"It's just so hideously sexist" - Grammy winner St. Vincent labels John Mayer's 'Daughters' as the 'worst song ever written'

Grammy winner St. Vincent did not mince her words while discussing John Mayer’s artistry with Kerrang! magazine. While speaking about the 10 songs that changed her life, she also mentioned the song she believes to be the worst one ever written. To the surprise of many, the musician mentioned Mayor’s Grammy-winning Daughters track.

St. Vincent, whose real name is Annie Clark, was asked numerous questions, including the song that reminded her of school, the track she wants played at her funeral, and the song that cheers her up.

She was then asked which song she considers the “worst song ever written,” to which she mentioned John Mayer’s 2003 Daughters. St. Vincent explained:

“It’s just so hideously sexist, but it pretends to be a love song. It’s really, really retrograde and really sexist. And I hate it… It’s so deeply misogynistic, which would be fine if you owned that, but it pretends like it’s sweet.”

For those uninitiated, St. Vincent is a Dallas-native who was previously known for being part of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band.

She released her debut album, Marry Me, in July 2007. Since then, she has released numerous EPs, including Masseducation, Actor, All Born Screaming, and Daddy’s Home, among others.

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More about John Mayer’s Daughters

John Mayer’s song, Daughters, earned him a Grammy award and was chosen as the song of the year in 2005. The track beat the songs of industry legends like Alicia Keys and Kanye West.

At one point, it had also reached the second spot on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart and had topped their Adult Pop Airplay Chart as well. Lyrics for the track include:

“Fathers, be good to your daughters/ Daughters will love like you do/ Girls become lovers who turn into mothers/ So mothers, be good to your daughters too”

John Mayer revealed on VH1’s Storytellers program in 2011 that he wrote the song after observing that several women had “daddy issues.” He explained:

“I loved a girl a lot, but she couldn’t trust men. And if you trace it back, it was the first man in her life she couldn’t trust."

He added:

" I know this song sounds like I’m just sitting around the house, spitballing, thinking lofty things to think about, but it really is the result of tracing it backwards to find out how I could possibly love this person. And the answer is: you can’t. Because someone else didn’t before you.”

Mayer also revealed in the interview that he was inspired by one of comedian Chris Rock’s sets where he discussed how it was a father’s responsibility to keep his daughter “off the pole.”

Several fans of Mayer have expressed similar sentiments as St. Vincent regarding the song.

Reddit user r/pondopines revealed on the r/JohnMayer subreddit two years ago that they found the lyrics “preachy/ cringe.”

Meanwhile, Reddit user r/officersallybishop also pointed out that the song was sexist in the way that it treats girls as “delicate little flowers who you have to protect.”

Comment byu/Ok-Feature-1233 from discussion inJohnMayer

At the time of writing, John Mayer had not publicly addressed the criticism the song had garnered.