12 Super Famous Singers Who Gave Largely Uncredited Background Vocals To These Hit Songs

I cannot un-hear Robyn singing on Britney Spears' "Piece of Me."

1. Let's start with a classic: Justin Timberlake is the one singing the chorus of the Black Eyed Peas song "Where Is the Love?" and not Fergie.

Interscope / Via youtube.com

2. John Legend sings background vocals on the song "American Boy" by Estelle featuring Kanye West. He even pops up in the music video.

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Bonus fun fact: The instrumental is actually taken from the 2007 will.i.am song "Impatient." 

3. Background vocals on the song "Piece of Me" by Britney Spears are partially sung by Robyn. You can especially hear her on the final robot-voice "You wanna piece of me?" in the chorus.

Jive

4. You can hear Taylor Swift mixed with Rihanna's vocals on the song "This Is What You Came For" — in particular, on the chorus "ooohs."

Columbia / Via youtube.com

Although the songwriter of the track was originally credited as Nils Sjöberg and Calvin Harris, Nils was actually a pseudonym for Taylor.

5. Another RiRi one — the person singing that high-pitched chorus "woo-hoo-woo-hoo" on "The Monster" with Eminem is actually Bebe Rexha.

Interscope / Via youtube.com

Bebe actually said that she had "no choice but to give the song away" because she had no money at the time. While we're at it, she did also once say that Rihanna "can't sing those high notes."

6. In the stripped-back chorus near the end of Bleachers' "Don't Take the Money," you can clearly hear Lorde singing with Jack Antonoff.

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She's also credited as a co-writer on the track under her real name, Ella Yelich-O'Connor.

7. Charli XCX, who is one of the writers of the track, is clearly singing on the chorus of the Selena Gomez song "Same Old Love."

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8. Jennifer Lopez isn't the one singing the chorus of her song "Play" — it's actually "AM to PM" singer Christina Milian.

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9. Ashanti can also be heard all over the J.Lo songs "Ain't It Funny" and "I'm Real."

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Ashanti only received credit for her vocals this year. She previously explained what it was like seeing her song go to J.Lo, saying, "It was bittersweet because I was really excited because it was J.Lo. But I was so mad [...] because I was like, 'You know I wanted that record." 

10. Pharrell, who is also a producer and writer of the song, is the one singing background vocals and the chorus in Kendrick Lamar's "Alright."

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11. You may have noticed a woman's voice on "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida feat. David Guetta — well, it's none other than Nicole Scherzinger.

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For some reason, the YouTube music version does credit Nicole as a feature — but she isn't usually credited.

12. Finally, you can clearly hear Ed Sheeran on the chorus of the Justin Bieber hit "Love Yourself."

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Speaking on writing the song and giving it to Justin, Ed previously explained, "People always say, 'Why didn’t you keep it?' And to be honest, he was on such a roll at that point that I think it wouldn’t have been as big if I’d sung it."