15 Famous Musicians Who Actually Wrote Massive Hits For Other Singers

Did you know that Harry Styles wrote "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" for Ariana Grande?

1. Taylor Swift wrote "This Is What You Came For" for Calvin Harris and Rihanna as a single in 2016.

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The original songwriting credits were given to Harris and an unknown writer named Nils Sjöberg, which Rolling Stone later confirmed was Swift's songwriting pseudonym.

Harris became frustrated that the spotlight was focused on Swift's songwriting credit, and he subtweeted her in 2016: "I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy, etc., but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it."

Listen to the song here:

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2. Pharrell helped write "Hollaback Girl" with Gwen Stefani for her 2004 album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

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Stefani told Billboard in 2019: "I was being bullied by someone and was being called a cheerleader, which was a bad thing! Growing up, that was not cool. I told Pharrell we should write a song about that.

"He always had this little keyboard that he writes everything on, and he programs stuff into it. He goes, 'This beat?' and he played 'Hollaback Girl.' I was like, 'You had that in there all these hours and you never played that until now? Why didn't you play that the first time I walked in here?!'"

Listen to the song here:

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3. Kelly Clarkson wrote "Tell Me a Lie" for One Direction's 2011 album, Up All Night.

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Clarkson told the Daily Star in 2012: "Giving away my songs is not something I do lightly. I'm very particular about that because my songs are like my babies — I'm such a writer's snob. But I like the story of [One Direction] and how they came together as a group. They've worked so well in the US, as well as the UK, because people love a story. Plus, they have this innocence about them that attracts people.'"

Listen to the song here:

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4. Linda Perry (from 4 Non Blondes) wrote "Beautiful" for Christina Aguilera's 2002 album, Stripped, and "Get the Party Started" for Pink's 2001 album, Missundaztood.

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Perry told Rolling Stone in 2019: "[Christina Aguilera] stood there in my studio with the lyrics in her hands and then said to this friend she brought along, 'Don't look at me,' in that little whispery voice. I knew I was going to keep that on the record, and I knew she was the right person for the song. I realized, 'Oh, she's insecure. She's one of those beautiful people who's got everything but is super insecure. Okay, this song is hers.'"

And when it came to writing "Get the Party Started" for Pink, Perry recalled: "I sent it to Madonna and she passed, but a week later, Alecia [Pink] called. She left me this message how she would come find me if I didn't call her back. I said, 'I think you have the wrong Linda Perry.' She said, 'Is this the Linda Perry who sang 'Dear Mr. President' in 4 Non Blondes? Well, I have the right person.' I told her, 'Well, I've got something I wrote last week,' and sent it to her. I guess she sent it to L.A. Reid and they said, 'Okay we have our first single.'"

Listen to "Beautiful" here:

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And listen to "Get the Party Started" here:

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5. Miguel and Justin Timberlake helped write "Rocket" with Beyoncé for her 2013 self-titled album, Beyoncé.

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In her Self-Titled documentary, Beyoncé revealed: "One of the things I love about this project is how willing all of these incredible artists were to write together. Justin Timberlake, Miguel, and myself all worked together to write 'Rocket.'

"There was a moment in the studio where I didn't wanna stop singing it, and I just kind of zoned out. I don't think I would've done it back then — I don't think I would've been confident enough. I would've been too afraid of what other people thought."

Listen to the song here:

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6. Prince wrote "Manic Monday" for the Bangles' 1986 album, Different Light.

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Susanna Hoffs, lead singer of the Bangles, told NPR that Prince wrote "Manic Monday" for the band because he was such a big fan of their music.

He invited the Bangles to his studio to listen to a demo, and the Bangles "hovered around the cassette machine — 'cause back then, it was tape — and [they] were smitten with the song." Hoffs admitted: "I wish I had had a chance in the decades after to tell him: 'Thank you for the song.' It's still fun to sing, every time."

Listen to the song here:

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7. Bruno Mars helped write "All I Ask" with Adele for her 2015 album, 25.

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Mars told a radio show in 2016: "As soon as we hit a couple chords that [Adele] liked, we started rolling, and that's where we got that song from. There was a moment when she was singing in the booth — and I'm not exaggerating at all — and the water was vibrating. Like, you know that scene in Jurassic Park [where] the water starts jiggling? She's got some pipes on her, and she's just a superstar."

Listen to the song here:

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8. Harry Styles wrote "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" for Ariana Grande's 2014 album, My Everything.

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Grande revealed in an interview with MTV in 2014 that Styles "was just visiting the studio, and [producers] Savan and Johan were like, 'Hey, do you wanna write a song for Ariana?' and he was like, 'Oh, sure!' He went into the other room and they were writing for a while.

"I remember when I heard it, I was like, 'Wow, that's a really strong verse, that's really beautiful!' and then at the chorus I was, like, crying! I'm really excited, obviously for his fans to hear it as well, 'cause they were very excited when they heard [about the collaboration]."

Listen to the song here:

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9. Mariah Carey wrote Faith Hill's "Where Are You Christmas?" for the How the Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack in 2000.

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Carey originally wrote the song to perform herself, but Faith Hill recorded the Christmas classic for the movie instead, possibly because of a legal battle between Carey and ex-husband/music executive Tommy Mottola.

Listen to the song here:

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10. Missy Elliott wrote "My Love Is Like...Wo" for Mýa's 2003 album, Moodring.

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In 2018, Elliott tweeted about her experience writing for Mýa: "I remember I had 10 shots of Patrón writing the lyrics. I played it for Mýa and we was dancing 'round the studio having a ball. In this music video, SHE DID DAT. The choreography was lit 🙌🏾🔥🔥."

Listen to the song here:

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11. Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz wrote "Million Dollar Bill" for Whitney Houston's 2009 album, I Look to You.

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Keys talked about collaborating with Houston in a Rolling Stone interview shortly after the legendary singer died: "She was a woman from the streets of Newark — she had that energy and brashness, that laughter and silliness. She'd crack a joke at anything.

"When we made 'Million Dollar Bill' in 2009, she was doing a hundred thousand jokes. I had to reel the session in, like, 'Okay, if we keep joking like this, we are never going to get anything done!' I guess something in my spirit recognized something in her spirit and we connected."

Listen to the song here:

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12. Christina Milian wrote "Play" for Jennifer Lopez's 2001 album, J.Lo.

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In 2019, Milian appeared on Talk Stoop and recalled: "A lot of the songs I wrote early on were songs I wrote for myself. So for people like Jennifer Lopez, ['Play'] was a song I originally wrote for myself. When we were in the studio and recorded it, she hadn't added the 'Play my motherfucking song!' [lyric] yet. I remember I heard it on the radio, and everyone was talking about how she cursed on the song, but I loved that she did that."

Listen to the song here:

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13. John Lennon helped write "Fame" with David Bowie for Bowie's 1975 album, Young Americans.

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In 2003, Bowie told Performing Songwriter magazine: "[John and I] had been talking about management, and it kind of came out of that. He was telling me, 'You're being shafted by your present manager,' and that was basically the line. John was the guy who opened me up to the idea that all management is crap, and that there's no such thing as good management in rock 'n' roll.

"It was at John’s instigation that I really did without managers and started getting people in to do specific jobs for me, rather than signing myself away to one guy forever and have him take a piece of everything that I earn."

Listen to the song here:

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14. Carole King wrote "(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman" for Aretha Franklin's 1968 album Lady Soul.

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King wrote the hit with her ex-husband, Gerry Goffin, and music producer Jerry Wexler. Shortly after Franklin's death in 2018, King told Entertainment Weekly: "Gerry Goffin and I were thrilled to write ['(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman' for Aretha]. When we heard it, it was not only her magnificent voice, but the whole arrangement.

"It was very different than the demo I had made, and then there's the version that I did on Tapestry. I mean, there's all these different ways to do it. The only thing that topped the original was her performance at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015. Not only did she still have it, but she had it and more — she came out and sat down at the piano, and my face just lit up. She's one of the most gifted piano players — period."

Listen to the song here:

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15. And Sia wrote "Invincible" for Kelly Clarkson's 2015 album, Piece by Piece.

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Clarkson told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2015: "It was the last song we recorded for the album — I was done with the album — and Jesse (Clarkson's producer) emailed me and said, 'Sia wrote this song, you gotta hear it!' We texted a bit, and she's just so nice — it's rare, which is kind of sad, because it's a competitive world, and people like to pit women against each other in the [music] industry. I don't feel that way, so it was nice, because she was so uplifting."

Listen to the song here:

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