It’s no secret that many musicians use their real world experiences to craft the lyrics to their best songs. Within a slew of hidden, or not so hidden, messages, famous songwriters have been using their work to tell stories about the people in their lives—and very often, these people are fellow well-known stars.

From heartfelt tributes and love songs, to scathing diss tracks and breakup anthems, there are many melodies out there that hold connections between the most well known celebrities of our time.

Ahead, we track the songs that you might not know musicians have written about other celebrities, detailing the good, the bad and the ugly of famous relationships.

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‘Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)’ (2023)

While it's no secret Taylor Swift, like many artists, takes inspiration from past relationships when writing music, it's the subjects that make guessing who the tunes may be about interesting. Full of cryptic clues, Taylor Swift's most recent songs from 1989 (Taylor’s Version) such as ‘Is It Over Now?’ and ‘Say Don’t Go’ are largely suspected to be about former boyfriend and singer, Harry Styles. Other notable tracks from past albums include ‘Delicate’ and ‘Gorgeous’ about ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, ‘Midnight Rain’ about Tom Hiddleston, ‘All Too Well’ about Jake Gyllenhaal and ‘Back to December’ about Taylor Lautner.

‘Flowers’ (2023)

Miley Cyrus’s track ‘Flowers’ was released this year after her and ex-husband Liam Hemsworth were divorced, and is widely believed to be about the end of their long-term relationship. ‘Wrecking Ball’ was also said to be about Hemsworth following their first split in 2013, and ‘Malibu’ was written after they had rekindled their relationship and were living together in Malibu itself.

‘Cry Me a River’ (2002)

The 2002 Justin Timberlake track is allegedly about the artist’s split from fellow singer Britney Spears. The song’s film clip did nothing to quell rumours the song was about the breakdown of the relationship. Remember the Britney-esque model Timberlake pines after in the clip? In 2004, Spears released the single ‘Everytime’, which is said to be a response to Timberlake’s track and was reportedly recorded in 2002, the same year Timberlake’s broken hearted ballad was released.

‘Lose You to Love Me’ (2020)

It’s reported that the poignant and heartfelt song released in 2020 is about Selena Gomez’s relationship with fellow singer Justin Bieber. It’s also rumoured that Bieber’s ‘Nothing Like Us’ and ‘Sorry’ are ballads about the pair’s breakup.

‘Kiwi’ (2017)

While the relationship between Styles and New Zealand-born model Georgia Fowler was short-lived, it seems that was all the former One Directioner needed to inspire him. For Styles fans it seems fairly obvious that ‘Kiwi’, being the slang word used to describe a person from New Zealand, is about the pair’s relationship. 

‘Cherry’, a song from Style’s 2019 album Fine Line is also said to be about ex-girlfriend and model Camille Rowe—an excerpt from a voicemail that Rowe left Styles in French is actually featured on the track, if you weren’t otherwise convinced of the song’s meaning.

‘Call Out My Name’ (2018)

The Weekend released a six track EP titled ‘My Dear Melancholy’ which can be understood to reference his relationship with both Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez throughout the course of a number of songs. ‘Call Out My Name’ touches on his connection with Gomez, their time together and her return to Justin Bieber. The track ‘Wasted Times’ then refers to an equestrian, drawing conclusions he's singing about Hadid, before comparing his relationship with her to his with Gomez.

‘Sex On Fire’ (2008)

Lily Aldridge, the Victoria's Secret Angel who is married to Kings of Leon lead singer, Caleb Followill, is said to have inspired the band's hit track ‘Sex On Fire’.

‘Swish Swish’ (2017)

Rumours once surfaced that Katy Perry’s track ‘Swish Swish’ was released in response to Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood’. With the singer revealing to James Corden during The Late Late Show’s Carpool karaoke segment that her response to Swift's song had her like, "OK, cool, cool, cool, that's how you want to deal with it? Karma!”

‘Thank U, Next’ (2019)

While you may have known that ‘Thank U, Next’ was about Pete Davidson, along with three of Ariana Grande’s previous partners Ricky Alvarez, Big Sean and Mac Miller, what you may not have known was that the singer actually wrote three iterations of the song, each with a different ending depending on how her relationship with Davidson turned out.

‘Lovebug’ (2008)

While the song ‘Lovebug’ by the Jonas Brothers was originally released in 2008, it was only following the preview of their documentary Chasing Happiness in June 2019, that the band finally confirmed the track was in fact written about Nick Jonas and Miley Cyrus. The brothers first met the Disney star during a cameo appearance on an episode of Hannah Montana then going on to open the Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Tour shortly after, before Jonas and Cyrus started dating.

‘Obsessed’ (2009)

Mariah Carey has made it no secret the 2009 song is about rapper Eminem. Carey even went as far to dress up like the rapper in the film clip. Eminem also called out Carey in his song ‘Bagpipes From Baghdad’. The feud is said to have begun after reports emerged that the pair dated in 2001, a rumour Carey has always denied.

‘Fix You’ (2005)

The Coldplay song was allegedly written for Chris Martin’s then wife Gwyneth Paltrow after her father’s death.

‘Perfect’ (2015)

Theories about the One Direction track indicate that the boy band's single is Harry Styles's response to his relationship with Taylor Swift. The biggest give-away? Lyrical references to midnight drives, which Swift also alludes to in her track ‘Style’ which is also widely believed to be about Styles.

‘All Of Me’ (2013)

It's common knowledge that singer John Legend wrote and lovingly dedicated the track to wife Chrissy Teigen.

‘Glory and Blue’ (2012)

Beyoncé Knowles and Jay Z have both released tracks about their first child together, Blue Ivy Carter. The songs credit B.I.C. (Blue Ivy Carter) as a featured artist.

‘Perfect’ (2017)

Ed Sheeran has written many love songs about his wife, Cherry Seaborn, including some of his biggest hits like ‘Perfect’ and ‘Shape of You’. The pair were childhood friends who got together in 2015 and were married in 2019. Sheeran is also said to have previously penned the song ‘Don’t’ about ex-girlfriend Ellie Goulding, and ‘Nina’, quite evidently, about ex-girlfriend Nina Nesbitt.

‘On My Mind’ (2015)

The single from singer Ellie Goulding, released in September 2015, is said to be in response to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Don’t’. Goulding’s specific reference to hotel rooms has fans thinking the song is about the singer's fleeting relationship with Sheeran who mentions hotel rooms twice in his tune.

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