25 Songs Artists Wish They Hadn't Written

When an artist releases a song, there’s no telling how it will resonate with their fans, and beyond. Once it’s put out into the universe, it’s up to listeners to determine whether it will be a hit or a flop. Many of the songs below represent some of our favorite artists greatest hits. Many of the songs are legendary. But just because they’re songs that we know and love, doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re loved by the artists who wrote and performed them. In fact, some artists actually regret writing some of their greatest hits. Whether they regret writing certain lyrics, or are just plain old sick of hearing it, here are 25 artists who wish they hadn’t written their hit song.

1. "Ultraviolence" - Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey told Pitchfork of the lyric “he hit me and it felt like a kiss,”"I don’t like it. I don’t. I don’t sing it. I sing 'Ultraviolence,' but I don’t sing that line anymore."

2. "I Kissed A Girl" - Katy Perry

“We’ve really changed, conversationally, in the past 10 years,” she said in a 2018 interview with Glamour. “We’ve come a long way. 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.”

“Lyrically, it has a couple of stereotypes on it. Your mind changes so much in 10 years, and you grow so much. What’s true for you can evolve.”

3. "Telephone" - Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé

"I hate 'Telephone.' Is that terrible to say? It's the song I have the most difficult time listening to," Lady Gaga told Pop Justice.

4. “Candy” - Mandy Moore

“Ugh, those were awful–just awful!” the “This Is Us” star told Glamour in 2006. “If I had the money, I would give a refund to everyone who bought my first two albums.”

5. “Misery Business” - Paramore

Hayley Williams addressed the track (which contains the following lyrics: ”Once a whore, you’re nothing more / I’m sorry, that’ll never change.”) in a 2015 post, writing, “’Misery Business’ is not a set of lyrics that I relate to as a 26-year-old woman. I haven’t related to it in a very long time. Those words were written when I was 17… Admittedly, from a very narrow-minded perspective.”

The band have since retired the track from their lives shows, with Hayley saying during a 2018 concert: “This is a choice we made because we feel like we should,” she said before playing the song. “We feel like it’s time to move away from it for a little while. ...This is to every bad decision that led us here, this is to all the embarrassing things we might have said, but we owned up to it and we grew.”

6. “Picture to Burn” - Taylor Swift

Taylor initially changed the lyrics when fans expressed upset at the line, “So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy / That's fine, I'll tell mine you're gay.” She later told MTV, "Now, the way that I would say that and the way that I would feel that kind of pain is a lot different.”

7. “Shiny Happy People” - R.E.M.

Speaking about the track with BBC’s Andrew Marr, lead singer Michael Stipe said in 2016, “If there was one song that was sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for the rest of time, I would not want it to be ‘Shiny Happy People.’”

8. "Creep" - Radiohead

“It can be cool sometimes, but other times I want to stop halfway through and be like, ‘Nah, this isn’t happening,'” Thom Yorke told Rolling Stone in 2017.

9. "Wonderwall" - Oasis

Liam Gallagher told MTV in 2008: “I can’t f**ing stand that f**king song! Every time I have to sing it I want to gag."

10. "Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin

“I’d break out in hives if I had to sing that song in every show,” Robert Plant told the Los Angeles Times in 1988.

11. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana

"It's almost an embarrassment to play [“Smells Like Teen Spirit”]. Everyone has focused on that song so much. The reason it gets a big reaction is people have seen it on MTV a million times. It's been pounded into their brains…” - Kurt Cobain said to Rolling Stone in 1993.

12. "Royals" - Lorde

In a 2014 interview with the Daily Record, Lorde noted “['Royals'] sounds like a ringtone from a 2006 Nokia. None of the melodies are cool or good. It's disastrous. Awful."

13. “Party in the USA” - Miley Cyrus

“Honestly, I picked that song because I needed something to go with my clothing line,” she said in an interview with the website MileyWorld not long after the song was released.

14. "You're Beautiful" - James Blunt

Regarding his hit song, James Blunt told Hello! magazine "[It] was force-fed down people's throats," he said. "And it became annoying.”

15. "Bang Bang" - Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj

Ari may not be the biggest fan of "Bang, Bang," but she's come out with a lot of music that she loves since then!

16. "Like A Virgin" - Madonna

Madonna's "Like A Virgin" did wonders for the Queen of Pop, but the industry titan just isn't interested in singing it any longer -- unless you're willing to fork over $30 million bucks. "I'm not sure I can sing 'Holiday' or 'Like A Virgin' ever again," she told Z100 in 2008. "I just can't - unless somebody paid me like $30 million or something."

17. "Deuces" - Chris Brown feat. Tyga and Kevin McCall

Chris Brown isn't one to let legal woes get in the way of his music, particularly "Deuces," his 2010 hit with Tyga and Kevin McCall. Still, Tyga reportedly revealed on BET's "106 & Park" that he wasn't feeling the song as much as fans think.

18. "My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion

Believe it or not, Celine Dion wasn't that big of a fan of "My Heart Will Go On." In fact, she never really wanted to record it from the get. "I didn't want to sing 'My Heart Will Go On'... Thank God they didn't listen to me," the pop icon revealed during an episode of "The Jonathan Ross Show." "I didn't really like the song at first."

19. "What's Love Got To Do With It" - Tina Turner

"What's Love Got To Do With It" is a classic Tina Turner anthem, but she hated the anti-love song. Thankfully, she left the decision to record the song in the hands of her manager, Roger Davies, who convinced her to cut the record even though she didn't have a personal connection to it.

20. "Creep" - TLC

Left Eye did not like the message behind "Creep," one of TLC's biggest hits. "A girl is gonna catch her man cheating," she said, "instead of telling her to cheat back, why don't we tell her to just leave?"

21. "Gucci Time" - Gucci Mane

"The Breakfast Club" is a venue to let all your feelings out and Gucci Mane when talking about his 2010 release of "Gucci Mane," his team-up with Swizz Beatz. In fact, he called it the worst song of his career. Ouch!

22. "Sometimes" - Britney Spears

Brit tends to get a little embarrassed when she sings her early hits, but fans were shocked to learned that she doesn't really like 1999's "Sometimes" all too much. During the 2003 filming of her "Onyx Hotel Tour," the singer playfully let the cat out of the bag during her exit from the stage. "I have to go? I haven't even sung 'Sometimes' yet," she said. "Oh God! I never liked that song anyway!"

23. The Beatles - "Let It Be"

Sorry, Beatles fans. John Lennon wasn't here for "Let It Be." "It has nothing to do with The Beatles," he said in an interview with David Sheff in 1980. "It could've been Wings. I don't know what [Paul's] thinking when he writes 'Let It Be.'"

24. Lil Wayne - "Yuck!" with 2 Chainz

Lil Wayne likes to mess around in the studio, but little did he know his verse during his session with 2 Chainz was going to be the opening cut on the rapper's Based on a T.R.U. Story. "I'm very upset about that, just so everybody knows. [2 Chainz] put me on there, I sound wack as hell. He did not tell me that was gonna be the first song on his album. We [were] just in the studio, and I just did that. I was just in there messing around."

25. Toni Braxton - "Unbreak My Heart"

Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" was a career-defining moment for the R&B titan, but it almost didn't happen. "I heard the song [and] I thought, 'This is nice, it's all right.' [My record producers] said, 'We think this is a smash,'" she told The New York Post. "I knew I wanted to change my image and be a little sexier. It was strategic to be an [adult contemporary] artist because of the texture of my voice, but I wanted to be 25-years-old. I thought 'Un-Break My Heart' would put me back in the same category of being an adult contemporary artist. But they turned out to be right. I didn't want to do it but I did it and it was the biggest thing in my career."

PHOTOS: Getty Images