Google Home never plays the right version of a song

[RichardA]

If I ask Google to play a song it ALWAYS plays remixes or live versions. Even if I ask for the original version I still get something weird. It has gotten worse more recently too. I know I can cast but that defeats the object of Google Home. I know I'm not the only person suffering with this but I haven't been able to find a solution. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Cbeau7]

Same issue. I had an Alexa linked to my Apple Music account for years with zero problems. I changed over to Google and for maybe ############% of the songs I request, the default selections  are off a live album, remixes or are just completely wrong. I also have kids who want to hear the same songs over and over again and it’s remarkable how we can request something a dozen times and one day it will randomly play a totally different version of that song. I don’t know how to fix it and it’s infuriating.

[Muddi]

Hey folks,

My apologies for the delayed response here. To confirm, is the issue isolated on specific songs and music services only? Also, does the same thing happen when you use the Google Assistant on phone?

Keep us posted.

Cheers,

Muddi

[Muddi]

Hey folks,

I wanted to follow up and see if anyone is still in need of any help? Please let me know if you are still having any trouble from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further. 

Cheers,

Muddi

[RichardA]

Nothing has changed other than the fact I no longer ask Google to play a song, I find it in Deezer and cast it. Defeats the object though. 

Thing is, I'm pretty sure it used to be ok. If it played a weird version I used to ask for the original and it played it. It feels like Google Assistant takes what you say too literally and looks for "Original version of X song" as the song title. Does anyone else find that?

[Muddi]

Hey RichardA,

Thanks for coming back to us. To confirm, Does the same issue happen when you ask the Google Assistant app on your phone to play the song?

Keep us posted.

Cheers,

Muddi
 

[RichardA]

Hi Muddi 

Yes, if I ask Google Assistant on my phone it plays random sounds too. I just asked it to play Pretty Fly For A White Guy and it played a weird folk/Hill Billy version.

We have 2 Nest Minis, 2 Nest Audio speakers, a Nest Hub Max and a Gen 2 Nest Hub. Phones are both Samsung Galaxy S20 & S21. 

Nine work the way I want them to. I pretty sure they used to though. 

[danh165]

Another example has just come up on my Nest Mini. Asked to play "All Around The World" by Oasis, instead it plays me the Reprise version

[pfdm]

Yes, it happens when asking the Google Assistant on the phone or on the google home devices. Ever since I subscribed to a premium music system (spotify in my case) it has been like this. A good example is "Play Diamonds by Rihanna" where Google Assistant goes wild in some weird remix.

[Olaf849]

Hi Richard A , yes exactly my experience... though I've not learned to use Google Nest to cast music fro. My phone, like you say, it defeats the object and I mightvhas well send it to a Bluetooth Speaker or , as I just did, grabbed the old Cd and put it in my old Dennon Tower system. Bliss. Butvtechnology should be getting smarter, not more "apparently dumber".. its a case of needing to train the users to ask for things in the specific way to get a specific audio track. Which is a real case of the tail wagging the dog 🐕 🤔 

Allthe best if luck finding a solution... now where's my old record 😅

[danh165]

I also experience this issue frequently. I'm using a Nest Mini with a Spotify Premium account linked to it. Often when I ask it to play specific songs, it will play the live version or not the single/album version.

Today for example I asked it to play "Damned if I Do Ya" by All Time Low. Instead of it playing the original version (with over 30 million hits) it plays me the re-recorded version (with just over a million hits)

[laineyhana]

this happens to me frequently. i have 3 mesh speakers and a mini connected to youtube premium. some songs i request, even when i request the artists name and song (so low by self) google assistant starts a playlist called self solo. if i ask google to play the album subliminal plastic motives by self, i can skip tracks until i get to the correct song. also no matter how many ways i ask for the studio version of dance yourself clean by lcd soundsystem, it only ever plays a live version. what i want to know, is this a hardware (google speaker) problem, or youtube problem, and is there a site i can send corrections to? this happens almost daily. also - it should be known that i can access these songs (correct versions) using the youtube music app/bluetooth, but not by voice using speakers. 

[Embafun]

Im constantly having this issue and that is so frustrating is there any way to prevent it?

[Vcad]

This morning it was Come Together by the Beatles, a few songs by Paul Simon and Grace Kelly by Mika. 

The weird thing is, after it plays the live version of the song I initially ask for, the radio station it creates is normal versions of everything else.

[danh165]

Yet another example: "Hey google, play Redemption by Sigma". It decides to play the Goldsmyth remix instead of the original version. Is there any way to stop this?

[DeonSand7]

I still need help. I’m ready to return this to Home Depot and go back to Alexa. At least she got it right 

[Jacob6482]

The problem that I have is that I will request something like the theme song to a children's cartoon so my daughter can dance to it and it will play some acoustic cover. And no matter how I phrase my quest it will play the same wrong song. I will literally ask it to play the original version or the version from the show or any number of other ways to ask for it and it consistently plays the wrong song. This is a specific example but it happens all the time

[Jovee]

I am having this exact problem. I have Spotify premium and every time I ask Google to play a very specific playlist that I've found on Spotify, it plays something that sounds similar. And even after repeated attempts and excruciatingly exact pronunciation, it still plays whatever the heck it wants. 

[Dopey7285]

Hey there, my google home doesn’t play the right song choice for example when I say to play GREECE by DJ Khaled featuring Drake, it plays the isntrumental  version instead, my music provider is Apple Music.

[Bridgeview]

Still have this problem when using Google products such nest network dots. When I use Google assistant, even on an iPhone, seems to work fine.

[Kassfair]

It is not isolated songs. It is across all genres of music. It doesn't happen with the android assistant on my phone. It's only the hub. And it is persistent, for example, if we request the song it plays the song in Mandarin. If we request the song with the full album title and the artist name it verbally confirms the song and it still plays it in Mandarin. If we request the whole album and click through we can force it to play the right song. 

[Djmctv]

How do I make it play the original audio version of a song instead of the video version?

[Olaf849]

Yes I still have this issue, it seems for certain tracks, the voice selection cannot point to older recordings of the music. I admit for many songs this could be really complex.

I want to hear an old 1977 style version of the song "Psychkiller" by Talking Heads. But both instances of Google nest home AND Google music on android take me to the remastered 2005 version. Which, whilst nice, is still not the version I want to hear. It is very frustrating. I'm sure that original versions are online, it's not easy working out the exact words to use to get You Tube Music to play an older version...?

I'd be very interested to see if there's a simple solution.  I did try saying "Hey Google,  play the original version of Psychokiller, by Talkjng Heads... no joy.

Or "Play the 1977 version of Psychokiller by Talking Heads"  any ideas? 

Thanks  👌 in advance. 🙏

[rsf]

I have had this problem for years. I have Pandora premium.

Ask Home to play "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles and it plays by the Beatles Connection. Same if I say sung by the Beatles.

If I ask sung by Paul McCartney, it plays an instrumental.

If I ask google assistant it plays stairway to heaven. Closed all the apps and tried again and it played Blackbird intro then Yesterday.

Went straight to my Pandora app and asked the same thing and it played the remastered 2009 from The Beatles.

This happens a lot with Beatles songs and sometimes it is better to ask for the whole album and have it skip to the desired song. 

Robert

[RichardA]

Hey Muddi, has there been any progress with this issue? It's really infuriating! 

[rsf]

Muddi,

If you ready all of the subsequent posts you will see that this is not limited to any particular common element, EXCEPT GOOGLE. Pick a popular song from any service linked to the Google app and we get crap. The collective has decided to move these posts to reviews of your product.

[buckrussell]

the google assistant is by far the worst of the bunch. i switched from amazon because i figured google would HAVE to be better. boy was i wrong. this dumb ass thing never gets the song request right or it insists on playing a live version of the song, even when i repeatedly tell it to play a studio version.

this thing is utterly useless. google is really dropping the ball here and really should just plug chatgpt into these things. maybe then they'd actually work...

[Doggo1]

Hey I’m having the same issue as them. It used to work well, but now is a mess. I ask for Metallica Black Album Enter sandman and it plays a random live version.  I ask for Coldplay the scientist and is not even Chris Martin singing. I really dont get why it takes Google so long to correct these mistakes 

[Lbw]

Today I asked for good Times bad Times and it played some live version and I think it was Ozzy Osbourne maybe? Whatever it was it was definitely not the Led Zeppelin studio recording

[Djmctv]

It happens with lots of songs & music services, also with google assistant 

[Muddi]

Hey folks,

Thanks for stopping by on the Google Nest Community Forums.

I know how annoying and challenging it can be to not have such an important feature work properly -- I like to know more about the issue. A few questions - when did the issue start? How often does it happen? What is the default music service set on your Google Home app? Do you have a premium subscription? Do you have the same issue when playing music on a different music service?

Please try using the Google Assistant app on your phone and check if you have the same issue.

Looking forward to your response.

Cheers,

Muddi

[RichardA]

Hi Muddi, thank you for your reply.

It happens every time, literally, it has become a standing joke in our house. It doesn't matter which device we use it is always the same. I can't say exactly when it started but it has been doing it for a while now, it was certainly doing it in the summer. I have a Deezer premium account. I'm haven't tried a other music service because I don't use one. 

I've just tried it on Google Assistant on my phone - Samsung Galaxy S############G - and it is the same. 

The only way I can play the song I want is if I start it on my phone then send it to a device, about 2/3rds of the time that doesn't work too. It tells me "a few more seconds" then does nothing. 

It's such a shame, it used to work fine although the casting has always been hit and miss. 

I have a Netgear Mesh 6 WiFi system in the house working through Sky broadband.

Cheers

[Vcad]

Ours is on Pandora. It mostly happens with classic rock bands (Billy Joel, Elton John). Today we tried to play Crocodile Rock and got a version featuring Nelly Fertado. We tried asking for the original version, the studio version, the remastered version, no luck. We tried saying “I dislike this” to get it to get rid of that version but it keeps playing it every time we ask. Tried it on all 3 of our speakers and our pixel phone. 

[DeonSand7]

I ask Google to play Mariah Carey Always Be My Baby remix on Apple Music and boom it gives me some club mix of just music. This sh** is aggy af😩😩

[Jacob6482]

The issue has definitely become more prominent over the last 6 months, but I couldn't pinpoint a definitive start point. I have it linked to YouTube premium and YouTube music as my source. It happens pretty much everytime I ask for a song that is off of any kind of soundtrack for a movie or television show. I can't really pinpoint the exact amount of times it happens when I request a song that has other versions, but it does happen with them too. It doesn't seem to matter which method I request the song to be played if I'm trying to play it across my Google home speaker.

[Knives]

It happens all the time with Google nest linked to Apple Music. It always plays remixes of songs not matter how specific I am. For example “hey Google play lady gaga song Judas from the album born this way” and it will completely ignore me and play a Judas remix. What is going on?! 

[MOleaga]

It's December, and this has been getting worse for me over the past few months. It worked pretty well until summer, now, I can't get anything specific. It happens on my Google hubs, my Google mini speakers, and on my phone. I have a Premium Spotify account. I have checked all my permissions. 

I can request music, and it defaults to Spotify. The recognition of WHAT I am asking for has gotten significantly worse. In fact, if I ask for a sound track, it'll play the actual show on my Hub before it plays music on the speaker. For a house with kids that love soundtracks, this is infuriating! 

Seeing as how this post originated in May, perhaps there is a solution that I can't find through my research? 

Melanie

[eringer]

We've been using a Google Home for years and it just started betraying us last month!  When we ask it to play a specific song by a specific artist (we're using Spotify) - for example, "Hey Google, play Shake It Off by Taylor Swift" it says "Okay, playing Shake It Off on Spotify".  It then plays Shake It Off by a cover artist, T-Swizzle.  This happens for other songs too.

The same issue happens with my wife's Pixel's Google Assistant.

I'm so sad to see so many people having this issue with no resolution!  We've loved our Google Home but we use it most to play music and may have to switch to something else.

[Joshbailey2002]

If I  ask google to play Jack Johnson Breakdown on Apple Musici on my hun it plays a live version from the best of Kokua Festival duet with jack Johnson and Jake shimabukuro?  

rdespite 5 attempts to play for the original and exclude Jake Shimabukuro it’s plays the same song. If I ask Siri to play the same song on any of the Apple devices in my home the original song is played. Frustrating because this is one of several times that Google assistant disappoints. 

[Djmctv]

I use Youtube Music Premium & it has happened since I got it a few years ago. It happens about 20% of the time, so quite often.