I have seen some videos on TikTok and Instagram where a content creator is doing a street talk, and they ask a person to name a cheating song a male artist sang. The videos show that some people seem to struggle to answer.
@teachermann91 Name a cheating song by a man 🧐 #foryourpage #foryoupageeee #fyppthisssss #fypppppppppppppp #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp
Now I know that when some people get put on the spot, they freeze. It happens to me all the time. But I’m not sure if it’s because I lived through the 2000s or becuase my brain remembers the most ridiculous pop culture facts, I could name a few songs that were about cheating that a male artist sang.
I’m going to give you five, and I might cheat a bit 😉 and throw in a band as well.
Here are the five cheating songs sung by men:
5. Stutter – Joe
This song hit me right in the feels when I first heard it. Back in 2001, since I didn’t have internet at home, I had to have a friend make mixed CDs for me. The first version of this song I heard was the remixed one. For some reason, back in the early 2000s, artists would always remix a song.
It’s clear from the lyrics that Joe suspects his girlfriend is cheating after she comes home early one morning. When he confronts her, she starts stuttering. Not being able to answer correctly is usually one of the signs that a partner is cheating, which Joe and the rest of the world know.
Because I felt like I had experienced heartbreak at the tender age of 17, I thought this song was spot on. I would find out about true heartbreak when I was older, and the song hit home even more.
The song’s best lyric: I took care of you, I loved you, and you played me (Tell me why).
4. I Write Sins, Not Tragedies – Panic at the Disco
I Write Sins, Not Tragedies had to be added to this list. There is no way it couldn’t. Hearing this song for the first time awakened my inner emo. Actually, I was well on my way when I started listening to Fall Out Boy.
Panic at the Disco knocked it out of the park with this single. It’s an enjoyable song, even though it’s about a man marrying the love of his life, and she cheats on him. And while it doesn’t give a lot in the way of what happens between the couple, we can tell that something went down when the groom’s bride is called a whore.
I also guess the interpretation could be that she was a whore before she met the man she is marrying. But Google agrees with me that it’s a song about cheating, so that makes me happy.
The song’s best lyrics: “What a beautiful wedding, what a beautiful wedding,” says a bridesmaid to a waiter, “And, yes, but shame, what a shame the poor groom’s bride is a whore.”
3. Get It On Tonite – Montell Jordan
Montell Jordan is best known for the 1995 hit song “This Is How We Do It.” Only true fans will be able to tell you which other songs he sings. Get It On Tonite may be the second song casual listeners might know him for.
The song was featured in the 2001 movie Save the Last Dance, as one of the tracks the cast dances to as the credits roll. When I heard it, I knew I had to add to my CD collection (or a Millennial playlist). Even though I had it on a mix CD, I was excited that it was one of the songs on the C&B SuperClub compilations when I started buying them.
In the song, Jordan wishes his current girlfriend were more like the woman he is actually attracted to. Jordan and the woman appear to make his girlfriend jealous by dancing together. As all cheaters do, Jordan blames his girlfriend for his actions.
I remember playing Get It On Tonite for my girlfriend at the time, thinking she would love it as much as I did. I was dead wrong. Instead, she accused me of cheating on her becuase the song was about cheating, and I liked it. From then on, I made sure I listened to the lyrics carefully before playing any song I picked for that girlfriend.
The song’s best lyrics: Now she’s lookin’ at me, but keep talkin’, oh now she tryna ice you, let’s start walkin’ over to the dance floor, it’s her fault, but what can she do?
2. Confessions – Usher
I was initially going to include two Usher songs on this list, but one had to be moved to the honourable mentions. Between Confessions and the other song, Confessions won out to actually be in the list.
Confessions came in two parts. In the first part, Usher gets a phone call while he’s in the studio. The mysterious person tells him something dire before Usher tells them he will call them back. In Confessions, part two, Usher launches into a full-blown confession to his partner about how he cheated on her, and now his side chick is having his baby.
When the song was released, many people thought that Confessions was about Usher’s relationship with Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas from TLC. However, we find that the song was actually about So So Def founder Jermaine Dupri.
The song’s best lyrics: Sitting here, stuck on stupid, tryin’ to figure out, when, what, and how I’ma let this come out of my mouth.
Honourable Mentions
My Way – Usher
Usher Raymond’s second album was one of the first R&B albums I listened to and absolutely loved. Songs such as You Make Me Wanna, and Nice and Slow, just sounded so right to me. Since I was in my early teens, my attention turned to girls, and the popular girls loved R&B.
The song itself is about Usher being the other man, and not the one being cheated on. He makes it clear that the woman’s boyfriend cannot satisfy her, which is why she keeps returning to him.
The music video is a piece of art. Usher is a gang leader with clothes and makeup around one eye, as an urban Clockwork Orange look. While hanging out with his gang and a mysterious woman, another gang shows up, all dressed in camouflage. The leader of this gang is the one and only Tyrese Gibson.
Gibson is no doubt the woman’s boyfriend. The gangs have a dance-off, with Usher’s gang winning (I think), and Usher and the woman lift off into the air by what I can only assume is a helicopter out of frame.
The song’s best lyric: “I do any and everything you want to, make your girl say ‘Ooh, ooh, why’s he so fly?” She beeps me, every time she wanna get freaky.”
Lips of an Angel – Hinder
One of the many one-hit wonders from the best decade of music 😉, Hinder hit the charts with this classic about a man who gets a phone call from his true love while his girlfriend is in the next room.
The other woman in the song has a man of her own, so here two hearts will be broken instead of just one if their significant others find out.
Lead singer Austin John Winkler’s raspy voice really sold the pain he was in, wishing his girlfriend could be like the love of his life. Watching the music video back, Winkler reminded me of a lot of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.
“Lips of an Angel was so popular in Australia that it reached number one on the ARIA charts in 2007.
The song’s best lyrics: It’s funny that you’re callin’ me tonight, and yes, I’ve dreamt of you too. Does he know you’re talking to me? Will it start a fight?
1. It Wasn’t Me – Shaggy
“It Wasn’t Me” was the song that relaunched Jamaican/American artist, Shaggy’s career. In the 1990s, Shaggy had hits such as “Oh Carolina” and “Mr Bombastic” and featured on songs such as “That Girl,” sung by Maxi Priest.
After not being thought of for a while, Shaggy came storming back in the 2000s, with the hit song It Wasn’t Me. In the song, a man who is played by the singer Ricardo ‘RikRok’ Ducent comes to Shaggy asking for advice after his girlfriend caught him with the girl next door.
Hilariously, Shaggy suggests that ‘RikRok’ lie and say it wasn’t him who was rolling around with the neighbour on their bathroom floor. It Wasn’t Me would reach number one on the ARIA charts in 2001 and top the charts in America, Canada, and elsewhere.
If you haven’t had the chance yet, go and watch Vice’s The Story Of episode about this song, and the story behind It Wasn’t Me. Unfortunately, you will need a VPN to watch the episode on YouTube. To summarise the episode, if it weren’t for a DJ in Hawaii downloading the song from Napster, it wouldn’t have exploded in the way it did.
The song’s best lyrics: How can you give your woman access to your villa? Tresspass and a-witness, while you cling to your pillow, you’d better watch your back before she turns into a killer. Let’s review the situation that you caught up ina.
There you have it, just a few cheating songs sung by a man. Remember these if you ever get stopped for one of those street talk videos.
Let me know other cheating songs sung by men in the comments.