Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 1 hour ago
Even the biggest stars have faced those cringe-worthy moments of forgetting their own lyrics live on stage. From playful slip-ups to awkward pauses, these iconic artists showed us that nobody’s perfect. Join us as we revisit some unforgettable onstage lyric blanks that had fans laughing, cheering, and appreciating their favorite performers even more!

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00This Christmas, lights twinkle all around.
00:05Next car, honey, next car!
00:06Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're looking at moments where musicians totally forgot the words to their songs in
00:12front of an audience.
00:13It was like watching a queen fall on her face.
00:21Ariana Grande
00:22By 2013, Ariana Grande was on the verge of becoming one of pop music's biggest stars.
00:28That year, the future Academy Award nominee treated fans to an intimate and low-key show for Red Bull Soundspace.
00:36While singing her song Right There, Grande drew a blank.
00:40We started with the second verse again.
00:45I spent 20 hours shooting a music video to the song yesterday, and how do I not know the words
00:50right now?
00:51She recovered only a few seconds later, but then forgot the words again.
00:55She happily laughed the blunder off, and asked the audience to help her out.
01:10She even went as far as to look up the lyrics to make sure they were correct.
01:14Happens to the best of us, Ari.
01:21Elvis Presley
01:22Elvis Presley
01:22At a 1977 concert, the one and only Elvis Presley went off script during his performance of Are You Lonesome
01:30Tonight?
01:31During the interlude, the king of rock and roll stumbled over his words and had trouble getting back on track.
01:37The rules are staged, and each of us play a part.
01:40They had to be playing in prep early in the, what about a plus tax?
01:45He proceeded to playfully babble and question who he was supposed to be talking to.
01:50After a few inaudible words, he started rhyming, which elicited laughs from the audience.
01:56If you've got the words, you seem to change, you fool.
02:00You're acting strange, and why, I never know.
02:05Why have I did it?
02:06For some, this might have been an embarrassing moment, but for Presley, he was totally aware of his mistake,
02:12joyfully laughing through the awkwardness.
02:14And you're all living without you.
02:17Now the stage is bare, and I'm standing there without any hair.
02:23I know.
02:24Drake
02:30In 2012, Drake celebrated New Year's Eve by putting on a show.
02:34However, the celebration was momentarily paused when Drake forgot the lyrics to his song, the motto.
02:45Fans were quick to notice his error, but cheered him on nonetheless.
02:49This wasn't the first, nor the last time he had this issue.
02:53In 2023, during his It's All A Blur tour, some audience members took to social media to express their frustrations
03:00with him for missing his lyric.
03:01However, Champagne Poppy doesn't seem to be in his feelings over it.
03:06Wait, and then the world did the dance, and Will Smith was there, and man, just nobody would stop.
03:11It was, it was terrible.
03:15Chris Martin
03:15Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has been making music for decades, but even he makes mistakes every now and then.
03:23Once upon a time, on the same side, once upon a time, on the same side, in the same game.
03:29While performing in Vienna in 2017, the lyrics to Coldplay's collaboration with Rihanna, Princess of China, slipped his mind.
03:38Oh, so much, oh, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
03:43He asked his bandmates to stop playing, and ended up confessing his mistake to the crowd.
03:49He then jokingly asked for it not to end up on YouTube.
03:53However, his blunder did end up online, and lo and behold, here we are.
03:58Sorry, Chris.
03:59Looks like it was just too good not to share.
04:02This is going to start again.
04:03I'm so sorry.
04:05That's the first time the whole tour.
04:11I'm sorry, everybody.
04:12Miley Cyrus
04:13Breaking free from her Hannah Montana image, Miley Cyrus took the stage in 2009 to show off her new, edgier
04:21style.
04:22Cyrus flew across the pond to appear on UK's Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway to promote her new single,
04:29Fly on the Wall.
04:30You wish that you could be a fly on the wall
04:32A freaky little, sneaky little fly on the wall
04:36Everything was going well, until the lyrics flew right out of the singer's memory.
04:41Her voice trailed off, and she turned her head for a brief moment.
04:51However, she jumped back into it, remembering all her words, choreography, and blocking for the remainder of the performance.
04:59All my precious secrets, yeah, you know them all
05:03Don't you wish that you could be a fly on the wall
05:06Patti LaBelle
05:07During her 1996 recital at the National Tree Lighting in D.C., Patti LaBelle was faced with an interesting situation.
05:16At the beginning of this Christmas, her background singers were noticeably absent, so the songstress called them out.
05:23This is gonna be a merry merry Christmas for you and me
05:30We're my background singers
05:31After that, she proclaimed that the lyrics on her cue cards were incorrect, announcing to the crowd that she didn't
05:38know the song.
05:40The sergeant, first class, Rick Perel playing a solo, I have to sing his name in the biggest little car
05:45Give him a big hand, please
05:47Eventually, her trio of backup singers joined her, but by the time they arrived, tensions were already high.
05:54Ever the professional, the Lady Marmalade singer made it through with improvisation and riffing.
05:59My friend Patti LaBelle, you did well with and without your singers.
06:04Guess this wasn't the most wonderful time of the year for Miss LaBelle.
06:08And it went viral like crazy last Christmas time
06:10I never saw that
06:11Oh my god, I love it
06:12But I'm glad I made a mistake, hey
06:14Mariah Carey
06:16Mariah Carey was feeling all kinds of emotions during her final gig of 2016.
06:22Performing live on New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, the prolific singer had a rocky start with her hit
06:29Emotions, announcing to the crowd that she didn't have a soundcheck.
06:33She wasn't feeling those emotions
06:35Just rub me down
06:36Mariah said she couldn't hear her tracks because of a faulty earpiece
06:41Carey proceeded to talk through her song, haphazardly dancing and barely even lip syncing.
06:47After transitioning into We Belong Together, she struggled to redeem the performance and walked off at the end appearing understandably
06:55upset.
06:56And I know how good they are at their job, so my reaction was she was working with the best,
07:00I find it hard to believe that they made big mistakes that night.
07:05A month later, Carey was interviewed about the mishap, naming a failed earpiece, a faulty mic and missing dancers as
07:13reasons for the messy situation.
07:15But I think, you know, I think she was having probably a rough day vocally and didn't even want to
07:19attempt that when it actually came to singing live.
07:23Demi Lovato
07:24While appearing on Good Morning America, Demi Lovato nearly made our heart skip a beat.
07:30In the midst of performing her chart-topper heart attack, Lovato forgot her own lyrics.
07:35Luckily, the Sorry Not Sorry musician took it all in stride and was able to quickly get back on track.
07:49Playing it off by bearing a smile and laughing through the remainder of the performance, Lovato was the epitome of
07:55confidence.
08:02We also can't forget to credit her powerhouse vocals for helping to sweep the awkward moment under the rug.
08:16Adele
08:25Adele could literally set fire to the rain with her powerful vocals, but even this brilliant diva has been known
08:32to make a mistake every now and then.
08:34While doing a concert in Lisbon, the Academy Award winner began to sing the wrong part of her ballad million
08:40years ago.
08:57Adele
09:07Adele
09:08Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest
09:13videos.
09:14You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
09:18If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
09:24Justin Bieber
09:25Perhaps Justin Bieber should have reviewed the lyrics to Despacito before his NYC gig in 2017.
09:39While taking the stage at the famed nightclub One Oak, the Canadian pop star belted out the hit song that
09:46he shares with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.
09:49Unfortunately, things went off the rails as the Daisies artist drew a blank.
09:54Sometimes even the best entertainers forget the lyrics.
09:58Case in point, Bieber's recent attempt to sing the chorus of Despacito.
10:02He then just started rhyming words with Dorito, eventually resorting to singing blah blah blah.
10:08It was a cringy moment for both him and the crowd.
10:11Guess it is a little too late now to say sorry Biebs.
10:15Yeah, not exactly the same, but one thing's for sure, Bieber's Spanish skills totally won over Fonsi and Yankee.
10:22He did his thing, you know, he sang his verse in English, he sang the chorus in Spanish.
10:26Which one of these songs do you think you know by heart?
10:29Be sure to tell us in the comments.
Comments

Recommended