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“She Literally Can’t Sing”: People Are Sharing The Worst Singers That Made It Big
Interview
It takes a lot to be a performer. You need stamina, a thick skin, a unique look and a charismatic personality. And while it would be great if you’re super talented too, that’s not a requirement, apparently.
Redditors have recently been discussing famous singers that they don’t think have the pipes to be performing on a professional level, so we’ve gathered some of their hot takes down below. Whether you love these stars or not, there’s no denying that some of them could benefit from a few voice lessons. Enjoy scrolling through this list, and be sure to upvote the replies that you can’t help but agree with!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Yoko Ono.
-z-z-x-x-:
I love that video where John Lennon was on stage singing Johnny b good with chuck berry and they just cut her mic off
person (i think) 10 months ago
She knows she can’t sing well. But she is a performance artist and that is part of her art. It’s not really a hot take
RELATED:
#2
Kid Rock. He can barely "rap", and he definitely can't sing. I do admit my opinion might be colored by my intense hatred for this poser a*****e.
#3
Drake. The dude just talks with auto tune on.
To find out how this conversation started in the first place, we reached out to Reddit user ZarieRose, who invited readers to share examples of singers that they don't think have great voices.
"I saw a similar post about comedians, so I thought it would be interesting to see what people’s takes about singers were," the author told Bored Panda.
#4
Jennifer Lopez
She literally can't sing.
puremotives:
Agreed. That's why she gets Ashanti to do it for her
Giulia Fortunati 10 months ago
I think JLo is a genius (maybe an evil one!)! She's not a great singer nor a great actress, but she had big succes in everything that she tried to do!
#5
Cardi B. Can't stand her as a singer. Can't stand her as a human being.
I'm reminded of her lives at the beginning of the pandemic *bawling* into her Froot Loops because she couldn't go buy sushi.
#6
DEEEJAYYYYY KHALED!
PurpleTeaSoul:
ALL I DO IS WIN WIN WIN NO MATTER WHAT
We were also curious to know if there are any famous singers that ZarieRose isn't particularly impressed by. "I’d say Ray," the OP shared. "Not that she’s a bad singer, she just suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere, and there’s so much hype around her. I think her songs are nice but not as outstanding as some other artists."
#7
Jojo Siwa, don't think i need to explain lol.
alfie_the_elf
Ah, yes. The first and only gay pop star, bringing gay dance music to the world.
What ever would we do without her contributions to music?
#8
MGK, bro is doing all the genres and being s**t at all of em.
#9
Jaden Smith.
Simon Chen 10 months ago
Wow, of a list of 50 people, there were 8 i heard of. I am surely old
The author also believes that stars shouldn't try to make up for their lack of vocal skills by being charismatic. "I definitely think talent is more important over personality," ZarieRose says. "There’s probably so many fantastic singers out there, but they don’t get enough attention because they may be shy and don’t have the stage presence."
#11
Low-hanging fruit here, but Ice Spice.
gruccimanee:
the way she got rich and famous by recycling the same beat for multiple 3 minute songs full of poop and fart references is so crazy to me
#12
Doja Cat. Just straight up cannot sing. Has to rely on technology.
Finally, we asked the author what she thought of the replies to her post. "The top choice of Jennifer Lopez was a surprise, but I have a feeling it’s more to do with her association with P Diddy," she noted. "It was a lot of fun reading through the responses and seeing the different opinions. Some people said Enrique Iglesias, didn’t expect that. He has a beautiful voice in my opinion."
#13
Florence Foster Jenkins was so terrible she sold out Carnegie Hall.
bakewelltart20:
The film about her is incredibly sad, but I almost choked to death laughing at the singing.
I have no idea how the actors managed to keep straight faces, especially Meryl herself.
#14
Robin Thicke should thank Pharrell and Emily Ratajkowski because it sure wasn't his talent that made that song popular.
#15
Island Boys.
BOREN:
Did they really “make it big”, though?
TheAvaPark:
Bigger than they ever should have 😭
#17
Iggy Azalea.
athornedrose 10 months ago
all the way to the top with this one. she's atrocious. her sound is awful
#18
I will die on the hill that Chris brown cannot sing but can dance. Disgusting scum piece of s**t but yea he can dance. Never could sing tho.
#20
Jessica Simpson.
#21
Bob Dylan. Great writer. Terrible singer.
BlackCatWithWhiteSocks 10 months ago
So according to the title of this thread, bob Dylan should never make it big??? My God, bob Dylan is a poet of our era and wrote some of the most important songs for generations. Yeah he is not here for his voice but how could we include him in this thread along with the rest
#22
I love that people are just naming people they don't like who aren't amazing singers when there's people like Playboi Carti out there
#23
The guy that sings on the Burger King commercials. What a terrible singer!
SlainSigney:
BK Me eeeelt
#24
Ethel Merman was known as the worst singer.
She was fabulous.
No one sings *There's No Business Like Show Business* like she does.
Brava, Ms. Merman!
The Starsong Princess 10 months ago
She sang everything through her nose and had a very unique tone but it was all in tune.
#25
William Hung (showing my age here😂).
smooze420:
American Idol knew what they were doing.
#26
Fergie. That NBA All-Star game National Anthem was legendary.
Miss Tinker 10 months ago
Fergie actually has a great voice, she just made a dog’s breakfast of that National Anthem.
#27
Maybe I'm too old, but I feel like I can never understand any of Ariana Grande's lyrics. They just seem smooshed all together into one indistinct sound.
#28
All the children in the cars for kids commercial.
#29
Katy Hudson before she became "Katy Perry"
#31
I can’t believe I’m not seeing Marilyn Manson here. He sounds like a drunk lounge singer trying to be spooky.
beartheminus:
Hes almost a performance artist and not a singer really. Its all about the theatrics etc. I still don't like it though.
Rocket Surgeon 10 months ago
This sounds more like "I don't like this music" than "this singer sucks"
#33
The actual answer might be Biz Markie but that was the whole charm, wasn't it?
"Yooooououou! You got what I neeeEEeed".
Mason Kronol 10 months ago
What? Biz Markie was amazing! He was an OG beat boxer! Loved his cameo in MIB2.
#35
Megan Trainor.
girl_im_deepressed:
she's a talented singer but tends to sing in the most irritating way possible
#36
Tom Waits and I love every minute of it.
StrangeOne 10 months ago
He's interesting. His voice isn't classically great but it's gritty and a vibe.
#37
Dave Mustaine in his prime sounded like a goose getting strangled to death and nowadays he's just grumbling into the mic.
#38
Auto tuned Adam Levine.
#40
Ashley Tisdale.
Stephanie Trump 9 months ago
Like Hillary Duff, she’s not a bad singer. She’s an average singer
#41
Not sure about worst, but Paula Abdul definitely comes to mind. Very weak, thin voice. Seems like she was a dancer who got forced into being a singer too.
#42
That Dance Monkey girl.
#43
Pussycat Dolls.
StrangeOne 10 months ago
If referring to Nicole Scherzinger, she can sing. She did Phantom Of The Opera well enough to know she has some technique. The only other one of that group who really sang forefront was Melody Thornton. The others were backup vocalists or backup dancers. They were all severely underpaid and pimped out.
#46
Rita Ora.
#47
Take That.
#48
Tove Lo.
Upstaged75 10 months ago
She's quite talented. Despite the fact that everyone mispronounces her name. ;)
#49
Justin Timberlake.
#50
Lin Manuel Miranda.
NO QUESTION that man can write a song. But he sucks at singing!
What do you think ?
Seán Baron 10 months ago
I’ll probably be downvoted to buggery, but I don’t think that Beyoncé is a good singer. She’s autotuned to the sky.
DrBronxx 10 months ago
So many posts here about people who really can sing, but the OP just doesn't like their singing. Not liking a singer and thinking they're actually *bad* are two different things.
BTDubs 10 months ago
I'm gonna get downvoted to hell, but Taylor Swift shouldn't have made it big. And to all the people saying "she's an excellent song writer", I disagree. All her songs are generic fluff and that would be fine if people would stop trying to prop her up as the "next Shakespeare".
Rose the Cook 10 months ago
Never heard of a lot of these people. Just showing my age I guess.
Sergey Marinov 10 months ago
I have a hard time mistaking Billie Eilish's whispering for singing.
Rex-a-Roni 10 months ago
Rhianna's voice hurts my nervous system, and her lyrics are repetitive and mindless. I hate every sound that she has ever made.
Little Bit 10 months ago
Maybe I'm getting old but most of today's pop stars all sound the same. Their lyrics so mumbled that I can barely hear what they're singing.
Glass Ghost 10 months ago
I'm going to guess this list was mainly made by people who just dislike the artist cause a lot of them can sing 😅 I see some actual good answers but definitely some that don't make any sense.
Nadine Debard 10 months ago
I once heard Madonna live on TV about 20 years ago and god it hurt. Of course she was dancing so I can understand how much short of breathe she could have been but still... Not in tune, not in rythm, and breathless.
Tucker Cahooter 10 months ago
Thankfully, I've either never even heard of most of these people or just know their name and couldn't even name one of their songs.
Me. Just Me. 10 months ago
Somebody please tell me how in the hell Justin Bieber is not on this list. He absolutely cannot sing and single-handedly proved the power of voice-manipulation software.
_-DungeonKeeper-_ 10 months ago
Taylor Swift. Im not sure if anyone else dislikes her voice, but the lyrics are so bad. Just recycled. Incredibly recycled.
Longfellow 10 months ago
No one holds a candle to Kanye West for being a lousy singer ....don't believe me ...listen to his rendition of Freddie Mercury's songs !!!!!
Lara Verne 10 months ago
I suppose no one heard about Marek Ztracený outside of Czechia? Lucky you, guys, he has an extremely irritating voice, terrible songs and radio stations are apparently in love with him.
Joanne Earle 9 months ago
Unpopular opinion: Janis Joplin. I want to like her and I do like the song 'Cry' but her screeching sets my teeth on edge. Same with Edith Piaf
Toothless Feline 10 months ago
I’m going to show my age here, but the “singer” I always think of who didn’t deserve their five minutes of fame is Wesley Willis. He was never popular in terms of the charts, but his stuff got “discovered” in the ‘90s by one of the syndicated radio morning shows (it may have been Bob and Tom) and they roasted the hell out of him until people actually started buying his albums to see if he really was as bad as they made him out to be. He was worse. Much, much worse.
Highfalutin Heron 10 months ago (edited)
Not exactly singers, but there are some guitarists that need to stay in their lane. Satriani is fantastic but would be better if he got someone else to do the occasional singing bits.
Kat Alison 10 months ago
I’m getting old. I don’t know half of these people. And you know what? I’m OK with that! LOL
Sue 10 months ago
I don't think Madonna is a good singer, but that's not what people watch her for. When she sang some millennial-type woo-woo song at the Grammy's back in the day she totally couldn't hit the high notes. Which is fine if she can't, but don't do a freaking live show!
Rick Seiden 10 months ago
If you ask anyone who really knows me who my favorite band is, they will say Billy Joel. Billy Joel was the first music I listed to after I stopped listening to The Wheels on the Bus. The man sings OK, but if it weren't for his song writing and his piano playing, he wouldn't have made it.
Grant Caldwell 10 months ago
Miranda Lambert. Terrible person worse singer. She doesn't like it when "the staff" look at her.
Kristen Parlee 10 months ago
Why the heck isn't Gord Downie on this list? His voice is so weak and awful! I swear, if Canadian radio stations didn't have a Canadian content quota, The Tragically Hip would never get any airtime!!
Phantom Phoenix 10 months ago
An unpopular opinion as an Aussie, but Kylie Minogue really really neeeeds that autotune assistance
Jackie Lulu 10 months ago
With Auto-tune and today's pop music styles, how can you tell who is a good singer? And, why isn't Sting on this list? He can carry a tune, maybe, but he sounds like he's being strangled.
Moana Manana 10 months ago
Paula Abdul is the only singer here I know. But I can't remember how she sounds and I can't bother to look it up. 👵
Kelly Scott 10 months ago
I'd add Cher and Neil Young to this list, but Neil Young is an icon and Cher is just...let's say her face matches her voice now.
Breadcrumb. 10 months ago
Tell me this is a mostly white platform with out actually saying it..🤣
Seán Baron 10 months ago
I’ll probably be downvoted to buggery, but I don’t think that Beyoncé is a good singer. She’s autotuned to the sky.
DrBronxx 10 months ago
So many posts here about people who really can sing, but the OP just doesn't like their singing. Not liking a singer and thinking they're actually *bad* are two different things.
BTDubs 10 months ago
I'm gonna get downvoted to hell, but Taylor Swift shouldn't have made it big. And to all the people saying "she's an excellent song writer", I disagree. All her songs are generic fluff and that would be fine if people would stop trying to prop her up as the "next Shakespeare".
Rose the Cook 10 months ago
Never heard of a lot of these people. Just showing my age I guess.
Sergey Marinov 10 months ago
I have a hard time mistaking Billie Eilish's whispering for singing.
Rex-a-Roni 10 months ago
Rhianna's voice hurts my nervous system, and her lyrics are repetitive and mindless. I hate every sound that she has ever made.
Little Bit 10 months ago
Maybe I'm getting old but most of today's pop stars all sound the same. Their lyrics so mumbled that I can barely hear what they're singing.
Glass Ghost 10 months ago
I'm going to guess this list was mainly made by people who just dislike the artist cause a lot of them can sing 😅 I see some actual good answers but definitely some that don't make any sense.
Nadine Debard 10 months ago
I once heard Madonna live on TV about 20 years ago and god it hurt. Of course she was dancing so I can understand how much short of breathe she could have been but still... Not in tune, not in rythm, and breathless.
Tucker Cahooter 10 months ago
Thankfully, I've either never even heard of most of these people or just know their name and couldn't even name one of their songs.
Me. Just Me. 10 months ago
Somebody please tell me how in the hell Justin Bieber is not on this list. He absolutely cannot sing and single-handedly proved the power of voice-manipulation software.
_-DungeonKeeper-_ 10 months ago
Taylor Swift. Im not sure if anyone else dislikes her voice, but the lyrics are so bad. Just recycled. Incredibly recycled.
Longfellow 10 months ago
No one holds a candle to Kanye West for being a lousy singer ....don't believe me ...listen to his rendition of Freddie Mercury's songs !!!!!
Lara Verne 10 months ago
I suppose no one heard about Marek Ztracený outside of Czechia? Lucky you, guys, he has an extremely irritating voice, terrible songs and radio stations are apparently in love with him.
Joanne Earle 9 months ago
Unpopular opinion: Janis Joplin. I want to like her and I do like the song 'Cry' but her screeching sets my teeth on edge. Same with Edith Piaf
Toothless Feline 10 months ago
I’m going to show my age here, but the “singer” I always think of who didn’t deserve their five minutes of fame is Wesley Willis. He was never popular in terms of the charts, but his stuff got “discovered” in the ‘90s by one of the syndicated radio morning shows (it may have been Bob and Tom) and they roasted the hell out of him until people actually started buying his albums to see if he really was as bad as they made him out to be. He was worse. Much, much worse.
Highfalutin Heron 10 months ago (edited)
Not exactly singers, but there are some guitarists that need to stay in their lane. Satriani is fantastic but would be better if he got someone else to do the occasional singing bits.
Kat Alison 10 months ago
I’m getting old. I don’t know half of these people. And you know what? I’m OK with that! LOL
Sue 10 months ago
I don't think Madonna is a good singer, but that's not what people watch her for. When she sang some millennial-type woo-woo song at the Grammy's back in the day she totally couldn't hit the high notes. Which is fine if she can't, but don't do a freaking live show!
Rick Seiden 10 months ago
If you ask anyone who really knows me who my favorite band is, they will say Billy Joel. Billy Joel was the first music I listed to after I stopped listening to The Wheels on the Bus. The man sings OK, but if it weren't for his song writing and his piano playing, he wouldn't have made it.
Grant Caldwell 10 months ago
Miranda Lambert. Terrible person worse singer. She doesn't like it when "the staff" look at her.
Kristen Parlee 10 months ago
Why the heck isn't Gord Downie on this list? His voice is so weak and awful! I swear, if Canadian radio stations didn't have a Canadian content quota, The Tragically Hip would never get any airtime!!
Phantom Phoenix 10 months ago
An unpopular opinion as an Aussie, but Kylie Minogue really really neeeeds that autotune assistance
Jackie Lulu 10 months ago
With Auto-tune and today's pop music styles, how can you tell who is a good singer? And, why isn't Sting on this list? He can carry a tune, maybe, but he sounds like he's being strangled.
Moana Manana 10 months ago
Paula Abdul is the only singer here I know. But I can't remember how she sounds and I can't bother to look it up. 👵
Kelly Scott 10 months ago
I'd add Cher and Neil Young to this list, but Neil Young is an icon and Cher is just...let's say her face matches her voice now.
Breadcrumb. 10 months ago
Tell me this is a mostly white platform with out actually saying it..🤣
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