48 Songs You Probably Didn’t Know Were About A Celebrity

I still remember the Gym Class Heroes, “Cupid's Chokehold” in particular, turned up to the max volume on my mp3 back in the day. Some songs get stuck with us, but it’s incredible how little we truly know about them.

You see, it turns out the “Ba ba da da, ba ba da da, ba ba da da, Take a look at my girlfriend” song is not about just any girl. I mean, the woman whom it’s about is now a celebrity worth US$125 million with 13 Grammys and 5 MTV music video awards, among a sea of others.

You’re not the only one who had no clue that some of our all-time fave pop songs were really written for or about other celebrities. Let’s take a look at the illuminating list down below which reveals that some music pieces have whole stories behind them.

(h/t Buzzfeed)

#1 "Fix You" By Coldplay Was Written By Chris Martin For Gwyneth Paltrow (His Wife At The Time) After Her Father Died

Image credits: Evan Agostini

#2 Taylor Swift Wrote "I Knew You Were Trouble" About Her Ex-Boyfriend Harry Styles

Image credits: taylorswift

#3 "Cupid’s Chokehold" By The Gym Class Heroes Was Written About Katy Perry. She Used To Date The Lead Singer, Travie Mccoy

Image credits: Fueled By Ramen

#4 "Colors" By Halsey Was About Her Ex-Boyfriend Matty Healy, The Lead Singer Of The 1975

Image credits: the1975

#5 All Of Me It's Common Knowledge That Singer John Legend Wrote And Dedicated The Track To Wife Chrissy Teigen

Image credits: chrissyteigen

#6 The Song "Heart-Shaped Box" Is About Courtney Love And Her Vagina

Image credits: courtneylove

#7 "Can't Hold Us Down" By Christina Aguilera Was A Response To Eminem's Negative Comments About Her

Image credits: xtina

#8 "Wedding Bells" By Nick Jonas Is About His Ex-Girlfriend Miley Cyrus's Engagement To Liam Hemsworth

Image credits: mileycyrus

#9 "Cry Me A River" By Justin Timberlake Is About His Breakup With Britney Spears

Image credits: Denise Truscello

#10 "Call Out My Name" By The Weeknd Was About His Painful Breakup With Selena Gomez

Image credits: theweeknd

#11 "California Gurls" By Katy Perry Was Aimed At Jay-Z And Alicia Keys As A Response To Their "Empire State Of Mind." She Wanted There To Be A Song To Represent California

Image credits: aliciakeys

#12 "Dear John" By Taylor Swift Is About Her Ex, John Mayer. Mayer's Song "Paper Doll" Was Allegedly His Rebuttal

Image credits: johnmayer

#13 "Don’t" By Ed Sheeran Is About Ellie Goulding Cheating On Him With Niall From One Direction

Image credits: elliegoulding

#14 "Cinderella" By Mac Miller, A Song That Has Lyrics About Very Intimate Bedroom Moments, Is About Ariana Grande

Image credits: Mac Miller

#15 Justin Bieber Wrote "What Do You Mean" About His On-Again Off-Again Relationship With Selena Gomez

Image credits: justinbieber

#16 "Perth" By Bon Iver Was Inspired By Heath Ledger. The Lead Singer, Justin Vernon, Was With Ledger's Best Friend In 2008 When They Found Out He Had Died. Ledger Was Born In Perth, Australia

Image credits: Howie Berlin

#17 "F**k You" By Lily Allen Was Written About Former Us President George W. Bush

Image credits: georgewbush

#18 "Ms. Jackson" By Outkast Was An Apology To Erykah Badu And Her Mother After Badu And Andre 3000 Broke Up

Image credits: erykahbadu

#19 And "I Kissed A Girl" By Katy Perry Was Inspired By Scarlett Johansson

Image credits: scarlett.johensson

#20 "Circle The Drain" By Katy Perry Was About Travie Mccoy's Drug Addiction

Image credits: Francois Durand

#21 "All Too Well" By Taylor Swift Was About Her Ex-Boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal

Image credits: taylorswift

#22 "Patricia" By Florence + The Machine Was About Florence Welch's Love And Admiration For Singer Patti Smith

Image credits: Beni Köhler

#23 "Killing Me Softly" By Norman Gimbel Was Inspired By A Young Singer Named Lori Lieberman Who Had Seen Don Mclean Perform And Told Gimbel That It Was An Intensely Moving Experience. So In Essence, It's About Don Mclean

Image credits: Egghead06

#24 "My Way" By Calvin Harris Was About His Ex-Girlfriend, Taylor Swift, And The Struggles Of Their Relationship

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#25 "Edie (Ciao Baby)" By The Cult And "Just Like A Woman" By Bob Dylan Were Said To Have Been About Actress And Model Edie Sedgwick, Who Died In 1971

Image credits: wikipedia

#26 "Dear Mr. President" By P!nk And The Indigo Girls Was Also About George W. Bush. It Was An Open Letter To Him While He Was In Office That Questioned His Stance On Homelessness, Lgbtq Rights, And The Iraq War

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#27 And "You're Never Over" By Eminem Was A Tribute To His Friend, The Rapper Proof. Proof Was Shot And Killed In 2006

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#28 Sex On Fire 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 Track Sex On Fire

Image credits: Raph_PH

#29 Glory And Blue 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

Image credits: beyonce

#30 Bound 2 Rapper Kanye West's Song Is Allegedly About His Wife Kim Kardashian, Though This Conclusion Isn't Hard To Come To Considering Mrs Kardashian West Appears In The Song's Film Clip

Image credits: kimkardashian

#31 7 Things The Miley Cyrus Track Is Purportedly About Nick Jonas And The Pair's Frustrating Relationship. Cyrus's Album Bangerz Is Also Said To Be Inspired By Her Break-Up With Fiancé Liam Hemsworth. Liner Notes Included With The Album Read: "I Couldn't Have Made This Album Without One Person . . . Fe, Thank You For Inspiring Me. (Ps I Love You)." It's Assumed Fe Stands For Ex-Fiancé

Image credits: mileycyrus

#32 Swish Swish Rumours Have 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!”

Image credits: Katy Perry

#33 "The Warning" By Eminem Is A Clapback At Mariah’s "Obsessed."

Image credits: mariahcarey

#34 Taylor Swift Wrote "Better Than Revenge" About Camilla Belle Dating Joe Jonas (Her Ex)

Image credits: xposurephotos

#35 "Madness" By Muse Is About Matt Bellamy's (The Lead Singer) Relationship With Kate Hudson. It Was Inspired By A Fight They Had

Image credits: Kevin Mazur

#36 "Boyfriend" By Ashlee Simpson Was Aimed At Lindsay Lohan For Accusing Simpson Of Stealing Her Then-Boyfriend, Wilmer Valderrama

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#37 When Phil Collins Wrote "You’ll Be In My Heart" For Tarzan, He Wrote The Lyrics For His Daughter (Lily Collins) And Has Often Referred To It As Her Song

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#38 A Verse In Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" Is About Warren Beatty

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#39 "Something" By The Beatles, "Layla" By Derek And The Dominoes, And "Wonderful Tonight" By Eric Clapton Were Written About Model Pattie Boyd

Image credits: Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Rijksfotoarchief: Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Fotopersbureau

#40 "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" By Elton John Was A Tribute To John Lennon, Who Had Been Assassinated 15 Months Prior To Its Release

Image credits: Gilbert Montanié

#41 Katy Perry Wrote "By The Grace Of God" About Russell Brand

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#42 S0892 12. "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" By R.e.m. Was Inspired By An Incident Where Cbs Anchor Dan Rather Was Assaulted In Central Park. One Of The Assailants Repeated "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" Over And Over

Image credits: John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com

#43 "Expectations" By Lauren Jauregui Was About Her Ex-Boyfriend Ty Dolla $ign. She Wrote It When She Was Angry At Him For Staying Out Late After A Performance And Not Telling Her Where He Was

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#44 While We Can All Agree That Hollaback Girl Is A Total Tune, It's Safe To Say That Its Origins Are Well And Truly Rooted In Famous Feuding. Dissing Gwen In An Interview With Seventeen Magazine, Courtney Said: "Being Famous Is Just Like Being In High School. But I'm Not Interested In Being The Cheerleader. I'm Not Interested In Being Gwen Stefani. She's The Cheerleader, And I'm Out In The Smoker Shed."

Image credits: gwenstefani

#45 Thank U, Next By Ariana Grande

Thank U, Next 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. “In my relationship at the time, things were like up and down and on and off, and so I didn’t know what was going to happen and then we got back together,” said Grande during an interview on the Zach Sang Show, before adding that she was also rather nervous about naming her ex-boyfriends in the hit single. “So I had to make a different version of it, and then we broke up again, so we ended up going with that verse,” she continued. “There’s a version where I was getting married, there’s a version where I’m not getting married, there’s a version with nothing.”

Image credits: arianagrande

#46 Lovebug By The Jonas Brothers

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 Miley Cyrus. The brothers first met the Disney star during a cameo appearance on an episode of Hannah Montana, before going on to open the Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Tour shortly after. In the new documentary, Kevin Jonas describes how Cyrus “changed girls” for his younger brother Nick, saying, “When we met Miley, I think that kid's head exploded.” The lyrics, which talk of a blossoming crush, can now be read in a fresh new light: “Now I'm speechless/ Over the edge, I'm just breathless/ I never thought that I'd catch this lovebug again/ Hopeless, head over heels in the moment.”

Image credits: jonasbrothers

#47 Mariah Carey Wrote "Obsessed" About Eminem

Image credits: mariahcarey Verified

#48 The Heart Wants What It Wants It’s Reported That The Song Released In 2014 Is About Selena Gomez’s Relationship With Fellow Singer Justin Bieber

Image credits: selenagomez