Ariana Grande is an incredible singer. Lady Gaga is, too. So is Taylor Swift, and she sure does like Starbucks. But when a vocalist has killer pipes, sometimes they don’t enunciate clearly. And sometimes, words just sound a lot like other words. This brings us to misheard lyrics in songs, or mondegreens, if you’re trying to impress your friends.
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We’re here to clear up ten of the wackiest ones in recent years:
1. “Blank Space” by Taylor Swift
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “Got a long list of ex-lovers / they’ll tell you I’m insane”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “Got a lot of Starbucks lovers / they’ll tell you I’m insane”
Evan Taylor’s mom got this one wrong:
“hahah it really does sound like Starbucks Lovers…” -my mom just now who is SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE Smh.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) May 23, 201
2. “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s an Arms Race” by Fall Out Boy
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “I’m a leading man / and the lies I weave are oh so intricate”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “I’m a little man / and I’m oh so evil, also into cats”
3. “As Long As You Love Me” by Justin Bieber
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “As longs you love me / we could be starving / we could be homeless / we could be broke”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “As long as you love me / we could be starfish / we could be homeless / we could be broke”
4. “Sweet Nothing” by Calvin Harris Feat. Florence Welch
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “I’m living on such sweet nothing.”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “I’m living on a sexy dolphin.”
5. “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z Feat. Alicia Keys
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “Concrete jungle where dreams are made of”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “Concrete jungle wet dream tomato”
6. “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “Want your bad romance”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “Want John Barrowman”
and…
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “You and me could write a bad romance”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “You and me could ride a barrel, man”
7. “Human” by The Killers
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “Are we human or are we dancer?”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “Are we human or are we denser?”
This one’s a little deeper than the others on this list. Even so, the correct lyrics have been getting meme treatment for a while.
are we human… or are we dancer??? pic.twitter.com/gWRoK637lX
— claire mcwhatevs (@claire_mcisaac) October 8, 2015
8. “One Last Time” by Ariana Grande
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “I know I should have fought it / at least I’m being honest”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “I know I should have farted / at least I’m being honest”
9. “Hannah Hunt” by Vampire Weekend
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “Though we live on the U.S. dollar / You and me, we got our own sense of time.”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “Though we live on the U.S. dollar / You and me, we got our own Sensodyne.”
10. “Classic” by MKTO
WHAT IT REALLY SAYS: “I wanna thrill you like Michael”
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: “I wanna do you like Michael”
It’s a good thing we cleared these up — especially that one.