Songs Written By Other Artists That Blew Our Minds

Songs Written By Other Artists That Blew Our Minds

Sabrina Carpenter recently released her new album, emails i can’t send, which the world has been waiting for since the Olivia Rodrigo-Joshua Bassett drama. You know, the situation that gave us the masterpiece that is driver’s license by ORod.


If there’s one thing the general public loves, it’s a love triangle between three musicians who are definitely going to spill some tea through song.

Sabrina’s album is great. No skips. But a recent Twitter exchange between a Sabrina Carpenter fan and singer-songwriter Julia Michaels piqued my interest a bit more than the album…

A fan of Carpenter’s tweeted that she wasn’t a fan of Julia Michaels’ writing…which Michaels found funny because she indeed wrote some of the songs for Sabrina’s album.

This blew my mind. After doing further research, I found out that Michaels has written some bangers. 191 songs in fact. Her discography alone could make up an excellent pop-throwback playlist.

Sorry by Justin Bieber. Counting Stars by OneRepublic. Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding. Centuries by Fall Out Boy. Cake By The Ocean by DNCE. All chart-topping members of the US Hot 100.

It got me thinking…how many of my favorite songs are written by other singers? Which singers have produced some of the greatest songs of my generation? And how have they been hiding in plain sight this whole time?

The answer was baffling. You wouldn’t believe the secrets the music industry holds if you just do some research. Before you take a strong stance against any singers, here are some artists that may have created your fave song:

1. Diplo 

Diplo is an enigma. I feel like he’s been around forever, but since he produces mostly EDM music, we may not be fully aware of his full cultural impact on the music industry.

A current trend on TikTok is musicians revealing: “Songs You May Not Know I Produced On.” These montages reveal all the popular music artists helped create but perform. Diplo’s blew my mind.

This guy helped forge revolutionary music that literally changed the course of time. Think Run The World by Beyonce, Too Close by Alex Clare, Look At Me Now by Chris Brown, and Paper Planes by M.I.A. Don’t sleep on Diplo, I guess.

2. Mark Ronson

Continuing on with the vibe of DJs, Mark Ronson is another wizard who has helped produce great tunes. Valerie and Rehab by Amy Winehouse, Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars, Cold Shoulder by Adele.

That’s not all. Shallow — that hit from A Star Is Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper — is produced by him. Songs by A$AP Rocky, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, etc.? All credited to Ronson.

Without Mark Ronson, I wouldn’t be able to sing Valerie at karaoke night at the top of my lungs. It’s safe to say I owe him a lot.

3. Sia 

Sia stole the world’s attention with her song Chandelier. It had the US radio in a headlock for the longest time. We didn’t even see her face, but we knew she was mega-talented.

It turns out, we’ve been listening to Sia’s songs indirectly for a while. She wrote that little-known tune by Rihanna called Diamonds — maybe you’ve heard it. Another song that overtook the radio, Let Me Love You by Ne-Yo — also written by queen Sia.

Sia has written 79 songs for artists like Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Beyonce, and Maroon 5. Chances are you like at least one of them.

4. Pharrell Williams 

For a while, we couldn’t get rid of the song Happy by Pharrell. Like actually it made me angry at one point whenever it came on. It felt like it played after every other song on the radio. But it goes to show that Pharrell can write.

He knows how to make a chart-topping hit. Which is clear from the amount of music he’s written for other mega-stars. He wrote Slave 4 U by Britney, Milkshake by Kellis, Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani, Drop It Like It’s Hot by Snoop Dogg.

Seriously, any early-2000s banger that we still sing today? Most likely Pharrell’s written it.

5. Ed Sheeran 

We all know Ed is one of the greatest musical talents our generation will ever see. Which is why it shouldn’t be too shocking to learn that he has written on some of the biggest songs sung by other artists.

He wrote Little Things by One Direction, Love Yourself by the Biebs, Cold Water by Major Lazer, and 2002 by Anne-Marie. All songs I listen to to this day.

If you do a quick scan of Google, you’ll notice that a bunch of artists will trade songs or give them to an artist who they think could do it justice. So when you’re listening to Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart by Ariana Grande and sobbing, you can thank Harry Styles — he wrote it.

It teaches us, as fans, to think before we completely write off other artists. If it weren’t for the likes of Julia Michaels, the world would have missed out on 191 of our favorite songs. If it weren’t for Diplo, we wouldn’t be jamming out to M.I.A 15 years later.

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