Do you know that the song “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” the lead single of Kylie Minogue’s 8th album Feverand considered her greatest hit to date was not really meant to be sung by the Australian singer? The song with more than five million sales worldwide and one of the best selling singles of all timeswas written for the debut album of Sophie Ellis-Baxter but Baxter rejected the song.
But this is not really new or is it a unique occurrence in the world of music. Even in the early 80’s, there were songs that became iconic and had been an artist’s vehicle to success, but were originally written for another artist to sing.
Let me give you 10 examples of top hits that were given a thumbs down by other singers:
1. We Found Love
Can you imagine this song being sung by somebody else other than Rihanna? Well, this song considered Rihannna’s biggest hit was rejected by Nicole Scherzinger who,at the time she was given the song’s demo video and the opportunity to record it “was just too busy.” This was the very own admission of the former lead vocalist of the Pussycat Dolls to Notion magazine.
2. Baby, One More Time
This song was Britney Spears’ ticket to stardom, but can you imagine the boy band Backstreet Boys or the girl group TLC belting out Baby, One More Time? Considered a true pop classic, the song that was originally turned down by these two groups turned out to be one of the best-selling singles ever.
3. Open Your Heart
The song has the original title “Follow Your Heart” and was written by Peter Rafelson and Gardner Cole for Cyndi Lauper. Unfortunately, the song was never played to Lauper. Madonna who needed new songs for her album True Blue latched on to it but made some alteration to the lyrics and the composition to conform to her dance-pop genre, giving the “Queen of Pop”the credit for being a co-writer of the song.
4. Toxic
Toxic is the 2nd single for Britney Spear’s 4th album In the Zone. The song gained worldwide acclaim and topped the charts in the Uk, Norway, Ireland, Hungary, Canada and Australia. In the US, the song became Spear’s 4th Top 10 single. Toxic was first offered to Kylie Minogue for Body Language, her 9th album, but the Australian singer refused it.
5. Umbrella
This time it’s Britney or her label who passed up a song. The song that became Rihanna’s Number 1 hit worldwide was originally written by the production team Tricky and The Dream with Britney Spear’s in mind with her messed up life as an inspiration.
6. Physical
Can you imagine Rod Stewart being “physical”? Well, this biggest hit of Australian singer Olivia Newton-John was meant to be offered to Rod Stewart, as per the original intention of song writers Terry Shaddick and Steve Kipner. The song became the lead single for Olivia’s 12th album Physical and it went on to become a worldwide hit and the top-selling single in the US in the 80‘s.
7. Telephone
Telephone is a song written by Lady Gaga for Britney Spears for her album Circus who already recorded a demo of the song, but later rejected it. Telephone was finally recorded by Lady Gaga with Beyoncé as featured vocalist. It became Gaga’s top ten hit in the US for 6 consecutive times.
8. Rock Your Body
Rock your Body was originally intended for Michael Jackson for his album Invincible. But Jackson refused to use this song and other tracks for his album so it was finally recorded by Justin Timberlake for his album Justified.
9. S.0.S.
S.O.S. was the first number 1 single of Barbadian singer Rihanna on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.S.O.S, was not originally meant for Rihanna but for Christina Milan for her album So Amazin, but the American singer rejected it, so it was offered to Rihanna. Milan was finally released by Def Jam Recordings because of poor sales of her So Amazin album.
10. Beautiful
Beautiful is considered one of Christina Aguilera’s signaturesong. It was written by Linda Perry, but was meant to be sung by Perry as her comeback single. But when Perry heard Aguilera’s rendition of the song, she agreed to have it included in Aguilera’s 4th album Stripped in spite of the fact that Pink want it too. This has caused bad blood between Pink aginst Perry and Aguilera.