Song Lyrics Inspired by Celebrity Breakups

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Song Lyrics Inspired by Celebrity Breakups

From Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, Us Weekly is revisiting the most famous song lyrics inspired by celebrity breakups. Swift, for her part, has always been open about her writing about her ex-boyfriends. “If guys don’t want me to write bad songs about them, they shouldn’t do bad things,” the Grammy winner infamously quipped in 2009. Following high-profile romances with Gyllenhaal, Joe Jonas, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris, John Mayer and Tom Hiddleston, Swift settled down with boyfriend Joe Alwyn. As a result, she started finding inspiration from other people’s relationships. [jwplayer EbPir98l-zhNYySv2] “I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I’ve never met, people I’ve known, or those I wish I hadn’t,” Swift explained in the album notes of her eighth studio album, Folklore, in 2020. “Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history and memory. I’d told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder and whimsey they deserve.” However, in 2021, after rereleasing her 2012 album, Red, which was said to be inspired by her brief romance with Gyllenhaal, Swift made it clear that her albums are about her — not her exes. It’s why the Valentine’s Day actress admitted in an interview with Seth Meyers at the time, “I haven’t thought about [my ex’s] experience, to be honest.” The “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” songstress’ bestie Selena Gomez, meanwhile, took a page from Swift’s playbook in 2019, scoring her first No. 1 hit with a song inspired by her on-again, off-again romance with Justin Bieber. “I gave my all and they all know it / Then you tore me down and now it's showing / In two months, you replaced us / Like it was easy,” Gomez sings in “Lose You to Love Me,” referring to Bieber’s marriage to Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin). After the song dropped, a source confirmed to Us that Gomez’s rocky romance with Bieber inspired the track. “Although the song ‘Lose You to Love Me’ was cowritten and a collaboration, Selena was very involved in writing and creating it, and the song is obviously about Justin,” a source told Us at the time. “The song was inspired by Selena’s breakup from Justin, but it would be incorrect to say it’s totally about Justin.” It’s actually about finally being able to love yourself and moving on from a toxic relationship.” Keep scrolling to get the story behind the songs inspired by famous splits: [podcast_block]

Credit: Shutterstock (4)

Song Lyrics Inspired by Celebrity Breakups

From Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, Us Weekly is revisiting the most famous song lyrics inspired by celebrity breakups. Swift, for her part, has always been open about her writing about her ex-boyfriends. “If guys don’t want me to write bad songs about them, they shouldn’t do bad things,” the Grammy winner infamously quipped in 2009. Following high-profile romances with Gyllenhaal, Joe Jonas, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris, John Mayer and Tom Hiddleston, Swift settled down with boyfriend Joe Alwyn. As a result, she started finding inspiration from other people’s relationships. [jwplayer EbPir98l-zhNYySv2] “I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I’ve never met, people I’ve known, or those I wish I hadn’t,” Swift explained in the album notes of her eighth studio album, Folklore, in 2020. “Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history and memory. I’d told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder and whimsey they deserve.” However, in 2021, after rereleasing her 2012 album, Red, which was said to be inspired by her brief romance with Gyllenhaal, Swift made it clear that her albums are about her — not her exes. It’s why the Valentine’s Day actress admitted in an interview with Seth Meyers at the time, “I haven’t thought about [my ex’s] experience, to be honest.” The “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” songstress’ bestie Selena Gomez, meanwhile, took a page from Swift’s playbook in 2019, scoring her first No. 1 hit with a song inspired by her on-again, off-again romance with Justin Bieber. “I gave my all and they all know it / Then you tore me down and now it's showing / In two months, you replaced us / Like it was easy,” Gomez sings in “Lose You to Love Me,” referring to Bieber’s marriage to Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin). After the song dropped, a source confirmed to Us that Gomez’s rocky romance with Bieber inspired the track. “Although the song ‘Lose You to Love Me’ was cowritten and a collaboration, Selena was very involved in writing and creating it, and the song is obviously about Justin,” a source told Us at the time. “The song was inspired by Selena’s breakup from Justin, but it would be incorrect to say it’s totally about Justin.” It’s actually about finally being able to love yourself and moving on from a toxic relationship.” Keep scrolling to get the story behind the songs inspired by famous splits: [podcast_block]

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Kelsea Ballerini and Morgan Evans

After calling it quits in August 2022 following nearly five years of marriage, Evans dropped a song called “Over For You.”

“I would have searched the whole world over for you / Took a flight, through the night / To be that shoulder for you,” his lyrics read. “How many times did you say you loved me / When it wasn't true? / I’m just wondering / How long has it been over for you?”

Ballerini appeared to fire back via her six-song EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, released in February 2023.

“I’m wearin’ the ring still, but I think I’m lyin’ / Sometimes you forget yours, I think we’re done tryin’,” she sang in “Mountain With a View.” She continued: “I realize you loved me much more at twenty-three / I think that this is when it’s over for me. …  You never took that last flight to see me / Looks like our ending ain’t endin’ happily.”

In “Blindsided,” Ballerini denied Evans’ suggestion that the split came as a shock. “And now you’re saying that you’re lost / And that’s lost on me, / Years of sitting across from me in therapy / I know the truth is hard to hear, but it wasn’t hard to find / Baby, were you blindsided or were you just blind?”

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Shakira and Gerard Pique

The "Hips Don't Lie" songstress seemingly threw shade at Pique in her January 2023 duet with Argentine DJ Bizarrap titled “BZRP Music Session #53."

“Sorry, baby, it’s been a while / I should have thrown that cat away / A she-wolf like me ain’t for a rookie," Shakira sings on the track.

Elsewhere in the tune, the Colombia native seemingly referenced Clara Chia Marti, whom Pique moved on with.

“No hard feelings, baby, I wish you the best with my supposed replacement," the lyrics read.

The exes — who share sons Sasha and Milan — split in June 2022 after 12 years of dating.

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Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello

Two weeks after the singers' November 2021 split, the Canada native released "It'll Be Okay." Mendes appeared to address their breakup in the December 2021 ballad, singing, "If you tell me you’re leaving / I’ll make it easy / It’ll be okay / If we can’t stop the bleeding / We don’t have to fix it / We don’t have to stay / I will love you either way.”

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Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal

Swift's brief 2010 romance with Gyllenhaal was said to have inspired her 2012 album, Red. On "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," she references an older guy — Gyllenhaal is nine years her senior — who spends his time “ with some indie record that's much cooler than mine.” She also sings of a scarf she “left at your sister’s house,” which some connected to the accessory she wore while with the Donnie Darko actor over Thanksgiving of 2010.

Swift seemingly revisited her whirlwind relationship with Gyllenhaal on the 2021 rerelease of Red. On the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” she makes mention of an age gap between her and her ex, singing, "And I was never good at telling jokes but the punchline goes / I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age.'" (At the time of Red (Taylor’s Version)’s release, Gyllenhaal was dating Jeanne Cadieu, who's 16 years his junior.)

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Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett

Much of Rodrigo’s 2021 debut, Sour, alludes to her breakup with her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series costar, whom she was rumored to have dated in 2019.

On “Driver’s License,” Rodrigo questions whether her ex accidentally calls his new girlfriend her name. “’Cause let's be honest, we kinda do sound the same / Another actress,” Rodrigo sings. “I hate to think that I was just your type.”

Bassett was rumored to be dating Girl Meets World star Sabrina Carpenter at the time.

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Kanye West and Kim Kardashian

After Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021, the rapper seemed to reference his estranged wife on several songs on his 2021 album, Donda, including “Lord I Need You,” in which he raps, "You had a Benz at sixteen, I could barely afford an Audi."

On “Hurricane,” he even mentions the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum by name, singing, "Heated by the rumors, read into it too much / Fiendin' for some true love, ask Kim, 'What do you love?'”

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Demi Lovato and Max Ehrich

Lovato dropped a new track titled “Still Have Me” as her messy split from her former fiancé played out in the press in September 2020.

“Everything around me shattered / All the highs are now just low / But it doesn't even matter / ‘Cause I'd rather be alone,” she sings.

The lyrics to the chorus read, “I don't have much but at least I still have me (I still have me) / And that's all I need / So take my faith but at least I still believe (I still believe) / And that's all I need / I don't have much but at least I still have me.”

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Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber

Gomez dropped her single "Lose You to Love Me," which included lyrics that fans speculated were inspired by her relationship with Bieber, in October 2019. In one lyric she sings, “Set fire to my purpose and I let it burn,” which could be a nod to Bieber's 2015 album, Purpose. Later she belts out, “In two months, you replaced us / Like it was easy." Bieber and Gomez split in March 2018, just three months before the "Sorry" singer was linked to his now-wife, Hailey.

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Katy Perry and Travis McCoy

Perry, who dated McCoy from 2006 to 2008, penned the song "Circle the Drain" in 2010 about a drug-addicted ex-boyfriend. "You fall asleep during foreplay/ 'Cause the pills you take are more your forte," she croons. "I'm not sticking around to watch you go down / Wanna be your lover/ Not your f---ing mother." The former Gym Class Heroes frontman battled an addiction to pharmaceutical drugs while dating Perry. 

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Big Sean and Naya Rivera

Big Sean revealed that his 2014 single "I Don't F--k With You" was inspired by his ex-fiancée in an interview with Complex in January 2015. "And every day I wake up celebrating s--t, why? / Cause I just dodged a bullet from a crazy bitch," Big Sean raps on the track. "I don't f--k with you/ You lil' stupid ass bitch, I ain't f--kin' with you."

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Taylor Swift and Joe Jonas

Swift's brief relationship with Jonas from July 2008 to October 2008 was the inspiration behind her 2008 song "Forever & Always." Swift admitted on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in November 2012 that the track was a last-minute addition to her album Fearless. The Grammy winner also shared that Jonas "broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18." The lyrics, "Was I out of line?/ Did I say something way too honest, made you run and hide/ Like a scared little boy," hint at their sudden breakup. 

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Perrie Edwards and Zayn Malik

Edwards appeared to take aim at her ex-fiancé in the lyrics for Little Mix's song "Shout Out to My Ex." She calls out her four-year relationship with Malik in the lyrics, "I hope she gettin' better sex / Hope she ain't fakin' it like I did, babe / Took four long years to call it quits / Forget that boy, I'm over it." Edwards and the "Pillowtalk" singer began dating in 2011 before calling off their engagement in 2015. Later that year, Malik began dating Gigi Hadid. 

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Robin Thicke and Paula Patton

Thicke and Patton dated for more than a decade before tying the knot in 2005 but the former couple split in 2014. The singer attempted to make amends with Patton later that year by devoting an entire album to her, titled "Paula." The lead single, "Get Her Back," included the lyrics, "I never should have raised my voice / Or made you feel so small / I never should have asked you to do anything at all / I should have kissed you longer / I should have held you stronger."

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Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth

Cyrus dropped “Slide Away” in August 2019, just six days after announcing her breakup from her husband of less than a year. “Once upon a time, it was made for us / Woke up one day, it had turned to dust / Baby, we were found, but now we’re lost / So it’s time to let it go,” she sings. “I want my house in the hills / Don’t want the whiskey and pills.”

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Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson

Shortly after the pair called it quits on their four-month engagement in October 2018, Grande released the breakup song of the year titled “Thank U, Next.” In the tune, Grande also referenced exes Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez and the late Mac Miller with lyrics that read: “Thought I’d end up with Sean / But he wasn’t a match / Wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh / Even almost got married / And for Pete, I’m so thankful / Wish I could say ‘thank you’ to Malcolm / ‘Cause he was an angel.”

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John Mayer and Katy Perry

Mayer confessed that his 2017 song "Still Feel Like Your Man" is about his relationship with Perry, whom he dated on and off for a year and a half until 2014. "Who else would I be thinking about?" he told The New York Times when asked about the rumors, noting that he hadn't "dated a lot of people in the last five, six years." The song's lyrics include, "I still keep your shampoo in my shower / In case you wanna wash your hair."

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Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez

Bieber revealed to Ellen DeGeneres in 2015 that three of the songs on his album Purpose — "Sorry," "What Do You Mean?" and "Mark My Words" — are about his on-off relationship with Gomez. "There's a lot of stuff that reminds me of her," he said. "Sorry" includes the lyrics, "I'll take every single piece of the blame if you want me to / But you know that there is no innocent one in this game for two."

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Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale

Stefani released "Used to Love You" in 2015 after her split from husband Gavin Rossdale. She told Ryan Seacrest at the time that she "cried the whole night" when the song came out, adding that the lyrics "came out of something so horrible." In the song, she sings, "I thought I was the best thing that ever happened to you / I thought you loved me the most."

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Rihanna and Chris Brown

Rihanna told Vogue in 2010 that her song "Cold Case Love" is about her tumultuous relationship with ex Brown, saying, "It's a song that everybody wanted to hear, everything that I didn't say for the past eight months, exactly how I felt about that relationship and how I feel about it now – that song says it all." The lyrics reference Brown's 2009 arrest for assaulting his then-girlfriend: "What you did to me was a crime."

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Taylor Swift and John Mayer

Swift's "Dear John" is widely believed to be about Mayer, whom she dated from November 2009 to February 2010. "Don't you think I was too young to be messed with?" she asks in the tune. He later told Rolling Stone, "I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do."

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Katy Perry and Russell Brand

Perry wrote "Part of Me" before she had even met Brand, but she updated the lyrics after their 2012 divorce. "You can keep the diamond ring / It don't mean nothing anyway," she sings. "In fact you can keep everything / Yeah, except for me."

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Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake

Soon after the pop stars ended their romance in 2002, Timberlake released "Cry Me a River," a song many fans believe to be about Spears. The music video even featured a Spears lookalike. A year later, she responded with "Everytime," her own heartbreaking take on their relationship. "My weakness caused you pain / And this song is my sorry," she sings.

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Taylor Swift and Harry Styles

Swift wasn't shy about admitting that her aptly-titled song "Style" is about the former One Direction singer, whom she briefly dated in 2013. "We should've just called it 'I'm Not Even Sorry,'" she told Rolling Stone in 2014 of the track, which includes the lyric, "You've got that long hair, slicked back, white T-shirt."

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Pink and Carey Hart

Pink wrote "So What" in 2008 about her split from husband Hart. They later reconciled their marriage and he even appeared in the music video. "I guess I just lost my husband / I don't know where he went," the song begins.

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Alanis Morrisette and Dave Coulier

The Canada native's breakup classic, "You Oughta Know," was often rumored to be about Full House alum Dave Coulier, whom she dated in 1992. The lyrics, "I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner / It was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced," resonated with the former TV star who told HuffPost in 2013 the "dinner" line was a dead giveaway. “We had already broken up," he told the outlet. "She called and I said, ‘Hey, you know, I’m right in the middle of dinner. Can I just call you right back?’”

Moreover, Coulier revealed on the SiriusXM show "Jim Norton and Sam Roberts" in July 2022 that there was "a lot of familiar stuff" in the song he remembers talking about with the "Head Over Heels" singer.

“Like [in ‘Right Through You’] ‘your shake is like a fish.’ I’d go, ‘Hey, dead fish me,’ and we’d do this dead fish handshake," he shared at the time. "And so, I started listening to it and I thought, ‘Ooh, I think I may have really hurt this woman.’ And that was my first thought."

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Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham

Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs," a song written for the group's 1976 album Rumours but relegated to a B-side, was written by Nicks after her separation from bandmate Buckingham. The song got a second life in 1997 when she faced her ex-flame during a reunion show and sang the wrenching lyrics, "Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me / I know I could have loved you, but you would not let me."

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Carly Simon and Warren Beatty

Four decades after releasing "You're So Vain" in 1972, Simon finally admitted that the second verse is about her ex-boyfriend Beatty. The lyrics include, "You had me several years ago when I was still quite naïve / Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair / And that you would never leave / But you gave away the things you loved and one of them was me."