17 Celebrities Who Will Forever Be Haunted by Songs About Them

Justin Bieber's song "Sorry" was quickly deemed a public apology to ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez. With its catchy tune and unbelievably danceable beat, "Sorry" was a huge hit — so hopefully Selena has a good pair of earmuffs.

Selena released her own song about her relationship with Justin, "The Heart Wants What It Wants," in late 2014. The intimate video featured a teary Selena reflecting on a romance gone wrong, and she gave an equally emotional performance of the song at the American Music Awards weeks later, even adding, "I thought you were the one" to the end of the song.

In 2019, Selena also seemingly made reference to their on-and-off-again romance and Justin's marriage to Hailey Baldwin following their 2018 split with her new song, "Lose You to Love Me."

Justin Timberlake's 2002 hit "Cry Me a River" (and the accompanying music video) was clearly aimed at Britney, who was rumoured to have cheated on him with choreographer and frequent collaborator Wade Robson.

The actor is rumoured to be at the centre of Taylor Swift's songs "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "All Too Well." The two dated in 2010, and between the lyrics, music videos, and liner notes from Taylor's Red album, fans have long speculated that Jake and his cozy scarf have a lot to do with its creation.

Now that we've heard Jake's supersexy phone voice, it's obvious why Taylor would still be hung on him calling her up and saying, "I still love you."

Harry got the Taylor Swift treatment in 2014 on two songs from her 1989 album; "Style" and "Out of the Woods." About "Out of the Woods," Taylor revealed, "This was a relationship where I was kind of living day to day, wondering where it was going, if it was going to go anywhere, if it was going to end the next day," likely referring to her three-month romance with the One Direction singer. The lyrics "Your necklace hanging from my neck / The night we couldn't quite forget / When we decided / To move the furniture so we could dance / Baby, like we stood a chance / Two paper airplanes flying, flying . . . " were rumoured to reference the paper plane necklace of Harry's that Taylor wore while they were dating.

With "Style," the lyrics "You got that long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt" are just too suggestive of Harry — and Taylor even cast a Harry look-alike in the video.

John collaborated with Taylor Swift on the song "Half of My Heart" for his Battle Studies album, and a romance blossomed. After it fizzled, Taylor Swift put pen to paper; not only did she title her 2010 song "Dear John," but the tune also included lyrics like, "You are an expert at sorry and keeping lines blurry, never impressed by me acing your tests" and "Don't you think 19's too young to be played by your dark twisted games?"

Naturally, John caught wind of the takedown and admitted to being "really humiliated," adding, "I'm pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do."

Joe dated Taylor back in 2008, and after the relationship ended (over the phone — ouch) she wrote the song "Forever and Always" about their failed romance. Taylor also reportedly penned the song "Better Than Revenge" about Joe's rebound, actress Camilla Belle, for her Fearless album.

While Taylor has written her fair share of songs about ex-boyfriends, the musicians she's dated haven't exactly stayed silent. John Mayer, Joe Jonas, and Harry Styles have all come out with tunes that could be considered responses to the pop star.

In 2009, one year after Taylor wrote "Forever and Always" about Joe Jonas, he and his brothers released two tracks that could have been aimed at Taylor. "Much Better" (which name-checked Taylor's hit "Teardrops on My Guitar") and "Paranoid" were both featured on the Jonas Brothers album Lines, Vines and Trying Times.

Three years after the release of "Dear John," John Mayer put out a rebuttal called "Paper Doll." The lyrics, "You're like 22 girls in one, and none of them know what they're running from. Was it just too far to fall for a little paper doll?" are likely in reference to Taylor's hit "22," which had come out in 2012.

Most recently, Harry Styles and his band, One Direction, came out with a music video for their new song, "Perfect," and it quickly made headlines for referring to Taylor and the songs she's written about Harry with the line: "If you're looking for someone to write your breakup songs about / Baby I'm perfect." Yeesh.

Nick dated Miley Cyrus for two years before their 2007 split, and he was reportedly the subject of her song "7 Things" the following year. Miley talked about the song — which basically lists off the seven things she hates most about him — in an interview with Ryan Seacrest; when asked if she was worried that he would be upset by it, she replied, "I want him to be upset. That was my point."

In 2012, Nick Jonas wrote and released the song "Wedding Bells" with his brothers, Joe and Kevin. It was quickly rumored to be about his ex-girlfriend Miley Cyrus, who had recently gotten engaged to actor Liam Hemsworth. After hearing the tune, Miley told Ryan Seacrest, "I don't know who else is getting married . . . so I feel like that's pretty blatant." Nick confirmed the reports weeks later, saying that Miley was "absolutely right" about being the inspiration behind the song. At least he owned up to it!

Liam is said to be the inspiration behind "Wrecking Ball," the 2013 hit song by his ex-fiancée Miley Cyrus. The pop ballad, which included lyrics like "Don't you ever say I just walked away / I will always want you / I can't live a lie / running for my life / I will always want you," was literally everywhere — it burned up the Billboard charts, and the now-infamous video (in which Miley swung around nude on a giant wrecking ball) won video of the year at the 2014 VMAs. Needless to say, Liam probably had a hard time avoiding it.

OutKast's 2000 song "Ms. Jackson" was reportedly inspired by André 3000's real-life struggles with Erykah Badu's mum, Kolleen Wright. André and Erykah had a relationship throughout the late '90s and have a son together, Seven Sirius Benjamin. Shortly after their 1999 breakup, André penned the song about his arguments with Kolleen, who, judging by the lyrics, was a little too involved in their relationship.

Big Sean's big hit "I Don't F*ck With You" was reportedly written about Naya Rivera after they broke off their engagement in April 2014. It was pretty hard to escape this song in early 2015, especially on dance floors; the catchy beat and aggressive lyrics had everyone yelling expletives at their no-good exes.

Big Sean went on to date Ariana Grande — who is the "new chick" that the rapper refers to rebounding with — while Naya married actor Ryan Dorsey. They welcomed a baby boy in September.

In 2014, rumours persisted that Ed Sheeran's song "Don't" was written about having his heart broken by Ellie Goulding after she hooked up with One Direction's Niall Horan while still dating Ed (and while the three were all staying in the same hotel).

Ed all but confirmed that the song was about the love triangle a year later, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I had to be as honest as possible in that song because otherwise what's the f*cking point? There'd be no anger or pain in that song if it was just very sweet and nice."

After splitting from singer Jordin Sparks in 2014, Jason became the subject of her single "How Bout Now." She refers to Jason's 2012 neck injury in the track, saying, "Remember when you broke your neck and I had to wash your back for ya? You probably don't remember half the [things] that I did for ya." It goes on: "Cause I'm up right now, and you suck right now."

Kanye West's 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is full of iconic tracks, many of which happen to document the end of his two-year relationship with model Amber Rose in painstaking detail. Hits like "Runaway" and "Hell of a Life" shine a light on their rocky relationship, and the album as a whole is still considered an ode to Amber, even five years later.

In a recent GQ profile, Amber revealed that she won't listen to MBDTF, but has "caught bits" of the album while out in public. "I'll hear songs and I'm like, 'Oh, he said that about me,'" she said, adding, "No one knows what he's talking about but me and him." She went on, "They'll be like, 'That's a cool song,' and I'm like, 'That happened to us when we were together.'" When she hears some of his verses, she admits, "Obviously, I know he's talking to me through music."

Two months after announcing her split from husband Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stefani released the breakup song "Used to Love You." There's no doubt that the song is about the Bush frontman, as Gwen debuted it on stage during a concert, saying that she wrote it "recently." It also boasts lyrics like "I don't know why I cry / But I think it's 'cause I remembered for the first time / Since I hated you / That I used to love you."

Gwen also famously wrote "Don't Speak" about her former flame and No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal, but since they've been performing it live for nearly 20 years, we're pretty sure he's OK with it.