Although "Trouble" failed to chart in the United States, the music press deemed it almost as successful as its predecessor, "Yellow".

There is also an associated release named Trouble – Norwegian Live EP, which came out on 5 February 2001 and consisted of five tracks recorded by the band at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo.

The initial mixed version, which was sent back to the band and Nelson, fell short of their desired quality, so it had to be redone.

[4] The song's lyrics have "softer emotional themes", including apologies, unrequited love, and longing.

[3] According to the sheet music published by Musicnotes, Inc., the song's time signature follows the common 44, with a tempo of 70 beats per minute.

In 2004, the band rejected a multi-million Euro offer from Diet Coke and Gap to use the song and "Don't Panic", the fourth single from the album.

American actor Sylvester Stallone was interested to use the song for the soundtrack of his 2001 film Driven, but the band declined.

[12] The positive reception of the single continued when the British outfit Lost Witness made a remixed version of the song, which was released and became "an unlikely dance floor anthem".

[16] The original European version of the music video for "Trouble" was directed by British director Sophie Muller.

[17] It features Martin as a prisoner in a dark warehouse, tied with ropes to a chair, being circled by cars in the freezing cold.

The other members of the band are seen on the upper floor in a slow motion sequence where Buckland and Champion struggle with bass guitarist Guy Berryman, tying him to another chair and forcing him to look in front.

He sings the final line of the song ("They spun a web for me..."), before the darkness abruptly turns to daylight.

Finally a tornado lifts the house up from its foundations, spinning it across the sky and then dropping it precisely on a normal suburban street.

[19] UK Funky artist Cooly G covered "Trouble" for her debut full-length album Playin' Me (2012).