Last week, Nicole Scherzinger revealed in an interview that she had the opportunity to record "We Found Love," the Calvin Harris-produced dance smash that became the biggest hit of Rihanna's thriving career, but let the chance slip through her fingers. "I passed on 'We Found Love,'" Scherzinger admitted to Notion Magazine. "I've got the demo of that song and I was busy at the time."
Surprisingly, this occurrence is not at all uncommon in the music world: the past half-century is littered with examples of iconic pop songs that were originally intended for someone else to perform. Imagine a world in which Britney Spears is singing "Umbrella," Hillary Duff scored a monster hit with "Since U Been Gone" and Paris Hilton asked "Don't Cha" instead of Scherzinger's old group, the Pussycat Dolls. Strange to consider, isn't it? But some of these missed opportunities were pretty close to becoming reality.
Check out these 20 instances of smash songs originally intended for other artists, and let us know which one is the most mind-blowing to consider in the comments section below.