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Occasionally, some of the songs we're most in tune with a certain artist never belonged to them in the first place. Well before they peaked on the charts or became cultural references, countless iconic songs drifted between studios, were offered up to other voices, or stalled in limbo. It's an under-appreciated corner of music history, where timing, instinct, or a split-second choice altered everything.
Some of music’s biggest hits weren’t originally intended for the artists who made them famous. With every number-one hit comes a story, and in most instances, that tale includes an unexpected twist, a song that was written with one artist in mind that went on to chart the course of someone else's career.
Through creative differences, decisions by a record label, or good old-fashioned fate, these songs took a detour and wound up where they're most famously known. You may be amazed to know that some of your favorite anthems were nearly performed by entirely different artists.
Although it's widely presumed that artists always write their own songs, the truth of the music business is more collaborative. Most renowned singers started in the background themselves, writing hits for others, years before standing in the public eye themselves. Sometimes songs just don't fit into a particular artist's style or the direction of their album, so they turn those tracks over to others to help them become stars.
Occasionally, songs are even written on purpose with someone else's voice in mind and with another performer in mind to match their style. No matter how it occurs, the fans usually end up adopting songs, unaware that they were conceived by the imagination of an entirely different artist.
Disclaimer: This article contains the writer's opinion. The reader's discretion is advised!
Here are 10 famous songs you didn’t know were originally written for someone else
Whether those songs were rejected, didn't work on the creator's original album, or were intentionally written for another voice, these songs took circuitous routes to stardom.
It's a testament to how uncharted the creative process can be in the music world. Sometimes a song's greatest potential is realized only when it is performed by the right artist. These are 10 popular songs that became hits in the voice of someone other than the one who wrote them.
1) Umbrella by Rihanna
Years before being most famously linked to Rihanna's global stardom, Umbrella was almost Britney Spears'. Written by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart initially, the song was originally pitched to Britney Spears at a volatile time in her life. Her crew died, the choice that has fans speculating about what could have been.
When Rihanna dropped the song in 2007 as the lead single off Good Girl Gone Bad, it changed her music and persona. The lyrical poetry of the song, veiled behind dark imagery and supported by Jay-Z's introductory verse, was a worldwide hit, topping the charts in over a dozen nations and sitting at number one for seven weeks straight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Success did more than win a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, it propelled Rihanna's career. Conveniently, The-Dream's own distinctive writing habits, most prominently the cadence and melodic structures, is transmitted through Umbrella, tracing it back to his own debut single Love/Hate, released that same year.
The Britney Spears close call is a timely reminder: in popular music, the voice of the moment can chart the course of music history.
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2) Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake
Before it became a hit in Justin Timberlake's solo work, Rock Your Body had other plans in mind. Rock Your Body was written by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and was supposed to be part of Michael Jackson's Invincible album.
The Jackson camp chose to scrap working further on the song and thereby had the track released free for use by other musicians as their own. Timberlake, halfway between departing the NSYNC origins and solo superstardom, seized the moment, and Rock Your Body was a showcase single on his 2002 album Justified. It's hooky, funky rhythm and Timberlake's silky falsetto were a pop spectacle that cemented his transition into solo superstardom.
With its unique groove, it was a dance club hit and a number-five hit. As fans continue to guess what Jackson would have done with the song, Timberlake's take, its lush production, and breathtaking delivery, cemented his place as a power in pop music.
The background on how it arrived, after all, so shocking, is one more enigma on a song that, played either then in the early 2000s or today, is a piece of evergreen evidence of Timberlake's trailblazing concept of pop music.
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3) Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus
Several years before Jessie J appeared on the charts as a solo performer, she was already an acclaimed songwriter and had contributed to the success of some of the greatest hit singles. This song was supposedly written for Jessie J. But she later passed it on and Miley Cyrus took the opportunity.
She is arguably one of the best-known off-stage achievements, having written the hit song, hit tune, sing-along hook chorus number-one smash Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus with Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly.
In 2009, the hit song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success solidified Jessie J as a songwriter and readied her for recording stardom in her own right.
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4) Let's Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez
Gloria Estefan's Let's Get Loud was originally a personal anthem of the Latin pop icon herself. Estefan came to understand that Jennifer Lopez's dynamo stage presence, however, would transform the song into an extra energy surge. In 2000, Lopez's version of the song became a party anthem overnight all over the world, thanks to its high-energy beats and anthemic chorus.
The song was a signature tune of Lopez's music career, her break from acting and into the music scene. It turned her into a music superstar and is still a crowd favorite at her concerts, including a highlight performance during the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show.
This action on the part of Lopez covering Estefan's song is evidence of the Latin music industry culture of cooperation that artists foster and enable, and push one another to beyond a point of no return.
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5) Irreplaceable by Beyoncé
On Beyoncé's smash single Irreplaceable, when she belts the now-famous lyrics, it's not difficult to get carried away by her soaring vocals and commanding presence on stage. Few know, though, that the song had originally been written by Ne-Yo himself, then a red-hot new phenomenon like her.
As he proceeded to solidify himself as a career solo performer in R&B music, Ne-Yo's songwriting prowess started to get extremely popular among some of the biggest stars in the industry. Irreplaceable served as evidence that he indeed was versatile. During the recording of the song, Beyoncé sings about an on-again, off-again affair wherein the boy feels he's irreplaceable and the girl finds herself and moves on.
The song's message is one of standing up, walking away from a man who does not value her worth, and leaving so easily, knowing that she deserves better. Ne-Yo and Beyoncé's duet captures not only the lady's strength and resolve in the song but perfection in artistry that Ne-Yo, as a songwriter, had to deliver.
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6) Till the World Ends by Britney Spears
When Britney Spears launched a new chapter in her career in 2011 with Femme Fatale, she demonstrated that she was still very much able to take over pop culture. While she was reasserting her status as a superstar, Ke$ha was fast building momentum with hit-making singles of her own, such as the behemoth Tik Tok.
Significantly, those two pop stars crossed over when Ke$ha collaborated with Spears on co-writing the addictive party anthem Till the World Ends. The track, thudding with energy and end-of-the-world euphoria, captured the generation's appetite for sensual excess and demonstrated that new-school voices were starting to propel the sound of legendary brands.
7) Call Me by Blondie
When producer Giorgio Moroder was looking for a voice to give his next film hit life in 1980, his first choice wasn't Debbie Harry; Stevie Nicks was the one he had thought of. The song, set for the American Gigolo soundtrack, would have sounded quite different had Nicks not been restrained by Fleetwood Mac's management dictates. Once she had been cleared out of the way, Moroder fixated on Blondie, which was already hanging by its nails between punk beginnings and pop glory.
The upshot was Call Me, a cheap concoction of disco gloss and new wave snarl that dominated American charts for six weeks to hit number one. A phenomenon larger than a hit, it captured the mood of the times and made Blondie a genre-bending phenomenon.
Posthumously, the missed opportunity for Nicks turned out to be a career highlight for Blondie, a testament that in music, where timing is of the essence, legend can.
8) We Found Love by Rihanna
Years before being one of the defining singles of 2011 in the year, this EDM behemoth had a vastly different path; Calvin Harris actually wrote it for Leona Lewis. But circumstances changed, and when Rihanna commandeered the song, it was a career-defining moment not only for her but for dance-pop as a whole.
Along with her authoritative vocals stacked over Harris's thudding beat, the song broke wide on international charts, a festival, club, and radio fixture. The collaboration marked a turning point, solidifying Rihanna's all-out entry into EDM-fueled pop and resetting the genre's crossover potential.
9) Happy by Pharrell Williams
Few are aware that Pharrell Williams' catchy hit Happy wasn't originally intended to be his. Truly, the song was originally developed with CeeLo Green being the focus. CeeLo even went so far as to record a version, but because of label moves and timing, his camp decided not to proceed with the release.
Instead of allowing the track to go to waste, Pharrell took it upon himself, turning what might have been someone else's moment into a career-defining anthem. What started as a behind-the-scenes contribution became one of the decade's most iconic feel-good anthems, forever associating Pharrell's voice with its happy hook.
10) Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor
Before it was a worldwide phenomenon, Nothing Compares 2 U quietly appeared in Prince's creative cupboard in the mid-1980s, initially written for his lesser-known side group, The Family. Their recording was forgotten, but it was not until Sinead O'Connor covered the song in 1990, with her raw, emotive vocal delivery, that the tune really hit home around the globe.
Her interpretation reduced the song to its painful essence, turning what was previously a forgotten B-side into an ageless ballad of loss and heartbreak.
Some of music’s most iconic hits weren’t even meant for the artists who made them famous. Behind every chart-topper is often an unexpected journey—a song passed from one creative hand to another before finding its perfect voice. These stories reveal just how unpredictable and collaborative the music industry can be, where a track envisioned by one artist can be completely transformed in the hands of another.
It's a testament to the fact that sometimes, the magic behind a song isn't in its lyrics or tune, but in the path it follows to reach the world.
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