The best (and worst!) wedding songs revealed by DJs
Wedding season is right around the corner, and brides and grooms across the country are compiling their party playlists—and, more importantly, their ‘don’t play’ lists—in the hopes to organize a party to remember.
But while everyone wants their big day to be a success, the best wedding DJs have come from behind the decks to reveal what it takes to prevent the night of your dreams from turning into a flop.
From Uptown Funk to Shape of You, some of the nation’s most beloved tunes in recent years have been singled out as the ones to avoid, with many disc jockeys insisting that social media-era tunes can never be avoided. compare with the karaoke classics.
Herbert HollerDubbed the ‘best DJ in New York City’, he said his most commonly rejected artists include Bruno Mars and Drake, with new hits failing to connect with the crowd as iconic throwbacks.
“People have an allergic reaction to these guys – the old social media songs are the ones that thrive,” he told DailyMail.com. “Some newer songs aren’t really music, they’re made for the content.”
The best wedding DJs from across America have revealed which songs to avoid to ensure your 2023 party is a hit.
Holler, who has spent more than 25 years in the business, said that when it comes to getting the crowd going, “not much has changed” in that time.
“There’s an unspoken sound of old records that really draws people in,” he continued. ‘When people get drunk they still enjoy it, but when you’re at a wedding, who really wants to listen to Drake?’
Philadelphia-based Gemma Sherry, owner of Luv’d Up DJagreed that those planning their weddings should avoid relying on short-lived chart hits.
“Particularly new songs sometimes don’t resonate on the dance floor,” he said. “People like familiarity, and newer songs don’t have a thread through the culture.”
While she disagrees that famous TikTok songs always flop, insisting that they often have a fun beat, Sherry countered that it’s hip-hop tunes that should be left off her playlist.
“Recent songs are a mixed bag,” added the DJ. “Really popular songs by mega-artists like Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé have a lifetime of inescapable popularity before reaching over-saturation and then need time to cool down before they can re-enter the mix.
“You have to know where each song is on that journey.”
Wedding DJ Gemma Sherry told DailyMail.com that while most throwback hits remain timeless, new chart hits often “don’t resonate on the dance floor.”
This perspective was shared by East Coast DJ Kenneth Vargas of super mix entertainmentwho said that many non-play requests are “clear indications of the general public’s distaste for washed-up popular music.”
“People crave curatorship,” he added. “Something that speaks to his unique family and upbringing.”
Unsurprisingly, every DJ who spoke to DailyMail.com revealed that R. Kelly has been universally shunned, while other artists who have recently lost popularity on wedding playlists include Will Smith and Ed Sheeran.
Line dancing also seems to be all the rage with wedding parties, along with country music and the Pitbull rapper.
New song fatigue is a common complaint among wedding DJs, with DJ Brent Watts from Texas increasedevents insisting that “every song in the top 10 right now, with the exception of maybe Flowers, would clear a dance floor.”
Among the most common songs cited as recent wedding rejections are Bruno Mars’s ‘Uptown Funk’, Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ and Pitbull’s ‘Fireball’.
“It feels like these songs have been played too long and don’t work the way they used to,” Watts added. ‘I’m not sure you have to play only classics, but you have to use a lot of them. The other problem is that most of the music today isn’t really something you can dance to.’
New York DJ Herbert Holler said that classics from the past are always crowd-pleasers, because there’s an “unspoken sound of old records that really draws people in.”
DJs named artists like Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars as some of the most surprisingly unpopular performers at weddings this year.
When it comes to orchestrating the music for the big day, most DJs have horror stories of so-called ‘brides’ turning their set into a nightmare.
“I remember one girlfriend insisting on controlling all the scenarios,” Holler recalled. “It was just stop and start all the way – you can’t keep changing songs, you have to stay in the zone. Songs are stories, and songs have an impact on the crowd.’
Sherry insisted that while sticking to the bride’s playlist is usually crucial, one of the first weddings her company played was almost ruined by following the golden rule.
‘The bride and groom wanted gothic death metal!’ she said.
“It was one of the worst weddings because the parents of the bride looked at us like we had no idea what we were doing and didn’t know how to read a crowd.
“Sometimes though, we’ve learned, it’s necessary to guide couples because ideally everyone has a good time and the family or guests don’t think ‘Who is this crazy DJ?’
All good wedding DJs know how to work a room, and so-called ‘bridezillas’ controlling every aspect of your playlist are the quickest way to clear the dance floor.
All good DJs know how to work a room, and couples who insist on a rigid set list find themselves at odds with those who know how to give the crowd what it wants.
“One that stands out is a girlfriend who gave me a playlist and wanted me to play it in the exact order that she gave it to me,” Watts said.
‘None of the guests were sitting down, nobody was dancing, and there were a lot of requests for different songs. I tried to deviate from the playlist once and was quickly reprimanded for not following orders, even though it packed the dance floor.
“I really believe that the bride should have what she wants, but I also believe that a party of one is not fun. To make it a party, you really need to get everyone involved and get them dancing.
‘The dance floor is contagious once you get it going.’