These music videos ruined careers. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most controversial music videos that directly or indirectly had a negative impact on the artist’s reputation.
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00:00 (screaming)
00:02 - Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:05 And today we're counting down our picks
00:07 for the most controversial music videos
00:09 that directly or indirectly had a negative impact
00:12 on the artist's reputation.
00:14 ♪ Hello Kitty, what's your name ♪
00:15 ♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
00:19 - If you like what you're hearing,
00:20 be sure to check out the full song at the link below.
00:22 ♪ Push me down, pull me in, throw me up ♪
00:26 ♪ Into the one we did ♪
00:30 ♪ I'm gonna make you, I'm gonna make you work for it ♪
00:32 - Number 10, "Hate Me Now", Nas featuring Puff Daddy.
00:36 Nas' 1999 single "Hate Me Now" received equal love
00:40 from both fans and critics.
00:42 (upbeat music)
00:45 However, when the music video premiered,
00:48 it set many tongues wagging.
00:50 In the original cut,
00:51 Nas portrayed Jesus being crucified with Sean Combs
00:54 as Puff Daddy playing a criminal beside him.
00:57 The video received backlash for this depiction,
01:00 but the internal conflict that arose was even more damaging.
01:03 After consulting with his religious leader,
01:05 Combs, who was a Catholic,
01:07 requested his crucifixion scenes be edited out.
01:10 Nevertheless, the unedited version
01:12 aired on MTV's "Total Request Live".
01:14 This infuriated Combs,
01:16 who stormed the office of Nas' manager, Steve Stout,
01:19 and allegedly attacked him.
01:21 Stout sued Combs as a result
01:23 and reached a $500,000 out of court settlement.
01:26 Number nine, "Get Her Back", Robin Thicke.
01:29 ♪ I gotta get her go, get her go, get her go, get her back ♪
01:33 - In 2013, Robin Thicke soared to pop music stardom
01:37 with his ubiquitous hit, "Blurred Lines".
01:39 ♪ I knew you wanted it ♪
01:41 ♪ Oh yeah, you wanted it ♪
01:43 ♪ But you were a good girl ♪
01:45 - The following year, however,
01:46 his career took a nosedive when he tried using music
01:49 to win back his then wife, Paula Patton.
01:52 Thicke released "Get Her Back",
01:54 a bizarre apology song with an even more bizarre music video.
01:57 It featured the artist battered and bloodied
02:00 singing right into the camera,
02:01 while apparent text messages
02:03 between the couple floated on the screen.
02:05 Oddly, it also included a random woman caressing his body,
02:09 which perhaps wasn't the wisest addition
02:12 to a plea for forgiveness.
02:13 "Get Her Back" clearly failed in its mission
02:16 and ultimately contributed to tanking
02:18 whatever was left of Thicke's career.
02:20 - Music has always been my diary, my therapy.
02:22 And sometime, I guess that time it didn't work.
02:25 - Number eight, "Swish Swish",
02:27 Katy Perry featuring Nicki Minaj.
02:30 ♪ They just strut, strut, strut ♪
02:33 ♪ What the ♪
02:35 (thudding)
02:38 (laughing)
02:39 - Prior to her 2017 effort, "Witness",
02:42 Katy Perry was a dominant force in pop music.
02:44 But when the album's singles were rolled out,
02:47 each less interesting than the last,
02:49 many felt Perry had perhaps lost her creative spark.
02:52 The final nail in the coffin seemingly came with "Swish Swish".
02:56 ♪ Swish, swish, swish ♪
02:58 - While the song itself was praised
03:00 for its themes of empowerment,
03:02 the lackluster music video
03:03 received the complete opposite reaction.
03:06 (upbeat music)
03:08 Overcrowded with celebrity cameos
03:17 and lame attempts at comedy
03:19 that were more embarrassing than funny,
03:21 this clip was, to put it nicely, terrible.
03:24 It certainly left a bad taste in everyone's mouths
03:26 as "Swish Swish" was the last single from the album
03:29 to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
03:32 Number seven, "Shush Up", Alison Gold.
03:35 Throughout music history,
03:36 numerous teens and tweens have aspired
03:38 to become the next pop sensation.
03:40 In the early 2010s, Alison Gold was one such hopeful,
03:44 making her solo debut in 2013
03:47 with the critically panned "Chinese Food".
03:49 The following year, Gold released "Shush Up",
03:52 another poorly received song
03:53 accompanied by a highly controversial music video.
03:56 ♪ Thank you for your shush up, shush up ♪
03:59 - The clip, which featured suggestive themes
04:01 and inappropriate costumes, faced heavy backlash,
04:04 much of which was directed
04:05 at Gold's producer, Patrice Wilson.
04:08 This led to a petition aimed at preventing Wilson,
04:11 who was also responsible
04:12 for the infamous Rebecca Black song "Friday",
04:14 from exploiting other young artists.
04:16 ♪ It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday ♪
04:21 ♪ Everybody's looking for a word to the weekend ♪
04:24 ♪ We gotta get down ♪
04:25 - Ultimately, the video was removed
04:27 from Wilson's official YouTube channel
04:29 and Gold quietly disappeared from the spotlight.
04:31 ♪ Either thank ya or just shush up ♪
04:33 ♪ Shush up, shush up, shush up, shush up ♪
04:36 - Number six, "Don't Tell Me How to Live", Kid Rock.
04:40 - (beep) you hoes!
04:43 Detroit 'til I die, mother (beep)
04:45 - Known for his controversial behavior and utterances,
04:48 Kid Rock decided to up the ante in 2021
04:52 with the release of "Don't Tell Me How to Live".
04:55 The song compiled practically
04:56 all his past derogatory comments,
04:58 while taking aim at his critics and, of course, woke culture.
05:02 To make matters worse,
05:04 the rap rock artist put out a cringe-worthy music video,
05:07 in which he dons a fur coat and flips off the camera
05:10 an inordinate number of times.
05:12 Then, just in case you missed
05:14 just how little he cared about your opinions,
05:16 he is launched into space on a giant middle finger.
05:19 It was such a ridiculous show
05:21 that many mistook it for a Weird Al Yankovic parody.
05:24 ♪ Ain't nobody gonna tell me how to live ♪
05:29 - Number five, "Big Bad Wolf", Duck Sauce.
05:37 This bizarre clip certainly lives up to its title
05:40 as Billboard's most disturbing video of 2011.
05:43 ♪ The Big Bad Wolf ♪
05:45 ♪ The Big Bad Wolf ♪
05:47 ♪ The Big Bad Wolf ♪
05:48 - A full year after the release
05:50 of their 2010 hit, "Barbra Streisand",
05:53 the legendary electronic music duo, Duck Sauce,
05:55 returned with "Big Bad Wolf".
05:57 While the song itself is pretty catchy,
05:59 the music video puts an absurd twist
06:01 on the phrase, "Well endowed".
06:03 The premise follows two ordinary working men
06:05 who are revealed to be packing the heads
06:07 of the band members between their legs.
06:10 This concept generated quite the controversy
06:13 and the song failed to match the success
06:15 of their previous hits.
06:16 Unfortunately, it became the last song
06:19 by Duck Sauce to chart in the UK.
06:21 Number four, "My Jeans", Jenna Rose featuring Baby Triggy.
06:26 Before Rebecca Black became the face
06:28 of cringe-worthy teen pop in the early 2010s,
06:31 there was Jenna Rose.
06:33 In 2010, Rose teamed up with another young artist
06:36 named Baby Triggy to put out "My Jeans".
06:39 ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
06:42 ♪ You are those jeans like me ♪
06:44 - The music video released in October that year
06:46 immediately went viral, but not for the right reasons.
06:49 The cheesy lyrics and painfully auto-tuned vocals
06:52 gave the same sensation as watching a car crash.
06:56 ♪ Ha ha ha ha, jack my swag ♪
06:59 - It was impossible to look away.
07:01 Whichever adult was making the decisions here
07:03 clearly needed another adult to supervise them.
07:06 This could very well have been the start
07:08 of two promising careers in music,
07:10 but after this video, everyone turned their gaze
07:13 to something else and never looked back.
07:16 ♪ You are those jeans like me ♪
07:18 - Number three, "Literally I Can't",
07:21 Playin' Skills featuring Redfoo, Lil Jon, and Inertia McFly.
07:26 In the early 2010s, it was near impossible to escape LMFAO.
07:30 The duo, consisting of Sky Blue and Redfoo,
07:33 had two massive chart-topping hits,
07:35 but then went on an indefinite hiatus in 2012.
07:39 Subsequently, Redfoo kicked off his solo career, which essentially came to a screeching halt
07:44 after he was featured in the controversial song "Literally I Can't."
07:48 The accompanying music video depicted a raucous frat party where a group of sorority girls
07:52 are forced to drink despite voicing their objection by repeating the song's title.
07:59 It was heavily criticized for being misogynistic and led to a petition calling for Redfoo's
08:15 removal as a judge on Australia's The X Factor.
08:19 His career sputtered afterwards with just one album, which literally was a commercial
08:24 flop.
08:25 2.
08:32 Hello Kitty - Avril Lavigne The fourth single from Avril Lavigne's self-titled
08:34 album Hello Kitty was an ode to the artist's love for the titular Japanese brand.
08:42 Nevertheless, the accompanying music video, which featured Lavigne in a hyper-stereotyped
08:48 version of Japanese culture, was deemed offensive by fans and critics alike.
08:53 The combination of Lavigne's image, the seemingly vapid lyrics, as well as the neon
08:58 and anime-inspired visuals felt like a misguided attempt to cash in on the latest trend.
09:03 And it sure didn't help that the song's EDM influence was a far cry from her established
09:08 sound.
09:10 Hello Kitty certainly left a stain on Lavigne's discography, as she has only charted one other
09:15 song in the US since.
09:31 1.
09:34 Rock Me Tonight - Billy Squier In the 80s, many rock stars maintained a
09:39 macho image that carried on through their songs, live performances, and music videos.
09:45 For a brief moment during that period, Billy Squier was a rising star, with two of his
09:49 albums reaching the top five on the Billboard 200.
09:52 However, this rapid rise was essentially paralyzed with the release of 1984's Rock Me Tonight.
09:58 The song itself was pretty successful, but the music video could be described as the
10:02 exact opposite of the so-called "macho rock star" image.
10:09 With cheesy choreography from future High School Musical director Kenny Ortega, the
10:13 video mostly featured Squier dancing and writhing around a room by himself.
10:18 The vibe change didn't go down well with many young rock fans and significantly affected
10:23 sales of Squier's subsequent music.
10:29 Squier says the whole thing is an MBA course in how a video can go totally wrong.
10:35 Did we miss any other career poisoning music videos?
10:38 Let us know in the comments below!
10:51 Thanks for watching!
10:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]