Top 10 Songs That Sample Showtunes

MsMojo

Showtunes invaded these songs. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for pop songs that include music and lyrics from Broadway musicals.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to MsMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for pop songs that include music and lyrics from Broadway musicals.

00:15We're sidestepping that appeared in musicals later, but weren't showtunes to begin with.

00:2010. I Got Money – Young Jeezy

00:37Full of creepy synthesizers and hard-thumping beat, this boastful 2006 track from Young

00:43Jeezy and featured artist T.I. has a hook that should be familiar to any musical fan.

00:55Andrew Lloyd Webber's title song from The Phantom of the Opera is a creepy and unexpected

01:00choice for any song on the charts.

01:10This repeating motif, usually played on the organ, is identified with the show's main

01:15antagonist, the mysterious and homicidal Phantom.

01:19As used in this song, the sample gives I Got Money a strange sense of doom.

01:24It gives all the flexing about money, drugs and swayed seats a dangerous edge.

01:329. So Much Better – Childish Gambino

01:39Back in 2009, Donald Glover was still writing for 30 Rock, and his music career was still

01:44in its early days. Childish Gambino was only on his second mixtape, and hits like This

01:49Is America were still a few years away.

01:52So Much Better shares its name with the song from the Legally Blonde musical.

02:06That show's lead performer, Laura Bell Bundy's fierce belt, can be heard throughout most

02:11of the song.

02:17Once you know what it's from, it's kind of hilarious.

02:20Her singing has been almost frozen in time, stretched to impossible lengths like a sustained

02:25horn for Gambino to rap over.

02:308. Anything – Jay-Z

02:36At first glance, rap and musical theatre probably seem like polar opposites, but Jay-Z found

02:41the common denominator.

02:42Oliver is a musicalised version of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, a story about impoverished

02:48orphans in 19th century London.

03:01The song turns up the bass and adds lyrics about community and love in the face of poverty

03:06and struggle, tapping into the musical's themes and reflecting them in his own experience.

03:17It wasn't the first time the rapper would look to musicals for inspiration, but more

03:21on that later.

03:22The song charted modestly, with its highest ranking at number two on the UK's Hip Hop

03:27R&B Charts.

03:337. Build God, Then We'll Talk – Panic! At The Disco

03:39While the Rodgers and Hammerstein songbook might be a little too cheery for some, it

03:43was a source of inspiration for baroque pop band Panic! At The Disco.

03:52Fronted by Brendan Urie, the band always veered towards the theatrical.

03:57For this song, they took inspiration from the sound of music.

04:12Build God, Then We'll Talk is both a take-off and a twisted parody of My Favourite Things.

04:18Featured on their first album, its gloomy lyrics of seedy black rooms and illicit goings

04:23on soon give way to some truly diabolical rewrites of the song that inspired it.

04:326. Mama Said – Lucas Graham

04:37The Danish band, who had a major hit with the 2015 song Seven Years, also had traction

04:42with this single from the same album.

04:44Mama Said is a bittersweet song with the narrator remembering a working-class childhood.

04:55Children sing along on the choruses.

04:57The beat and inclusion of the children's voices is what makes its inspiration obvious.

05:02The song samples It's the Hard Knock Life from Annie.

05:16While the inhabitants of Miss Hannigan's orphanage sing of their woeful existence,

05:20Lucas Graham uses the tune to reflect on a rough early life and celebrate how far they've

05:26come.

05:275. Popular Song – Mika featuring Ariana Grande

05:38Set in the universe of Wizard of Oz, Wicked tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the

05:43West and Glinda the Good Witch of the North in their younger days.

05:48Here is Glinda's self-celebratory anthem.

06:03Grace Kelly singer Mika would later interpolate the song into the endlessly catchy Popular

06:08Song.

06:16While the original's influence is most obvious in the chorus, it's a bizarre case of real-life

06:21foreshadowing.

06:22Mika enlisted a pre-pop stardom Ariana Grande to spice up the radio cut of the song.

06:35Grande would later play the character Glinda in the 2024 film adaptation of Wicked.

06:444. Wind It Up – Gwen Stefani If you were alive in 2006, you might remember

06:51every word of this one.

07:00Gwen Stefani's 2006 single didn't exactly win over the critics, but it received considerable

07:06airplay and did well on the charts.

07:09Featuring an infectious beat and some top-notch yodeling, not only did the track take inspiration

07:14from The Sound of Music, but the music video made the influence even clearer.

07:27The video features Stefani and dancers in nun habits and dresses suggested by the Austrian

07:32setting of the movie.

07:34The imagery continues from there, with very clear recreations of its most famous numbers.

07:423.

07:46Seven Rings – Ariana Grande The love for The Sound of Music continues

07:51with Ariana Grande's chart-topping, record-breaking 2019 hit.

07:55Yet another take on My Favorite Things, this one is a lot more straightforward in its inspiration.

08:10Seven Rings is a celebration of the finer things in life.

08:14Those favorite things Grande lists are less raindrops on roses and more bottles of champagne

08:19and wearable diamonds, but each to their own.

08:29It's probably fair to say that Rodgers and Hammerstein never predicted their song would

08:33get a trap-pop cover.

08:35They'd probably just ask what trap-pop was.

08:38Seven Rings debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and was also nominated for two Grammy

08:43Awards.

08:442.

08:45Rich Girl – Gwen Stefani Featuring Eve In the musical Fiddler on the Roof, the main

08:57character Tevye is a milkman concerned with upholding tradition in a modernized world.

09:09Gwen Stefani took his signature song, If I Were a Rich Man, and its iconic chanting

09:20and spun the whole thing on its head.

09:22With the help of producer Dr. Dre, Stefani uses Tevye's number and a 1993 reggae song

09:28of the same name as a jumping-off point.

09:38Rich Girl is a fusion of all these sounds, while some Killjoy critics pointed out the

09:42absurdity of Gwen Stefani, who had massive success fronting the band No Doubt, singing

09:48about what she'd do if she were rich.

09:50The song was a hit.

10:141.

10:15Hard Knock Life – Ghetto Anthem – Jay-Z Critics were skeptical when they learned

10:20the rapper behind Dead Presidents was sampling a song from Annie, but they changed their

10:25tune when they heard it.

10:32Hard Knock Life would earn Jay-Z his first Grammy nomination, and the album it's featured

10:37on gave him his first Grammy win.

10:39The single was also his first real taste of international success, a testament to how

10:44innovative it was.

10:46Show tunes being used as samples wasn't necessarily in vogue then.

10:51The number about Annie and her fellow orphans' mistreatment provides the backing for Jay-Z's

10:55story of strife, hard times, and crime.

11:08The childish voices of the show's ensemble, mixed with that thumping bass and the evocative

11:12lyrics proved to be a winning combination.

11:22Which show tune sample was your favorite?

11:24Tell us in the comments.

11:33Do you agree with our picks?

11:34Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.

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