The Rod Stewart Song That Still Leaves Fans Feeling 'Betrayed'

"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" is one of Rod Stewart's best-known hits, but for some of his fans, that's a travesty. That's because, despite becoming a star for his rock music, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" was a little too disco-sounding (and yes, some of Stewart's OG fans are still mad about it). 

"Rock of Ages" fans will no doubt recall the scene where Wolfgang von Colt's lead singer becomes a pop star ("Double the 'E,' double the 'Z,' double the flavor"), effectively selling out as a rock star for commercial success. That was an accusation leveled at Stewart when he released "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" in the late 1970s, and decades later, some Redditors still feel the same. "DYTIS was weak synthpop dross that heralded the end of Rod Stewart's significant creative songwriting output that shifted him towards self-parody," declared one hater, and woof! Another shared similar sentiments, complaining, "Da Ya is pure synthesizer crap." Others were more upset about the song's title and contents. Wrote one critic, "'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy' is a title that invites — nay, demands — scorn solely on the basis of corny hubris." Hubris, indeed. As for content, another used less floral wording to sum up their thoughts. "The lyrics are just so ... yuck," they said. 

And then, there were the disco purists, who thought Stewart's offering hadn't gone far enough. "My initial reaction to Rod's song was that it was self-serving and a cheap attempt at harvesting a genre he had no business in," one complained. Another agreed on that, writing, "Rod Stewart's song feels more like a cash-in than a genuine tribute." Can't win 'em all!

Given just how much hate Rod Stewart gets for "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" one might assume he regrets releasing it. He doesn't, though. In fact, in a 2024 interview for AXS TV, he quipped, "I was a 'traitor' to rock 'n' roll because I recorded a disco song. Was I jumping on the bandwagon? Yes. And what's wrong with that? And was it a huge hit? Amazingly huge hit. And do people still like it? 'Course they do. So f*** 'em." Fair enough, we guess!

While Stewart still gets some criticism over the song, he's certainly not wrong in saying a lot of people love it to this day. After all, it's remained so popular that in 2017, he even re-released the hit with DNCE, teaming up with the Joe Jonas-fronted band to perform it at that year's MTV VMAs. 

FWIW, Stewart has also poked fun at the song, sharing in a 2013 Sirius XM interview that he tried not to perform it in the early days when the song was getting so much flak. However, he quipped, "Nowadays, we close the show with it, and it's almost like my novelty song." And, as for those who still think the title exudes "corny hubris" (yes, that will be our favorite clapback for the foreseeable future), Stewart pointed out that it wasn't ever about him. "I keep explaining this, the song isn't about me! It's not me saying, 'Oh, do you think I'm sexy?' I was observing two people, I was in the third person," he cracked, though Stewart couldn't resist a shady aside. "Listen to the lyrics next time, will you?" he joked. We can't make any promises about that, but we can guarantee you'll be humming "DYTIS" for the rest of the day.