Top 20 Biggest Lip Sync Fails Ever
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Lip Sync Fails.
For this list, we’ll be looking at the worst times singers and musicians were caught not performing their songs live. Despite being an industry-approved technique, there are still some atrocious examples of lipsyncing out there, so we’ll be including instances from regular concerts and shows to television appearances.
Which lip sync fail is the hardest to watch? Let us know in the comments!
#20: Britney Spears
“MTV Video Music Awards” (2007)
2007 was not a good year for Britney Spears. It was the year her marriage to Kevin Federline officially came to an end. She faced a very public emotional roller-coaster including hair salon antics to alleged fits during magazine photo shoots. She hadn’t performed in awhile so audiences were excited to see her sing “Gimme More” at MTV’s Video Music Awards. Right out of the gate, you could tell she wasn’t into it. From the moment she “giggled” during the song, it was clear she was lip-syncing. The press had a field day with her lackluster performance. But given her state of mind at the time, it’s no wonder her heart wasn’t in it.
#19: Ellie Goulding
“AFL Pre-Game Show” (2015)
In 2015, Ellie Goulding was asked to play the pre-game show in an Australian Football League game. As the music comes on, the camera pans around and shows Ellie standing on the stage. Yet when the singing begins, she’s still just standing there, not singing a thing. For roughly 20 seconds or so, the singing continues without even so much as a blip from Goulding. It then abruptly cuts out, and it starts again. This time she’s on cue, but she still seemingly misses key points during her performance. Like many others, she blamed the sound tech for the issues, but we’ll let the audience decide who’s at fault here.
#18: Ashley Tisdale
“Macy’s Day Parade” (2007)
So you’re going to be in the Macy’s Day parade and you have to sing. Odds are, you’re not going to sound too great on a flatbed truck with little help on the audio. There’s been press over the years talking about how lip-syncing is often used in the parade. John Legend himself even commented about it in 2018. Despite this, artists are still expected to at least try and make it believable. Tisdale may have a great smile, and a voice to match, but her lackluster effort on the float is on camera for all to see. She’s got a great voice. Why not let us hear it?
#17: 50 Cent
“7th Annual BET Awards” (2007)
You don’t often associate lip-syncing to many hip-hop artists. However, 50 Cent has the honor of being only one of two hip-hop artists on this list. During a performance of his single, “Amusement Park'' during the 2007 BET Awards show, something clearly went wrong. As he’s being lowered down onto the stage, you can see his microphone distanced from his mouth as the song begins. It gets worse as he stops any notion of performing and simply does a lap around the stage and into the crowd. When he says “I’m trying to figure out where everybody at”, and returns to the stage to “sing”, it’s clear as day, there’s a backing track to this “live” gig.
#16: Shakira
“FIFA World Cup Opening Ceremonies” (2010)
This Colombian singer may have hips that don’t lie, but her lips tell a different story during this performance. During the World Cup Opening Ceremonies in 2010, Shakira played her song “She-Wolf'' which was her big hit at the time. Known for her belly dances, and provocative movements, the performer gave it her all during the show. That wasn’t however enough to spot a few hints here and there that the singing may not have been genuine. From lip movements out of sync with the audio, to many instances of her back to the audience, something here just isn’t right.
#15: Katy Perry
“14th Annual NRJ Awards” (2013)
Katy Perry’s live show is typically pretty solid with real performances. However, in 2013, a mishap at the NRJ awards gave us a rare window into two very different performances of the same song. Initially, Perry can be seen with her mic on her side as her voice is clearly audible. Then, out of nowhere, the performance is cut off by the host, who asks her to start again. When she returns, the voice we hear is clearly her actual live voice, versus the previously used version. It was a little embarrassing at first, but luckily Katy delivered the second time around.
#14: Sarah Harding
“Lorraine” (2015)
For this entry, we take a look at Sarah Harding of “Popstars: The Rivals” fame. Appearing on the UK breakfast show, Lorraine, Sarah chose to sing her song “Threads”. Watching her perform, it’s clear she has an active stage presence as opposed to standing still and engaging no one. It’s the energy she puts out in her song that ultimately undoes her. Throughout the entire song, you can see her pulled away from the mic multiple times, yet her voice is still as loud as it was up close. Combine that with the creative use of cutting to the rest of the band, it doesn’t make her look any better.
#13: Mariah Carey
“Good Morning America” (1975-)
Even Mariah Carey herself has admitted to being a bit of a diva. After all, she is Mariah Carey, and she does have quite the set of pipes on her. That’s not to say she doesn’t cut corners from time to time. During a performance on Good Morning America in 2004, her use of lip-syncing came out in full force. We hear her voice singing long before we ever see the microphone at her face, or even her lips moving. She manages to save the rest of the performance though, and chalks up the mistake to new creative directions.
#12: Britney Spears
“The X Factor” (2004-18)
Aside from technical glitches, and obvious performance mistakes, lip-syncing can also be spotted easily by simply listening to the performer. The manufactured sound we hear on a record is never the same as what we hear live. Regardless of technology, a singer’s voice is always different during live shows. In an appearance on The X Factor in the UK, Britney’s performance of “Womanizer” was clearly more of a dance number, than a singing one. The biggest giveaway comes when the song is over. The host can be seen using his own microphone for her to comment on her performance. It’s a pretty obvious goof that suggests Britney’s mic was never on to begin with.
#11: Hilary Duff
“MTV New Year’s Eve” (2004)
Sometimes, a live performance sounds way too close to the studio recording to be real. In this mishap, Hilary Duff was performing “Come Clean” during an MTV New Years Eve show. If you play the original tune from the album, and then her so-called “live” performance, they are virtually identical. No one is that good. The real hiccup occurs just before the chorus starts. In a blink and you’ll miss it moment, there’s a very noticeable skip in the song which Duff just ignores and keeps on trucking. Between the faulty audio, and the lack of tonal difference in her voice, something here just doesn’t add up.
#10: Selena Gomez
“Jingle Ball” (2013)
Unless you work as a professional pop singer, it’s hard to know what kind of stresses they have to endure. During a 2013 Jingle Ball show in Los Angeles, Selena Gomez was caught lip-syncing during her rendition of “Come And Get It”. Like other performers on this list, her mic was nowhere near her face when singing could be heard. A quick turn of the head to cover-up the mishap didn’t help matters either. By the end of her songs, she was clearly upset with someone as she dropped an unexpected f-bomb into her mic which was still live to the crowd. Oops.
#9: Cher
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (2003-)
Some might argue that when you’ve spent as much time as a performer as someone like Cher, you deserve a break once in a while. Although Cher has been accused of lip-syncing her shows, she’s also flat out admitted to it. In 2013, Cher and her mother, Georgia Holt, made an appearance on the Ellen show. Promoting Holt’s new album, the two do a duet of “I’m Just Your Yesterday”. Just before taking the stage, Cher tells the audience that because of her mother’s recent illness, they will be lip-syncing. It’s surprising to see it fully admitted to, but you gotta love the honesty.
#8: Cheryl
“Stand Up To Cancer” (2012)
This next entry seems like what happens when the sound guy chooses the instrumental track by accident. From the look of Cheryl’s dance routine at the 2012 “Stand Up To Cancer” special, her mind was on her moves, and not her singing. She goes almost a minute and a half with nothing more than a huff and grunt to be heard. At least when Katy Perry did this they pulled the plug and let her start again. This was just plain embarrassing. Only two years later, she was seen trying it again on the UK’s talent show The X Factor. We’re guessing she didn’t learn her lesson.
#7: Lindsay Lohan
“Good Morning America” (2004)
When you think of Lindsay Lohan, you think of her being a rock star right? Nevertheless, in 2004, she released an album called “Speak”. While promoting the album on Good Morning America, onlookers got a glimpse of what looked like a less than genuine performance from the “Mean Girls” star. On multiple occasions Lohan can clearly be heard but not seen singing her parts. Afterwards, she adamantly denied any lip-syncing but that certainly didn’t curtail critics opinions of her debut. She may have tried to sing her “rumors” away, but that didn’t make them any less true.
#6: Beyonce
“Presidential Inauguration” (2013)
The further up we get in this list, the more we are surprised by the calibre of talent who use backing tracks. This time around it’s famed singer Beyonce who opted for a less live version of her own voice. During the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama in January of 2013, Beyonce was asked to perform the national anthem. Her rendition was incredible, and once again showcased her talent. However, shortly thereafter, Beyonce admitted to the use of a pre-recorded version of the song citing her perfectionism as reasoning. No one would ever argue that she can’t sing, so with the intensity of that particular venue, maybe she made the right call.
#5: Nicki Minaj
“Today Show” (2012)
As mentioned in a previous entry, lip-syncers can often be spotted by how the singer's voice is different during a live performance versus a pre-recorded one. In instances where a live singer’s voice is exactly like the album, there’s virtually no chance they are actually singing. When Nicki Minaj opted to do her “Starships” song on the Today show in 2012, it was another instance of morning show performances gone awry. With her lyrics as punchy as they are, it’s easy to spot the inconsistencies when you play back the video. Plus, she jumps around while singing, yet there’s very little change to be heard.
#4: Mariah Carey
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” (1972-)
Here we find Mariah Carey on this list a second time, but for something far more disastrous. Backing tracks are one thing, but this was an eternity of live television that went spectacularly wrong. From the moment she emerged from her wings, any shot at a real performance went right out the proverbial window. When Carey couldn’t hear anything, she didn’t even bother to try and recover from the mess. Instead, she played with her outfit, talked to the fans, and just paced back and forth trying to kill time. All being said, at least she kept a sense of humor about the whole thing.
#3: Lin Miaoke
“Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies” (2008)
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, audiences were treated to a rendition of “Ode to the Motherland” from nine year old singer Lin Miaoke. Later, it would be revealed that Yang Peiyi had actually sung the song, with Lin merely lip-syncing to a previous recording. According to media reports, the switch up was made when Chinese officials wanted a different image of a young woman being shown to an international audience. What’s even worse is that Lin may not have known at the time she was lip-syncing to someone else’s voice given how similar they were.
#2: Milli Vanilli
“Lake Compounce Live Show” (1989)
One might argue that Milli Vanilli are possibly the originators of lip-syncing disasters. Consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, the duo came together to release “Girl You Know It’s True” in 1989. The song, and the album became a massive success, being certified six times platinum. But in July of 1989, it started to fall apart during a live performance when the vocal track started skipping on the chorus. By November of 1990, their producer would go on record confirming the two had never sung on any of the album’s tracks.
#1: Ashlee Simpson
“Saturday Night Live” (1975-)
When a show is broadcast “live”, anything can happen. Saturday Night Live has seen all kinds of things go off the rails as a result of being live to the world. From f-bombs, to controversial hosts, it’s a show that lives by the seat of its pants. Never was this been more obvious than the now infamous Ashlee Simpson incident. The aforementioned singer was caught red-handed when a backing track started playing the wrong song during their second performance. It then became clear she hadn’t been singing at all. Behind the scenes we later learned this wasn’t the original intention. Intended or not, it certainly was disastrous for her.
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