Starbucks Lovers and Sexy Dolphins? 10 Misheard Pop Lyrics Explained

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. 

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.