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It’s less of a common thing to see these days, but a long time ago for a period of time it would be a popular publicity stunt to record another version of a popular song and change the lyrics to make some sort of “reply” to the original song. Here are three examples I could think of when making this thread;

 

TLC – No Scrubs vs. Sporty Thievz – No Pigeons

 

 

Eamon – F**k It (I Don’t Want You Back) vs. Frankee – F U Right Back

 

 

Mario Winans feat. P. Diddy – I Don’t Wanna Know vs. Pirates feat. Shola Ama, Naila Boss, Enya & Ishani – You Should Really Know

 

 

Can you think of other examples that have made a chart appearance in the past and what do you think to this type of thing happening again one day in the future? Is it a good idea or a bad idea for one song to ride the success of another by making a copy but changing the lyrics? It seems less of a formality these days and it’s less likely to make the sort of chart impact it did before the days of downloads and streaming, but it did provide some interesting chart battles and rivalries too.

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It's a common trend with rappers isn't it? Eminem vs Machine Gun Kelly is the recent example that comes to mind.

Don't know why this is still in my memory but this came to mind:

 

 

Apparently this is Marvin's 'ex'.

It's a common trend with rappers isn't it? Eminem vs Machine Gun Kelly is the recent example that comes to mind.

that wasn’t quite the same - Eminem used a different beat for his reply song.

Wow, Jaime Jay is a true classic diva superstar! Shame on the UK for not buying that one in droves, but it just shows how un-feministic the entire nation is x
Not the same as it's not a reply song in the sense that it uses the same beat etc but I found it interesting when I realized "Give It To Me" by Timbaland ft Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake was a reply song as they're all replies to their haters lol. Timbaland's verse being against producer Scott Storch, Justin's verse is apparently against Prince (who had criticized Timberlake's "SexyBack" in 2006) and Nelly Furtado's verse allegedly is about Fergie although she denies it and has since said she regrets being part of a diss song as it released so much negative energy.
that wasn’t quite the same - Eminem used a different beat for his reply song.

Oh right yeah, I was just thinking of "reply" songs in general, didn't clock that wardy meant a different version of the same song!

R. Kelly released a song named "If I Were A Boy" eeeek
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I just recalled going back to the mid-90’s there was also this song that was a lyrical reply using the same melody to James Brown;

 

James Brown – It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World vs. Neneh Cherry – Woman

 

I’ve since discovered a Wikipedia page listing multiple cases for “Answer Songs” and all the examples I’ve mentioned so far are included.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Answer_song

 

Good to see that Camera Obscura have been included for “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” - it only made #124 on its release in 2006 but is a fantastic song !

The Eamon/Frankee and Mario Winans/Shola Ama ones are the only answer songs I knew of before reading this thread. :o That 'Cheat Again' track could have been semi-decent if they actually got someone good to sing it. :lol: That woman looks like a parody! I just gave R Kelly's 'If You Were A Boy' a listen and *facepalm* his misogyny shone through back then!
These also aren't examples of 'answer songs' in the sense of reusing song structure/instrumentals but Stormzy's last 2 hits were both response tracks ('Still Disappointed' to Wiley and his verse on 'I Dunno' to Chip).
Don't know why this is still in my memory but this came to mind:

 

 

Apparently this is Marvin's 'ex'.

 

!

Ellie Goulding's 'On My Mind' may have been an answer song to Ed Sheeran's 'Don't'.

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