YESTERDAY AFTERNOON ON 2fm, Ronan Keating revealed that Boyzone snapped up the opportunity to have an Ed Sheeran song on their new album, because of a huge missed opportunity that haunts Boyzone.
We turned down U2 when they gave us the Sweetest Thing back 20 years ago and that was a huge mistake, so if Ed Sheeran gives us a song, we won’t be turning that one down.
U2 recorded the sickly-sweet song instead and used the video as an opportunity for Bono to apologise to his wife, Ali Hewson, for missing her birthday.
How sweet!
Boyzone do make a cameo for 20 seconds at the 0:38 mark, sporting Jamie Mitchell from Eastender’s/Ben from A1 curtain style hair that surely is another regret for the lads.
But they’re not the only ones who should feel regret. Here are more songs that were originally turned down by artists.
1. I’m a Slave 4 U
Made Famous By: Britney Spears
Turned Down by: Janet Jackson
Can a song be considered a true early noughties’ song without some words being replaced with numbers or txt spk?
Britney’s first record of the 21st Century announced that her butter-wouldn’t-melt-Southern-Christian-Lolita act was up, and it was being replaced by a Britney who seemed to enjoy rolling and frolicking in melted butter in abandoned warehouses.
Also, worth noting in the music video is the iconic hot-pink and silver-hooped thong over shiny leather trousers look that (this being 2001) perfectly matched her hot-pink Princess Jasmine bra-top.
Between that and the historic performance at the VMAs featuring THAT yellow python, we can’t imagine Janet making this song as iconic as Britney did.
However Britney has made some mistakes in her career…
2. Milkshake 2003
Made famous by: Kelis
Turned Down by: Britney Spears
It’s hard to envision anyone other than Kelis bringing all the boys to the yard for superior milkshakes, but in an alternative universe it could have been Ms Spears serving up fresh milkshakes that damn right were better than yours.
However Britney did it again, with another ‘oops!’ moment – this time passing up the change to sing…
3. Umbrella
Made famous by: Rihanna ft. Jay Z
Turned downy by: Britney Spears
This was the song that launched Rihanna as the ‘good girl, gone bad’, but it was originally written with Britney, the original ‘good girl gone bad’, in mind!
Rihanna made it her own, along with a little help from Jay-Z, and it remained at the top of the charts in Ireland for 8 weeks. This coincided with Ireland’s wettest summer on record for years. Thank god Instagram was not around back then, cause you know full well it would be the caption of every photo in the rain. As if the rain itself wouldn’t be bad enough…
4. SOS
Made famous by: Rihanna
Turned down by: Christian Milan
Rihanna’s career goes to show that you need a couple of lucky breaks to make it big. SOS became Rihanna’s first single to reach number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100 but was originally intended for Christina Milan who hasn’t had a hit since 2004′s Dip It Low. #LifeRegrets
5. Happy
Made famous by: Pharrell Williams
Turned down by: Cee Lo Green
The song that won a Grammy, was nominated for an Oscar AND sold over 10 million copies was supposed to be for CeeLo Green, who passed at the opportunity to concentrate on releasing his Christmas album ‘CeeLo’s Magic Moment’… Damn, you’d be kicking yourself for missing that magic moment. In Ireland the song is tied at 5th place, along with ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by Black Eyed Pea, for longest time spent at number one.
6. Don’t Cha
Made famous by: Pussycat Dolls
Turned down by: Paris Hilton
In 2005, no girl could deny that perhaps their boyfriend did wish that they were as hot as Nicole Scherzinger in her breakout song for the Pussycat Dolls.
Jaysus! Maybe the hope of bagging Nicole as a wifey was the real reason the marriage referendum passed.
But Paris Hilton crooning this just wouldn’t instill the same levels of lust, envy or insecurity – just a little bit more evidence of the insane vanity and vapidity of the heiress, perhaps?
Still though, huge missed opportunity for Paris.
7. Gold Digger
Made famous by: Kanye West
Turned down by: Shawnaa
Was your reaction ‘Shawnna who’ as well?
Surely, the dreams of this Chicago-based singer must be haunted every night by the ghost of Kanye bobbing his head inanely to the beat of this absolute banger.
The song was originally written from the perspective of Shawnna, with the lines ‘I’m not saying I’m a golddigger’. Shawnna passed up on the song, but producer Kanye West knew he had a hit on his hands, so he kept it for himself and won a Grammy in the process. For Shawnaa, this is one regret that will certainly last longer than 18 years…
