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15 Songs You Didn’t Know Were About Famous Exes

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Ignacio Weil

Entertainment - August 24th 2026, 18:30 GMT+2

Flowers Miley Cyrus — 1. “Flowers” — Miley Cyrus (Widely Believed to Be About Liam Hemsworth)

If Miley Cyrus wanted to prevent Liam Hemsworth theories, releasing “Flowers” on his birthday was a wonderfully inefficient strategy. The song’s references to a home going up in flames recalled the Malibu property they lost, while its message of self-reliance sounded like a response to their marriage and divorce. Cyrus has never confirmed that every detail concerns Hemsworth, and several wilder internet theories remain unsupported. The stronger story is simpler: she rewrote a sad song until it sounded like someone dancing back into her own life. | © Freenjoy

Style Taylor Swift — 2. “Style” — Taylor Swift (Widely Believed to Be About Harry Styles)

Taylor Swift never officially announced that “Style” was about Harry Styles, perhaps because the title had already completed most of the paperwork. Their on-and-off romance, the song’s portrait of two people repeatedly circling back to each other and its paper-airplane imagery all strengthened the connection. Styles has since spoken graciously about Swift’s songwriting and the tracks presumed to concern him, calling the experience flattering rather than invasive. It remains an unusually diplomatic ending for a relationship preserved inside one of Swift’s biggest pop songs. | © More Media

Lose You to Love Me Selena Gomez — 3. “Lose You to Love Me” — Selena Gomez (About Justin Bieber)

Selena Gomez did not name Justin Bieber in “Lose You to Love Me,” but she later removed the remaining doubt. Gomez confirmed that the song reflected the end of their long, stop-start relationship and described the experience as emotionally abusive. Its restrained production made the farewell feel more intimate than theatrical, helping it become her first number-one single in the United States. After years of seeing the romance recycled as celebrity news, Gomez finally got to close the story in her own voice—and, more importantly, on her own terms. | © Prettybird

Thank u next Ariana Grande — 4. “thank u, next” — Ariana Grande (About Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, Pete Davidson and Mac Miller)

Ariana Grande spared the internet from detective work by placing her famous exes directly into the opening verse of “thank u, next.” Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez and former fiancé Pete Davidson receive individual acknowledgments, while the late Mac Miller—named as Malcolm—is remembered with unmistakable tenderness. Yet the record never becomes an exercise in public score-settling. Grande thanks each relationship for its lesson, turns her attention toward self-love and somehow makes emotional maturity sound like gossip exchanged during the best sleepover of your life. | © London Alley Entertainment

Call Out My Name The Weeknd — 5. “Call Out My Name” — The Weeknd (Widely Believed to Be About Selena Gomez)

Five months after The Weeknd and Selena Gomez ended their relationship, *My Dear Melancholy,* arrived sounding like an invoice for emotional damages. “Call Out My Name” was quickly linked to Gomez, especially after listeners connected its language of personal sacrifice with her kidney transplant. The Weeknd has never identified her as the subject, and claims that he had literally planned to become her donor have been disputed, so the theory remains informed speculation. Still, the timing turned celebrity-pop algebra into a fairly easy elective. | © Anonymous Content

Drivers license Olivia Rodrigo — 6. “drivers license” — Olivia Rodrigo (Widely Believed to Be About Joshua Bassett)

One changed lyric helped transform Olivia Rodrigo’s debut single into a teenage celebrity mystery with its own evidence board. Early versions mentioned a brunette; the released “drivers license” described an older blonde, prompting fans to cast Joshua Bassett as the ex and Sabrina Carpenter as his supposed new girlfriend. Rodrigo has never confirmed those identities, nor has she treated the gossip as the point of the record. The theory accelerated its success, but the devastatingly ordinary heartbreak is what made millions of strangers recognize themselves in it. | © North of Now

Justin Timberlake Cry Me A River 1 — 7. “Cry Me a River” — Justin Timberlake (About Britney Spears)

Pop history’s least convincing disguise may belong to the blonde Britney Spears lookalike cast in Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” video. Released after their highly publicized breakup, the song and its revenge-fantasy visuals encouraged audiences to view Spears as the partner who had betrayed him. Timberlake later acknowledged that the breakup fueled the record, while Spears has described how severely its rollout damaged her public image. Catchy, cinematic and ruthlessly effective, it established the modern celebrity-breakup campaign before social media could handle the dirty work. | © DNA Inc.

Shakira Bzrp Music Sessions Vol 53 Shakira and Bizarrap — 8. “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” — Shakira and Bizarrap (About Gerard Piqué)

Shakira approached subtlety, considered it briefly and chose global chaos instead. Her Bizarrap session targeted former partner Gerard Piqué and his new girlfriend, Clara Chía, through pointed name-based wordplay and comparisons involving a Ferrari, a Twingo, a Rolex and a Casio. The sparse studio setting only sharpened the attack: no elaborate storyline was necessary when every verse generated another headline. Shakira later described writing the song as cathartic, while listeners treated the aftermath like a championship match that had somehow acquired luxury-brand sponsors. | © Dale Play Records

Halsey Without Me 1 — 9. “Without Me” — Halsey (Partly About G-Eazy)

Halsey’s “Without Me” describes the resentment of lifting someone up only to be abandoned once they reach the top. Released around the collapse of Halsey’s turbulent relationship with G-Eazy, it became even harder to separate from him once the video introduced a boyfriend with a remarkably familiar face, haircut and wardrobe. Halsey has explained that the story draws on more than one experience, but later acknowledged that G-Eazy was part of its emotional foundation. Subtle disguise was evidently not included in the production brief. | © London Alley Entertainment

Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac — 10. “Go Your Own Way” — Fleetwood Mac (About Stevie Nicks)

Recording a breakup album with your ex is awkward; singing harmony while he publicly rewrites your love life is Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey Buckingham wrote “Go Your Own Way” after splitting from Stevie Nicks and suggested that she had quickly moved in with someone else, an accusation Nicks has repeatedly said was untrue. She hated that part of the song but still supplied the harmonies—and then performed it beside Buckingham for decades. Corporate team-building exercises have nothing on the emotional endurance demanded by the *Rumours* sessions. | © Warner Records

Dont Speak No Doubt — 11. “Ms. Jackson” — Outkast (About Erykah Badu and Her Mother)

André 3000’s famous apology was not directed solely at Erykah Badu, but primarily at her mother. Following his breakup with Badu—and the difficulties surrounding co-parenting their son, Seven—he used “Ms. Jackson” to explain himself to the woman watching the fallout from the sidelines. Big Boi brought his own relationship experiences to the record, so it is not exclusively André’s confession. Badu’s mother reportedly embraced her unexpected pop-culture immortality, even getting a “Ms. Jackson” license plate. Honestly, fair enough. | © FM Rocks

Ms Jackson Outkast 1 — 12. “Don’t Speak” — No Doubt (About Tony Kanal)

Before “Don’t Speak” became No Doubt’s defining breakup song, it began life as a much sunnier love song. Gwen Stefani rewrote the lyrics after her seven-year relationship with bassist Tony Kanal ended, creating an unusual workplace problem: Kanal had to record, promote and perform his ex-girlfriend’s account of their split. He even appeared in the music video, where the band’s growing frustration over Gwen receiving most of the attention added another layer of painfully real tension. Apparently, leaving the group chat was never an option. | © Oil Factory Inc.

Bam Bam Camila Cabello — 13. “Bam Bam” — Camila Cabello featuring Ed Sheeran (About Shawn Mendes)

A sold house, an ex suddenly learning to surf and two people discovering that their priorities no longer match: “Bam Bam” arrived carrying unmistakable traces of Camila Cabello’s split from Shawn Mendes. Cabello discussed the song as a reflection of how dramatically her life had changed, rather than a scorched-earth attack on Mendes. That distinction gives the single its charm. The relationship ended, the furniture presumably found another home, and Cabello chose a crowded dance floor over three minutes of elegantly staring through a rain-covered window. | © Freenjoy

Shout Out to My Ex Little Mix — 14. “Shout Out to My Ex” — Little Mix (Widely Believed to Be About Zayn Malik)

Perrie Edwards had recently ended a four-year relationship and engagement to Zayn Malik when Little Mix released “Shout Out to My Ex,” so listeners hardly needed detective training. Edwards said her own breakup helped inspire the track, although the group deliberately shaped it into something every newly single person could shout along to. References to an unsatisfying romance and a former boyfriend moving on supplied plenty of tabloid bait, while the tattooed hitchhiker in the video did very little to discourage the Zayn comparisons. | © GettyImages

Youre So Vain Carly Simon — 15. “You’re So Vain” — Carly Simon (Partly About Warren Beatty)

Warren Beatty spent decades assuming “You’re So Vain” was entirely about him, which may be the most Warren Beatty response imaginable. Carly Simon eventually confirmed that the actor inspired the second verse, but insisted the other verses concern two different men whose identities remain secret. The mystery has kept listeners guessing for more than half a century—and left Beatty claiming considerably more lyrical real estate than Simon actually gave him. No contemporary music video was produced; an official fan-made video was selected and released decades later. | © Carly Simon

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Pop stars rarely name names, but they are not always subtle either. A suspicious release date, a familiar necklace or one lyric far too specific to be fictional can turn a breakup song into a full-scale celebrity investigation. From Selena Gomez finally closing the door on Justin Bieber to Olivia Rodrigo igniting a teenage love triangle, these 15 hit songs turned famous exes into choruses millions sang along to—sometimes without realizing who they were really about.

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Pop stars rarely name names, but they are not always subtle either. A suspicious release date, a familiar necklace or one lyric far too specific to be fictional can turn a breakup song into a full-scale celebrity investigation. From Selena Gomez finally closing the door on Justin Bieber to Olivia Rodrigo igniting a teenage love triangle, these 15 hit songs turned famous exes into choruses millions sang along to—sometimes without realizing who they were really about.