Clarkson originally wrote it for her second studio album, Breakaway (2004), with songwriters Kara DioGuardi, Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida; however, it did not make the final track listing.

In 2004, Clarkson teamed up with songwriters Kara DioGuardi and Chantal Kreviazuk to work on songs for her second studio album, Breakaway (2004).

[9][10] "One Minute" is an alternative rock song with electropop influences, and begins with Clarkson singing, "You're going crazy, running on empty / You can't make up your mind / You try to hide it, but you had to say it / Restless all this time.

On his review for My December, Josh Love of Stylus Magazine wrote that the song, along with "Don't Waste Your Time", "as lyrically sour as they may be, [...] are both fantastically layered pop-rockers.

"[1] Michael Endelman of Spin considered it a "snarling disco rock" song,[13] while Nick Levine of Digital Spy deemed it "pounding [and] insistent".

[15] Allmusic long-time contributor Stephen Thomas Erlewine considered it the highlight of My December, along with "Never Again" and "Irvine", writing that the song "give this album some much needed spark.