Katie Melua: What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?

The question

What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

“Your lyrics are rubbish.” It was someone I was working with when I was in my early 20s. It turned out well because I then spent a long time studying and learning how to write good lyrics.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 November 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Nikki Amuka-Bird

In a rehearsal just after graduating from drama college, I say my lines to an older actor. He pauses, turns to the director and says: “I’m sorry, but is she going to do it like that?”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗

Felicity Jones British actress

“You’re a reasonably intelligent girl,” by a teacher, and it drove me crazy and made me want to get into Oxford.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 May 2023 source ↗

Lemn Sissay

When I was a child, a member of staff at Wood End Assessment Centre [a former children’s home in Wigan] bellowed: “He copies them poems off of Bob Marley records.”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Tamsin Greig

“And for you, sir?” It happens a lot.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 May 2025 source ↗