Two songs, both out today, use a very familiar lyrical idea. On Matoma's Bruised Not Broken, Kiana Ledé sings that "sticks and stones might break my bones"; in Taylor Swift's You Need To Calm Down she notes that "snakes and stones never broke my bones".
The Taylor Swift one's just better, isn't it? It takes the phrase and chucks in 'snakes' to bring it into Taylor's world, then puts the whole thing into the past tense. In general terms I'd happily live the rest of my life never hearing any sticks and stones reference in another song*, but pop law clearly states that if you're going to use a cliché**, you have to put a twist on it. No twist, no list(en). Rules are rules.
* This absolutely also applies to any deployment of the "love is a drug" metaphor
** Particularly a cliché that's based on total nonsense — the "words will never hurt me" part of the whole sticks and stones idea is, clearly, absolute bullshit
