These artists hate their big hits

Earlier this week I discussed which actors are not exactly proud of their iconic roles, today I will discuss the same but in the music industry. Because music, of course, also changes non-stop. And no matter how much I shouted at twelve that it was ‘really not a phase’ that I listened to heavy metal, my parents were right. This was clearly a phase. Better too, because let's be honest: 99 percent of it is just noise and I don't understand a thing of what they're trying to sing. Or grunt.

But in some cases, it's better that you don't understand it, because hits that we used to sing along to en masse are actually quite... Problematic. And the artists themselves are now aware of that too. A bit tricky if they had a monster hit with it, like Blurred Lines, and you'd rather never sing it again. Because yes, even Pharrell would have preferred not to have made that hit.

1. Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines
Let me start with this one too, because yes, it's an incredibly catchy song, but have you ever listened to the lyrics? In 2013, we might not have thought it was too weird, but nowadays I don't think many artists would still sing ‘I know you want it’. Pharrell himself agrees and understands that people find the lyrics ‘rapey’. And yes, he has admitted that he feels quite ashamed of it in hindsight.

2. Katy Perry – I Kissed A Girl
‘Bisexuality wasn’t as talked about back then, or any type of fluidity. If I had to write that song again, I probably would make an edit on it,’ Katy said about her very first hit that came out in 2008. According to her, there are quite a few stereotypes in the lyrics that she would now leave out.

3. Taylor Swift – Picture To Burn
T-Swift was so ashamed of a line in this song that she changed it. The line ‘so go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy — that’s fine I’ll tell mine that you’re gay‘ is, to be honest, not only childish but also quite offensive. She realized that afterwards, and now the lyrics have been changed to ’… you won’t mind if I say.‘ Better.

4. James Blunt – You’re Beautiful
Huh, there’s nothing offensive about this song? No, that's right. James Blunt just finds it an incredibly annoying song. According to him, the song was ‘force-fed down people’s throats’. Additionally, he felt that his record label wanted to make it particularly appealing to ‘women who watched Desperate Housewives’ and he was portrayed as an incredibly serious guy. Which he wants to emphasize that he is not.

5. Madonna – Like A Virgin
Not just this song, by the way, but also Into The Groove and Holiday she finds terrible. In fact, her own words are ‘I feel retarded singing it, but everyone seems to like it’. About Like A Virgin she said: ‘I’m not sure I can sing [that song] ever again. I just can’t — unless someone paid me, like, 30 million dollars or something.’ Wow. Then you really hate your own song.

6. Lana Del Rey — Ultraviolence
You won't be surprised with a title like this, but this song indeed discusses violence. The lyric ‘he hit me and it felt like a kiss’ went a bit too far in hindsight, and she has now changed that line. ‘I don’t like it. I don’t. I don’t sing it.’

7. Paramore – Misery Business
This was really my anthem in the year 2007 (I feel so old — that was THIRTEEN years ago?) and I can still sing it completely. With love even. Hayley Williams, the singer, does that to a lesser extent. She finds the lyric ‘once a whore, you’re nothing more, I’m sorry that’ll never change‘ quite problematic in hindsight. Understandable. Side note: she was only seventeen years old when she wrote this.

8. Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started
Maybe you also know the original of this song, which was actually Let’s Get Retarded. There was quite a bit of criticism about that and without ever publicly saying anything about it, they changed the title and the song to how we know it now. Maybe also a heads up to Madonna, that using ‘retarded’ in these kinds of contexts is not very nice.

9. Eminem — Fall
I don't quite understand this one. Or well, I do understand it, because the lyric ‘Tyler create nothin’, I see why you called yourself a faggot, bitch’ about Tyler the Creator is quite disrespectful and homophobic, but is this really the only lyric Eminem regrets? I can still remember a song where he screams and yells about murdering his ex. In fact, that song is also just called Kim, after his ex.

10. Oasis — Wonderwall
That the brothers of Oasis ever come together and perform is already a very small chance, but if that ever happens, Wonderwall will probably not be included. Singer Liam Gallagher has often spoken out about how much he hates the song. ‘Liam hated it; I’m not sure the rest of the band were too keen on it. You know, why that song took hold on the planet the way that it did is crazy; there’s no rhyme or reason for it,’ said brother Noel about it.