One “American Idol” winner is dropping the mic on performing “the worst song ever” after his big win.
Caleb Johnson, who won the reality show’s 13th season, told Insider that he thinks his coronation song ― the first song winners sing following their victories on the show ― was a “cheesy piece of crap.”
Johnson revealed “As Long as You Love Me,” a song written by the Darkness singer Justin Hawkins, was “just the worst song ever” and a nightmare to perform on his post-“American Idol” tour.
“I knew that, by de facto, if you won you had to sing the song, and the song was just utter crap,” Johnson told the news site.
Johnson said the song was eventually added to his set list on a tour featuring the season’s finalists, but was cut from the tour later on.
“We did at the beginning, but they switched it. They switched it about halfway because it just wasn’t working,” he told Insider.
“It was not working, and it was a nightmare.”
HuffPost has reached out to Hawkins for comment.
You can listen to Johnson’s recording of the song below.
However, another “American Idol” winner apparently had a different take on the ditty.
In a 2012 interview with Yahoo Music, Hawkins said Kelly Clarkson reportedly liked the song Johnson couldn’t stand to perform.
The song did include a line about his mustache, though, and Hawkins didn’t believe Clarkson was “really feeling the subject matter.”
The song eventually made its way to Johnson (without the mustache line) in 2014, as well as “Idols South Africa” finalist Mark Haze (with the mustache line) in 2012.