Singer Lizzo has the lyrics of her new single Grrrls changed after fans said she used an offensive term for people with disabilities. She’s not the first artist to no longer stand behind previously written lyrics. The songs below sounded slightly different than you know them now.
Lizzo – Grrrls
American rapper and singer Lizzo used the offensive term in the song spazwhich refers to spasms.
In a statement on Instagram, she wrote that she herself has had enough insults to know the power of words. She immediately decided to adjust the lyrics and re-upload the song on the streaming services.
Although that last step is not always carried out, there are more artists who are no longer so proud of the lyrics of earlier songs.
The Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started
The Black Eyed Peas broke through in 2003 when their album Elephunkwith the number Let’s Get Retarded popped up. The term retard (ed) – meaning retarded – is nowadays seen as offensive to people with intellectual disabilities.
Most people won’t know this version: the band recorded a neater version that was used in the United States to promote the 2004 NBA basketball season. This version was titled Let’s Get It Started and became a lot more popular than the original version.
The first version with the insulting term cannot be found on streaming services: on the album Elephunk has the number been replaced by Let’s Get It Started.
Paramore – Misery Business
The American rock band Paramore scored with the song Misery Business one of his biggest hits in 2007. But singer Hayley Williams announced in 2018 that she no longer wanted to sing the song for the time being. Williams, who wrote the song when she was 17, explained that she no longer supports the language.
In the song she addresses her lover’s ex and sings, among other things: “Once a whore, you’re nothing more. I’m sorry, that will never change.” In other words: “Once a whore, always a whore. Sorry, that will never change.”
“Calling someone a whore isn’t cool,” she later said. When the song was added to the playlist by Spotify in 2020 Women of Rock was recorded, Williams wrote on Instagram that the song did not deserve a place in this playlist due to the misogynistic lyrics.
Earlier this year, Williams performed the song live for the first time, as a duet with Billie Eilish during Coachella. Eilish, who took care of the verse with the controversial sentence in it, skipped the insulting word. Misery Business is still on Spotify in the original version and is Paramore’s biggest hit there with over 500 million streams.
Taylor Swift – Picture To Burn
Singer Taylor Swift made her debut in 2006 with her self-titled album. The song became the fourth single Picture To Burn released. †Go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy. That’s fine, I’ll tell mine you’re gay(“Tell your friends I’m obsessive and crazy. That’s fine, I’ll tell mine you’re gay.”)
At the time, a version without the negative connotation around homosexuality was already sent to radio stations and it has since replaced the earlier version, also on Spotify. “The way I would feel and articulate the pain from that song now is very different,” Swift said five years later. Later in her career, the singer made songs like Welcome To New York in You Need To Calm Downin which she speaks out for the acceptance of rights of the LGBTIQ+ community.
Michael Jackson – They Don’t Care About Us
Michael Jackson wanted to be with his They Don’t Care About Us to take a stand against discrimination and oppression, but his choice of words turned out not to be that efficient. In the second verse of the 1995 song, he sings “Jew me” and “kike me”. That last word is a condescending term for Jews.
Jackson reacted angrily at the time, because people “misinterpreted” his words. He later said in an interview that he couldn’t be racist because he loved all races and had Jewish friends too.
Not much later Jackson still apologized and went back to the studio to change the lyrics to “do me” and “strike me”, but this version is surprisingly not played everywhere. Loud sound effects have been used in the video clip and on Spotify, so that the insulting words can hardly be heard.
–
