Sophie B. Hawkins, and she works as a producer for other artists on her label, 675 Records.

Cole also participated in the upcoming documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, which is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and follows the creation of McLachlan’s all-women festival that has since achieved near-mythical status among fans.

“I’m grateful to all the talent, hard work and belief poured into this documentary. Beyond grateful for @officialsarahmclachlan touching my life back in 1995,” Cole wrote via Instagram in July alongside an announcement about the doc’s release dates. “Thank you to the stunning artists involved in @lilithfair and everyone supporting them. Thank you to the powerful artists interviewed. … What a wonderful world.”

She also told Us last year that she’s working on a book as well as a musical that’s in the “early stages” of development.

“I’ll just keep doing what I do, which is writing and creating art and performing,” she added. “I feel very fortunate to do what I do.”