During a recent interview with Kerrang!Grammy Award-winning artist St. Vincent, known offstage as Annie Clark, didn't mince words when discussing what he considers the “worst song ever written.”
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Her choice? John Mayer's 2003 hit, “Daughters.”
“It's so horribly sexist, but it's pretending to be a love song,” said St. Vincent in the British heavy music title. “It's really, really backwards and really sexist. And I hate it… It's so deeply misogynistic, it would be okay if you had it, but it's pretending to be sweet.”
The review of St. Vincent appears to be zeroing in on the song's lyrics, which advise fathers to “be good to your daughters” to ensure smoother relationships for men in the future.
Despite the criticism of St. Vincent, it is worth noting that “Daughters” was well received at the time of its release.
The song earned Mayer a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2005, beating out the likes of Alicia Keys and Kanye West. It also topped Billboard's Adult Pop Airplay chart and reached No. 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
In the same interview, St. Vincent spoke much more warmly about other songs that shaped her musical journey.
He fondly quoted Steely Dan's “Fire in the Hole,” recalling long car rides filled with their music. He also praised Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' “Into My Arms”, calling it the “perfect love song”. But when it came to Mayer's “Daughters,” there was no such nostalgia or admiration.
The revelation comes amid the release of his latest album St. Vincent, All Born Screamingwhich fell in April.
“It's about life and death and love,” he said Advertising sign in June. “And this is”.
“Every record I've made has been so personal to what's going on in my life at any given time. I'm queer. I know how to change passwords. The idea of identity as performance has been very clear to me since I was a kid… I'm queer, I live in crowds, but this record specifically isn't about persona or deconstruction.”
