14 Problematic Song Lyrics That Received So Much Backlash, They Were Changed After Being Released
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1.Black Eyed Peas: "Let's Get It Started"
What they said about it later: While the band never apologized for the song, they did rerelease it a year later with the new name and lyrics.
Listen to the full song here:
2.Paramore: "Misery Business"
What they said about it later: "I’m a 26-year-old person. And yes, a proud feminist. Just maybe not a perfect one," lead singer Hayley Williams told Track 7. "The thing that annoyed me was that I had already done so much soul-searching about it, years before anyone else had decided there was an issue. ... I was a 17-year-old kid when I wrote the lyrics in question, and if I can somehow exemplify what it means to grow up, get information, and become any shade of ‘woke,' then that’s A-OK with me."
Listen to the full song here:
3.Lizzo: "GRRRLS"
What she said about it later: “Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language. As a fat Black woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me so I understand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case, unintentionally),” Lizzo said in a statement. “I’m proud to say there’s a new version of 'GRRRLS' with a lyric change. This is a result of me listening and taking action. As an influential artist, I’m dedicated to being part of the change I’ve been waiting to see in the world.”
Listen to the full song here:
4.Beyoncé: "Heated"
What was said about it later: Shortly after Lizzo removed the slur from her song, Beyoncé came under fire for her own use of it on Renaissance. A representative for the star said: "The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced."
Listen to the full song here:
5.Taylor Swift: "Picture to Burn"
What she said about it later: “I had this song called ‘Picture to Burn,’ that’s talking about how ‘I hate your truck,’ and ‘I hate that you ignored me,’ ‘I hate you.’ Now, the way that I would say that and the way that I would feel that kind of pain is a lot different,” she told MTV in 2011.
Listen to the full song here:
6.Sean Kingston: "Beautiful Girls"
What was said about it later: After being banned from several radio stations around the world, Kingston had to change the lyric referencing suicide and drop several mentions of crime. Sean never commented on the lyric change.
Listen to the full song here:
7.Lana Del Rey: "Ultraviolence"
What she said about it later: "I don’t like it. I don’t. I don’t sing it. I sing 'Ultraviolence,' but I don’t sing that line anymore. Having someone be aggressive in a relationship was the only relationship I knew," she told Pitchfork in 2017.
Listen to the full song here:
8.Eminem: "Fall"
What he said about it later: In a 2018 interview, Eminem said he regretted using the gay slur to insult musician Tyler, the Creator in his song: "I think the word that I called him on that song was one of the things where I felt like this might be too far," he went on: "Because in my quest to hurt him, I realize that I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it. [...] It was one of the things that I kept going back to and going 'I don’t feel right with this.'"
Listen to the full song here:
9.Drake feat. J. Cole: "Jodeci Freestyle"
What they said about it later: "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," Drake wrote in a statement. "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."
J. Cole also issued an apology.
Listen to the full song here:
10.Orville Peck: "Born This Way (The Country Road Version)"
What he said about it later: For the 10-year anniversary of the Born This Way album, Lady Gaga hand-picked several LGBTQ artists to record their own versions of some of the songs. In his rerecording, Orville Peck took it upon himself to update some of the track's poorly aged lyrics. He never publicly addressed the lyric change.
Listen to the full song here:
11.Future feat. Lil Wayne: "Karate Chop (Remix)"
What he said about it later: "It has come to my attention that lyrics from my contribution to a fellow artist’s song has deeply offended your family," Lil Wayne wrote in an open letter to the Tills. "As a father myself, I cannot imagine the pain that your family has had to endure. [...] I will not be performing the lyrics that contain that reference live and have removed them from my catalogue."
Listen to the full song here:
12.Dire Straits: "Money for Nothing"
What they said about it later: Because of its homophobic language, the 1985 song featuring Sting was banned from airplay on Canadian radio stations. The decision, however, was reversed in 2011. Former Dire Straits singer and lead guitarist Mark Knopfler has changed it when he performs it live. Dire Straits never publicly addressed the lyric change.
Listen to the full song here:
13.The Notorious B.I.G. — "Gimme the Loot"
What was said about it later: After receiving backlash for rapping about robbing unsuspecting pregnant women, the line was edited out of the 1994 track.
Listen to the full song here:
14.And lastly: Michael Jackson: "They Don't Care About Us"
What he said about it later: Unaware of just how antisemitic his lyrics were, the King of Pop told Diane Sawyer in an interview that “it’s not antisemitic because I’m not a racist person.” Thankfully, Jackson later came to his senses and rerecorded the insensitive lyrics. Even so, the original lyrics still made their way into both of the song's music videos — the Brazil version and the prison version — but have loud sound effects layered over the slurs.
