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36 Popular Songs That Artists Regret Creating

With hundreds of thousands of songs available today, everyone has fond memories of particular pieces over all the years. They are the types of songs you’d hear on the radio, were chart-toppers for months in a row and for good reason. They were catchy and great at the time.

However, while those songs were popularized by the masses, not every artist behind those songs is exactly proud. Over time, there were several different pop stars and singer-songwriters who revealed that for one reason or another they feel awkward, embarrassed, or sometimes ashamed about the songs they worked on.

When looking at these particular moments it’s not always to do with the sounds, but rather the lyrical content, or in some cases, the market over-saturation of their song way more than they were intending. Regardless of the reasoning, below are stars and the songs that they now distance themselves from after reflecting on the choices they’ve made.

Blurred Lines – Pharrell Williams with Robin Thicke

First on the list is the song Blurred Lines. It was a massive hit when it was first released, however it also resulted in a lot of courtroom drama which both the artists ultimately lost.

Turns out, the song was immensely discussed due to the song’s lyrics, which shall we say were blurry when it came to giving consent. In the end, the courts deemed it awkwardly non-consensual.

Pharrell admitted years later after the release the following:

“[At first] it’s like ‘What’s rapey about that?’ And then I realized that there are men who use that same language when taking advantage of a woman, and it doesn’t matter that that’s not my behavior. Or the way I think about things. It just matters how it affects women…I realized that we live in a chauvinist culture in our country. I hadn’t realized that. Didn’t realize that some of my songs catered to that. So that blew my mind.”

Jodeci Freestyle – Drake and J Cole

Through this collaboration, a 2013 song was released and was faced with immediate backlash from fans. Specifically over the verse where it called autistic people “retarded”.

Drake wrote in a statement later about that fact:

“I share responsibility and offer my sincerest apologies for the pain this has caused. Individuals with autism have brilliant and creative minds, and their gifts should not be disparaged or discounted. This was a learning lesson for both of us, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to try to right this wrong. J. Cole and I believe that it is the right, responsible, and respectful decision to remove the lyric from the song.”

Demi (2013) & Confident (2015) – Demi Lovato

While there wasn’t necessarily regret in the recording of Demi Lovato’s 2013 and 2015 albums, a recent interview revealed that they’re actively avoiding revisiting these albums.

“I don’t know if it’s because it reminds me of the people that were in my life during those times or if it just doesn’t feel that authentic to myself. I had really believed in myself after putting ‘Skyscraper’ out, for the Grammys. I was like, I might have a shot now! And then I put out another album — nothing. So I dove into, all right, what is the formula for a pop star that’s top of the charts?…I played that role for a minute. And that didn’t fulfill me at all…it’s weird to think that I had more of a sense of identity as a 15, 16-year-old than I did as a 23-year-old.”

Married Men – Bette Midler

During an interview with Parade, Bette spent some time reflecting on her career and recognized that there were some regrets throughout it. In the case of her discography, one of those regrets was a song called Married Men to which she joked: “Please, God, shoot me now!”

Another song she called out was My Knight in Black Leather saying “Save me! That was the label saying, ‘You have to record this.’”

Both of those songs coincidentally stem from her disco-inspired fifth studio album titled Thighs and Whispers.

Break the Rules – Charli XCX

In an interview with Red Bull, Charli revealed several years later about regretting that track, stating that it was part of a writing camp she was involved in:

“The song is ‘Break the Rules.’ Sorry, I wrote it in a writing camp – maybe you know this story – and I was like ‘whoever ends up singing this song is so f–king stupid.’ And then, it was me. So, there you go.”