When A Musician Doesn’t Like Their Own Song
Turns out, some of the biggest hits in music history weren’t considered hits by the musicians responsible for them. Here are the artists who hate their own songs.
“Stairway To Heaven” By Led Zeppelin
“Stairway to Heaven” is a classic. Period. But Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin doesn’t have the same affection for it as the rest of his fans. Even back in 1988, he resisted the idea of playing it on tour.
Atlantic Records, Wikimedia Commons
“Stairway To Heaven” By Led Zeppelin
He told the Los Angeles Times, "I'd break out in hives if I had to sing that song in every show. I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don't know. It's just not for me”.
Heinrich Klaffs, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Like A Virgin,” “Holiday,” And “Material Girl” By Madonna
Madonna might be an iconic pop star, but some of her major pop hits truly grate on her. For instance, during a 2008 radio interview, she shared, "I'm not sure I can sing 'Holiday' or 'Like a Virgin' ever again. I just can't, unless somebody paid me, like, $30 million or something”.
However, the song she dislikes the most might be the biggest shock of all.
Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Like A Virgin,” “Holiday,” And “Material Girl” By Madonna
Turns out, Madonna really can’t stand her beloved song, “Material Girl”—so much so that she has been quoted saying that she “never, ever want[s] to hear it again”.
“Royals” By Lorde
Lorde took the world by storm with her extremely successful debut album in 2013—especially her major hit “Royals”. But though people still cite the single as one of her best songs, the artist herself doesn’t agree.
“Royals” By Lorde
Lorde later spoke about “Royals” and really ripped into it, saying, “I listen to people covering the song and putting their own spin on it—and I listen to it in every single form except the original one I put out—and I realize that actually it sounds horrible. It sounds like a ringtone from a 2006 Nokia. None of the melodies are cool or good. It's disastrous. Awful”.
Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Wonderwall” By Oasis
Somehow, even if you aren’t an Oasis fan, you probably know some of the lyrics to their greatest hit, “Wonderwall”. However, the band’s lead singer, Liam Gallagher, truly hates the song.
“Wonderwall” By Oasis
While promoting Oasis’s 2008 album Dig Out Your Soul, Gallagher made some shocking comments about “Wonderwall” in an interview: "At least there's no 'Wonderwall' on there… Every time I have to sing it I want to gag”.
Will Fresch, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Starships” By Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj might have created a major hit with “Starships,” but she told her fans during her New Year’s Eve performance in 2023, "I don't perform that song no more, y'all. I don't like it”. Of course, she’d already discussed her distaste for the song on a previous occasion…
Press Line Photos, Shutterstock
“Starships” By Nicki Minaj
Back in 2020, Minaj opened up to Pollstar Live about the hit song, saying, “I hate ‘Starships,’ I mean ew, ‘Starships?’ I'm like, 'Why did I do that?' I really think that every time I hear it”.
Philip Nelson, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Strangers In The Night” By Frank Sinatra
Who doesn’t love “Strangers in the Night” by Frank Sinatra? Well, apparently, Sinatra himself. Reportedly, he spoke badly about the number on several occasions, even going so far as to call it the “worst” song.
Capitol Records, Wikimedia Commons
“Strangers In The Night” By Frank Sinatra
Unlike some other artists on this list, Sinatra never stopped playing this beloved hit. Of course, he didn’t keep his lips sealed about his feelings for it. According to reports, prior to performing “Strangers in the Night” live, he’d make sure to acknowledge his animosity for it.
CBS/CBS Radio, Wikimedia Commons
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” By Nirvana
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine in 1994, Kurt Cobain—the frontman of Nirvana—explained why the band didn’t play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” during one of their shows. He said that the hit’s popularity made it more tiring to perform all the time.
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” By Nirvana
Cobain went on to say that he believes there are “other songs that I’ve written that are as good, if not better…” Even worse? He confessed, "I literally want to throw my guitar down and walk away. I can't pretend to have a good time playing it”.
“Break The Rules” By Charli XCX
Charli XCX released her album Sucker in 2014, but there was one song on it that she absolutely despised—and that was “Break the Rules”.
Anna Hanks, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Break The Rules” By Charli XCX
In 2020, Charli XCX explained in an interview with Red Bull, "There's only one song in my life that I didn't feel good about when I was making it. All other songs? Love. Feel great about them”.
“Candy” By Mandy Moore
“Candy” by Mandy Moore might be a 2000s banger, but Mandy Moore just looks back on her early music and cringes. In 2005, she revealed in an interview with Glamour magazine that she didn’t like the song at all.
“Candy” By Mandy Moore
Moore went on to criticize her first two albums, saying, "Ugh, those were awful… just awful. If I had the money, I would give a refund to everyone who bought my first two albums”.
Mingle MediaTV, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Beauty And A Beat” By Justin Bieber And Nicki Minaj
Justin Bieber’s popular collaboration with Nicki Minaj in 2012 was “Beauty and a Beat”—but during an interview on The Bert Show four years later, the singer revealed how he truly felt about the song.
Christopher Polk/AMA2012, Getty Images
“Beauty And A Beat” By Justin Bieber And Nicki Minaj
According to Bieber, he was just trying to roll with the popular sound at the time, saying, "I never really liked 'Beauty and a Beat’. It was music that was popular at that time but I was never really a huge fan of that song”.
“Gold Digger” By Kanye
2005’s “Gold Digger” was a major song for Kanye West and did wonders for his career, even helping him snag some serious wins at the Grammy Awards the following year. However, in 2013, he spoke to Zane Lowe and revealed something rather surprising.
Jason Persse, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Gold Digger” By Kanye
As it turns out, Kanye West only saw one thing when he agreed to record “God Digger”—dollar signs. He said, "I never really liked that song, but I knew I would get paid for doing 'Gold Digger’”.
Kenny Sun, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Telephone” By Lady Gaga And Beyoncé
In 2011, Lady Gaga revealed her true feelings about the song “Telephone,” on which she collaborated with Beyoncé. She told Popjustice, "I hate 'Telephone’. Is that terrible to say? It's the song I have the most difficult time listening to”.
However, in a surprising twist, Gaga doesn’t hate the song because it is bad.
“Telephone” By Lady Gaga And Beyoncé
According to Gaga, the entire business of producing and creating the song was a difficult experience for her. It was “stressful” and her negative association with it has everything to do with the “emotional connection” she has to it.
“You’re Beautiful” By James Blunt
James Blunt might not hate his greatest hit “You’re Beautiful” from his 2004 debut album—but he certainly thinks that the song that catapulted him to fame was horrendously overplayed.
Dawn Ellner, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“You’re Beautiful” By James Blunt
“You’re Beautiful” was an undeniably catchy hit, but because the radio played it so incessantly, listeners turned against it.
Speaking with Hello!, Blunt confessed in 2014, "There was one song that was force-fed down people's throats—'You're Beautiful'—and it became annoying … and then people start to associate the artist with the same word”.
Manfred Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Creep” By Radiohead
There’s a reason Radiohead ended up rarely performing “Creep” on tour. After its release in 1992, it didn’t take long for the band to not only tire of it, but completely despise it.
Kenny Sun, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Creep” By Radiohead
Lead singer Thom Yorke later told the Denver Post, "It was frustrating, being judged on just that song when we felt we needed to move on. We were forced on tour to support it, and it gagged us, really. We were on the verge of breaking up”.
Nicolas Lœuillet, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Party In The USA” By Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus doesn’t deny that 2009’s “Party in the USA” was an important song for her career. But though she doesn’t necessarily hate it, she certainly doesn't identify with it any longer.
Raphael Pour-Hashemi, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Party In The USA” By Miley Cyrus
Speaking to V magazine, Cyrus later confessed, "I can never say that I don't love 'Party in the USA’ and that I'm not appreciative of it… I would never take it back. But that's not who I am, that's not where I want to sing, that's not what I want to sing, and that's not what I want my voice to sound like”.
“Shiny Happy People” By REM
Similarly, singer Michael Stipe from REM doesn’t want to throw the song “Shiny Happy People” completely under the bus, but he also doesn’t want it to define the band’s legacy.
R_Decatur_H, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
“Shiny Happy People” By R.E.M
Stipe spoke with The Sun in a 2016 interview, revealing that, “It was written to be as pop as it could possibly be, absurdly, ridiculously pop… I don't want it to be the song R.E.M. are remembered by in 100 years' time, but it should be recognized as one of our minor hits … though not our finest moment”.
“Put Your Hearts Up” By Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande released her song “Put Your Hearts Up” in 2011—but since then, she has harbored some deep regrets about it. Only three years later, she told Rolling Stone, "It was geared toward kids and felt so inauthentic and fake”.
But perhaps the thing that haunted Grande the most was the song’s music video.
“Put Your Hearts Up” By Ariana Grande
In the same interview, Grande described her horrific music video shoot: "For the video, they gave me a bad spray tan and put me in a princess dress and had me frolic around the street. The whole thing was straight out of hell. I still have nightmares about it, and I made them hide it on my Vevo page”.
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