7 Musicians Who Passed on Songs That Were Hits for Other Artists

Some artists pass on these songs due to time restraints, others because the tunes simply aren’t their style, and because some truly believe someone else should perform them. Several artists have opened up about turning down tunes, only to see them become some of the most popular songs in the music industry today.

Keep reading to see who turned down what!

Former Fifth Harmony member, Camila Cabello turned down one of the biggest Chainsmoker hits, “Closer,” due to commitments with her her previous girl group, Fifth Harmony, at the time. The “Havana” singer said she recorded a demo of the song, but was unable to move forward with it.

“I recorded that song and so they were like, ‘Oh do you want to be on the song?’ and I love the song, but I had to turn it down,” she revealed.

“I was with the group at the time and we were about to put an album out and so I didn’t want to, you know, I always tried to do my solo stuff off cycle, so that was super on and I had to say no,” she continued.

“And then it was the number one song in the world!” the “Havana” singer said in an interview on Elvis Duran and The Morning Show Today.

Britney Spears allegedly turned down Lady Gaga’s iconic “Telephone.”

Gaga revealed on The Howard Stern Show that she wrote multiple songs for Spears, which were never included on any of her albums. When asked if it “killed” her inside to write for other artists, she exclaimed, “Hell no! Freakin’ Britney Spears sang my record! Are you kidding? I was doing backflips and ordering drinks!”

Spears did end up releasing another song Gaga wrote for her called “Quicksand” on her Circus album, while Gaga went on to release “Telephone” with Beyoncé.

Pussycat Dolls member Kimberly Wyatt claimed the girl group turned down Lady Gaga’s song, “Just Dance,” which she said was specifically written for them.

“When Lady Gaga was just getting started, she was signed to our label mostly to focus on writing for the Pussycat Dolls album,” Wyatt said on British talk show, The Nightly Show. 

“We passed on it, Gaga took it, she smashed it,” said Wyatt, who called Gaga’s version “phenomenal.”

Hilary Duff’s team passed on Charli XCX’s famous The Fault in Our Stars song, “Boom Clap.”

The brat artist said she initially wanted to give the song to Duff because she was making a comeback at the time she and her team wrote it. Charli was a big fan of Duff’s music and her hit show, Lizzie McGuire, so she was excited to share it with her.

“I really wanted her to have this song,” she told the British newspaper, The Telegraph. “We reached out to her people and they were like ‘No, this song isn’t cool enough for Hilary.'”

A few years later, after the song came out in 2014, Duff tweeted Charli — sharing her love for the song and stating that she never listened to it when it reached her team.

“I wish I’d heard it,” Duff wrote. “I would have kept it.”

“Attention” singer Charlie Puth allegedly passed on Joji’s beautiful summer anthem, “Glimpse of Us.”

“They sent that song for me originally and I was in the middle of tour,” he explained in a SirisXM interview. Unfortunately, Puth did not have enough time to listen to the song in its entirety when he was sent to him.

“I remember listening to it on my phone being like that’s a really nice sounding song … I’ll get to it,” he said.

By the time did listen to the song, it was already too late. Joji released it in June 2022, leaving Puth in full regret. “And that was the biggest hand slap,” Puth said, while pretending to hit his face.

Singer/songwriter Sia said her friend Katy Perry passed on both “Elastic Heart” and “Chandelier.” Though she didn’t exactly turn it down, Sia said Beyonce’s “Pretty Hurts” was another song shared with Perry that apparently wound up lost in her inbox.

Sia told Rolling Stone, “Yeah, I really wanted her to sing some of my songs. Mostly because I love her as a person.” She added, “If they reject it, you start thinking more creatively or broadly. It’s really like a puzzle piece.”

She wound up releasing both “Elastic Heart” and “Chandelier” herself, becoming major hits for the singer. Of “Pretty Hurts,” Sia said Perry texted her after hearing Beyoncé’s version, with Sia telling her “Check your email.”

Another notable Sia song, “Cheap Thrills,” was apparently turned down by Rihanna’s team. The Per Sia, the “Umbrella” singer’s people asked her to make them another “Diamonds,” which she also wrote for the artist.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sia said “Cheap Thrills” was originally written for Rihanna — but even Sia felt “it sounded a little bit too Brit-pop for her” while writing it.

After it was turned down, Sia decided to keep it for her own album, This is Acting.