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These songs hit all the wrong notes! Join us as we count down the most disappointing comeback singles that failed to reignite fading music careers. From dated sounds to desperate image changes, these tracks missed their mark completely. Our countdown includes Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Fergie, JoJo Siwa, and more musical missteps!
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 songs that totally
00:12missed the mark when trying to revive a dying music career.
00:20Number 20. Rock Show. Run DMC featuring Stephen Jenkins.
00:30Like ketchup and ice cream, Run DMC and Third Eye Blind are two great things that would be
00:39terrible together. As music trends shifted with the rise of rap rock, Run DMC felt their sound was
00:46getting a bit stale. Their solution was to collaborate with artists like Stephen Jenkins,
00:51frontman of Third Eye Blind, to try to capture some of that new sound.
01:00The result is a song that feels awkward and forced. Stephen Jenkins is barely utilized on
01:08the track, leaving him to mostly just stand idly during the music video. Crown Royal was
01:14the group's last album before the death of Jam Master J, an incredibly disappointing release
01:19compared to their previously ground-breaking material.
01:28Number 19. Boys. Jesse Nelson featuring Nicki Minaj.
01:38This song is significant for being a debut, a comeback, and a flop all at once. This former
01:45Little Mix member was set to kick off her solo career with this risky single featuring popular
01:50but… controversial rapper Nicki Minaj.
01:59The song debuted at number 4 on UK charts, but quickly fell as critics and fans alike began
02:04tearing the song to shreds. Complaints ranged from excessive autotune to cultural appropriation
02:16and blackfishing. No one was happy with the solo debut, and Nelson's career was pretty much dead
02:23on arrival. And the cherry on top of this disaster sundae? A music video cameo that could not have
02:29aged worse.
02:48Ten years after their previous album release and a whopping 35 years since their debut album,
02:54the 70s-era glam metal band KISS, released Sonic Boom in 2009. There isn't just one song that can
03:01be singled out from this terrible comeback, so we'll consider the album as a whole.
03:14Sonic Boom was intended to prove that KISS was still culturally relevant and able to compete with
03:20other younger musical acts rising in popularity. After all, nothing says cultural relevance,
03:27like a Walmart exclusive album.
03:35The album was disappointing to existing fans and completely ignored by potentially new KISS fans,
03:41and sold a pretty dismal 238,000 units throughout 2009.
03:47Turn that camera off, Dean.
03:4817. Half of Me, Jerry Hallowell
03:52Just like an apple, cut down the middle, I only have one that didn't have...
04:00This famous former Spice Girl will always be a cultural icon for her Union Jack dress, but her
04:06solo career was slightly less iconic. She initially enjoyed modest success for her solo work, particularly
04:13in Australia. But after 2005, she paused her music career to pursue other ventures. Eight years later,
04:19Hallowell attempted to revive her career with Half of Me,
04:29a single released exclusively in Australia. When Aussies failed to connect with the Brits' song,
04:35Hallowell quietly stopped promoting it. She has since shifted her focus to other projects, including
04:41directing, acting, and writing.
04:4916. Peanuts to an Elephant, Lil Wayne
04:58After making fans wait five years for new solo music, Lil Wayne came out with this song that
05:04definitely doesn't live up to his legendary reputation. Produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton
05:10Fame, the song's instrumental sounds straight out of an old video game. Lil Wayne's rapping isn't much
05:17better. Coming across as lazy and lifeless, coming from two musicians with a solid hit-making reputation,
05:31this was a shockingly bad end result. Maybe Wayne is working on a circus-themed video game? Truly,
05:38there's no explanation for this. 15. Pretty Girls
05:49Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea
05:51After the lukewarm release of her eighth album, Britney Jean, Britney Spears stopped releasing new
06:04music for nearly two years. Her first release after her hiatus was a collaboration with an Australian
06:10rapper who was making big waves in the pop world. Pretty Girls received mixed reactions, with
06:20some critics calling it catchy if a bit formulaic. While Spears managed to pull off a career renaissance
06:26in the late 2010s, Iggy Azalea didn't fare as well. Accusations of cultural appropriation and delays to
06:43her second studio album completely halted the progress of her once promising career.
06:4914. Pretty Girls Will Smith
07:04Though his career might still be in desperate need of some rehabilitation after the infamous Oscars
07:10incident, Will Smith's return to the music industry probably isn't getting the reaction
07:15he was looking for, aged 56 at the time of writing. It seems Smith has lost some of his signature
07:22charm in the decades since he graced our screens as the Fresh Prince.
07:26There's not a lot of women not pretty to me. I mean, she's pretty to me.
07:30As a result, his song, intended to convey his admiration for beautiful women, just comes across as
07:37a bit sleazy. Maybe this song could have worked 20 years ago, but now it just makes us desperate for a
07:43flash from a neuralyzer. 13. Big Hoops
07:55Bigger, the better
07:56Nelly Furtado
08:02This Canadian singer gifted us with some serious bangers in the early 2000s,
08:07ones that still hold up today, like Maneater and Promiscuous.
08:17Furtado released a Greatest Hits album in 2010, and we thought that was that. Then,
08:23two years later, we got Big Hoops. While the song isn't bad per se, her vocals were frequently compared
08:30to Rihanna, and the whole song is just steeped in 2012 swagger culture.
08:42Furtado has continued to release new music, albeit quite sporadically. Since her attempted
08:48comeback with Big Hoops, none of her releases have even come close to her former glory. We're
08:53still happy to keep the old stuff, though. 12.
09:00Dumb Blonde
09:02Avril Lavigne, featuring Nicki Minaj
09:04I ain't no dumb blonde, I ain't no stupid Barbie doll.
09:09As the ultimate pop-punk cool girl of the early 2000s, many of us looked up to Avril Lavigne for
09:14her stylish image and rebellious attitude. Dumb Blonde was never part of her reputation, so this 2019
09:21attempted comeback made little sense to begin with.
09:30The song marked a return to Lavigne's early 2000s sound, but it doesn't measure up to hits
09:35like Girlfriend and Complicated. Critics compared the song's sound to Hollaback Girl, a much more
09:41popular song by another blonde alternative pop princess.
09:44Cause it ain't no Hollaback Girl, I ain't no Hollaback Girl.
09:49And of course, the ultimate Dumb Blonde track had already been released,
09:53over 50 years earlier, by the legendary Dolly Parton.
09:57Just because I'm blonde, don't think I'm
10:00dumb, cause this Dumb Blonde ain't nobody's true.
10:04Number 11. Chasing the Sun, Hilary Duff.
10:15Following early hits for this former Disney Channel star like Why Not and So Yesterday,
10:20Hilary Duff took a break from the music industry to focus on her acting career. After a few less
10:26than positively received performances that failed to shake her wholesome child star image,
10:31Duff turned back to music in the early 2010s.
10:42Chasing the Sun was set to be her big musical comeback, a breezy summer tune penned by Colby
10:47Calais. The result, however, was completely bubblegum bland, devoid of any original sound.
10:53Duff released a few more singles and an album a year later, but for the most part,
11:02her music career fizzled out entirely. Now a mother, entrepreneur, and children's book author,
11:09Duff seems to be doing just fine without it.
11:12But now it's like my favorite part of the house and I love talking about it and everyone's like,
11:16oh my god, I never would have thought to do that. So, it really worked out. Before you guys came,
11:20I was just making sure that my daughter hadn't taken bites out of the fruit because her favorite
11:25thing to do is take a bite, put it back. Take a bite, put it back.
11:2810. Can't Get Enough – Jennifer Lopez
11:32J.Lo's 2024 has been one for the books, and by that we mean a series of post-apocalyptic novels.
11:42A decade after her previous studio album, Lopez returned to music with an album, film,
11:48and planned tour all titled This Is Me Now.
11:59The new era celebrated her reconciliation and marriage to ex-fiance Ben Affleck,
12:04which she called the greatest love story never told. Unfortunately, things got off to a rocky
12:10start with the lead single, Can't Get Enough. It wasn't terrible, but it sounded just like her
12:192000s hits from the first go-around of Ben Affleck, without much evolution.
12:23Besides the song's underperformance and derivative nature, its lyrics and wedding-themed video
12:39aged poorly. Lopez and Affleck announced their second split before the year even ended.
12:459. Get Her Back – Robin Thicke
12:55The jury on his career was looking blurry.
12:59See what we did there? But after this song, his comeback clearly wasn't happening. On Get Her Back,
13:05Robin Thicke laments his split from his estranged wife,
13:08actress Paula Patton. Not only was the song a far cry from the immediate catchiness of blurred lines,
13:15but it overestimated the amount of public interest in his personal life.
13:27While Thicke may have been a solid B-list name, it relied on the mythology of his and Patton's
13:33relationship and banked on people caring about their separation more than they actually did.
13:48Lightning probably wouldn't have struck twice if Thicke had recreated blurred lines,
13:53but Get Her Back didn't even come close to what made that song such a hit.
13:588. Slow Clap – Gwen Stefani
14:11The song is B-A-N-A-N-A-S
14:17Specifically, the appeals that make you spin off track in Mario Kart.
14:21Gwen Stefani's slow clap was the second of two singles meant to kick off her fifth solo album,
14:26but contrary to the title, it was mostly met with crickets and tumbleweeds.
14:38The song, which features Sweetie in the remix,
14:41would sound right at home in a DreamWorks movie or a back-to-school commercial.
14:47The music video's gymnasium setting is a clear nod to Stefani's past hit,
14:51holla bat girl, but it feels like a juvenile hollow attempt at recreating the latter's magic without
14:58any of its edge.
15:04Seeing as its parent album never came, Slow Clap seemingly killed the era. Someone probably should
15:10have told her to put the pom-poms down.
15:197. Pom Poms – The Jonas Brothers
15:30After a brief hiatus to pursue solo ventures, the Jonas Brothers were ready for their triumphant return
15:35with the release of Pom Poms in 2013. The song was catchy, but the lyrics were nonsensical and a
15:42bit too juvenile for a group attempting to ditch their Disney image.
15:52Judging by the song's reception, the world wasn't ready for a JoBros comeback,
15:57and apparently neither was the band. They split before the release of their planned album,
16:02citing creative differences. Thankfully, their 2019 comeback was much more well-received and gave this
16:08band of brothers… the renaissance we were all hoping for.
16:196. Yummy – Justin Bieber
16:23With his 2015 album Purpose, Justin Bieber seemingly achieved the impossible. He successfully shed his
16:35uncool teeny bopper rep, and people who weren't tweens could openly admit to liking him without
16:41ridicule. Unfortunately, this shift had a monetary dip with his next lead single, 2020's Yummy.
16:49More of a TikTok soundbite than a full-fledged song, it was nonsensical, repetitive, and made people
17:01question his rehabilitated image. Unlike many of the other songs here, Yummy was a major hit and didn't
17:15derail Bieber's career. However, its inescapability added to its annoyance. Even though it was universally
17:22panned, it was still absolutely everywhere. Despite the lyrics and visuals bringing to mind a stomach
17:31or toothache, it was really our ears that suffered with this one.
17:355. Karma – JoJo Siwa
17:42With Dance Moms and YouTube fame, JoJo Siwa built a media empire on rainbows, glitter, and
17:53countless brand deals before she even reached adulthood. Like many child stars, she soon felt
17:59she had outgrown her kid-friendly image and longed for a rebrand. Karma was intended to usher in a new
18:05era for Siwa, and apparently pop music entirely, according to the singer.
18:096. Karma's a bitch, and she's with you right now
18:15She swapped neon rhinestones for black ones and dropped this tune that the internet absolutely ripped
18:21to shreds. It was painfully obvious that Siwa was no bad girl, despite how desperately she wanted to
18:27appear like one. Time will tell if she'll ever be able to recover her image from this major flop,
18:38but so far it's not looking good.
18:404. Too Cold – Vanilla Ice
18:53This comeback was a brand new invention in some ways, and a retread of old ground in others.
19:00Eight years after the success of 1990's Ice Ice Baby,
19:035. Vanilla Ice released his third album, Hard to Swallow. Rather than continuing the playful pop
19:12rap of his early career, it adopted a totally different sound, New Metal.
19:22The lead single, Too Cold, was a reworked version of Ice Ice Baby in the style of Korn and Limp Biscuit.
19:28While the genre shift was an admirable creative risk, it omitted the original's iconic piano rift
19:42lifted from Queen and David Bowie's Under Pressure.
19:48Too Cold briefly gave Vanilla Ice's career a second life, but it didn't fully materialize into a
19:54successful long-term crossover.
20:003. Filthy – Justin Timberlake
20:12After his squeaky clean hit, Can't Stop the Feeling, JT trolled us all with Filthy.
20:17The lead single of Justin Timberlake's Man of the Woods album. It managed to crack the top 10 of
20:31the Billboard Hot 100, but lacked the longevity of his previous eras. Filthy is somehow all over the
20:37place and forgettable at the same time. It doesn't measure up to his past hits, nor does it commit to
20:51the album's Americana inspirations, leaving it stuck in an awkward limbo. Timberlake's more recent output
20:58isn't faring much better with his 2024 singles Selfish and Drown failing to get in sync with listeners.
21:05But I can't help it. I want every bit of you. I guess I'm selfish.
21:132. MILF Money – Fergie
21:15This song walked so her national anthem disaster could run.
21:28Nearly a decade after her debut solo album, The Duchess, Fergie was gearing up for its follow-up,
21:33Double Duchess.
21:34It's lead single, LA Love, La La, had already been out since 2014, and 2016's MILF Money was set to
21:48reignite the era. However, not even the song's star-studded music video featuring Kim Kardashian
21:54and Chrissy Teigen could offset its abrasively busy production and grating vocals.
22:003. There's certainly a conversation to be had about ageism faced by female singers,
22:09but Fergie's ode to sexy motherhood was just plain obnoxious.
22:133. After MILF Money, it wouldn't be shocking to see an ad for her career on the back of a milk carton.
22:271. Woman's World – Katy Perry
22:361. Woman's World – Katy Perry
22:51Sometimes it only takes one song for an artist's career to go from American Idol to American Horror Story.
23:064. Superhuman – Number One – Katy Perry was already struggling since her 2017 album,
23:13Witness severely underperformed, but the rollout of Woman's World was an utter disaster.
23:25The song was panned for its dated sound, shallow pop feminist lyrics, and production from Dr. Luke,
23:31the subject of singer Kesha's allegations. Woman's World was especially frustrating because
23:36it could have gone differently if Perry played her cards right.
23:484. In the year of Chapel Rhone and Sabrina Carpenter, the greater pop landscape was the
23:53closest it's been to her campy style in recent memory, and the hype was there. Unfortunately,
23:58the song missed the mark crushing any hope of a comeback. Which of these artists deserve a second
24:10chance at a comeback? Let us know in the comments!
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