From Shakira to Taylor Swift: The 8 Most Explicit Breakups in Pop Songs

The Music Sessions BZRP #53 Of Shakira in collaboration with Bizzaria is already the third song that she “dedicates” to Gerard Pique after their breakup. They came before this I congratulate youwith Rauw AlejandroAnd Monotonyin collaboration with Ozunabut the latter is the strongest in terms of references to his former ea Clara Chia there her new girlfriend: «I was too old for you and that’s why you’re with someone like you… You swapped a Ferrari for a Twingo…a Rolex for a Casio». A real question and answer, given that even the player’s counteroffensive didn’t delay: «Casio is forever» he said, pointing to his watch on his wrist.

The Colombian is obviously not the first artist to use her songs as a vehicle for revenge for an old relationship. The history of music is full of shots (direct or indirect) at former partners, and these are some of the most striking examples.

Taylor Swift – Dear John

The former queen of «breakup songs» (not so prominent in her latest work) is spoiled for choice. The most famous is perhaps We Are Never Ever Getting Back Togetherr, in theory dedicated to Jake Gyllenhaal but the most direct is Dear John, written with the musician in mind John Mayerwith whom he dated when he was still a teenager: “Don’t you think at 19 I was too young to be the butt of your dark and twisted games when I loved you so much?” Swift sings to him.

There is no doubt who the target was, because Meyer himself took the hint and confessed to Rolling Stone that he felt «humiliated» and that «it made me feel terrible, because I didn’t deserve it… It was a really horrible thing on his part».

carly simon You’re So Vain

Since its publication in 1972, the press began to speculate who was the recipient of Carly Simon’s hit about a self-absorbed and selfish lovera (“You’re so vain you probably think this song is about you”). She aroused some morbid curiosity, why Simon had been related to Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Cat Stevensand had been married to James Taylor.

The singer finally revealed that she was inspired by three men and waited more than 40 years, until 2015, to reveal the name of one of them while promoting her memoir: none other than actor Warren Beatty. She also specified that she dedicated the second verse to him: You had me years ago when I was naive / You told me we were a good match and you’d never leave me / But you abandoned the things you loved / And one of them was I”.

Alanis Morissette – You oughta know

Alanis has always refused to speak publicly about who inspired her songs, but in the case of this one of her biggest hits, one of her ex-boyfriends took it upon himself to see himself reflected in some references. It’s about Dave Coulier, one of the actors in the series forced parenthood, with whom the singer had a two-year relationship in the early nineties.

“The first time I heard it I was driving in Detroit with the radio on. I heard her voice and thought, “Wow, this girl can sing.” Then I started paying attention to the lyrics and thought: ‘Oh no, I can’t be that kind of person’», he revealed in a radio interview for SiriusXM.

I’m here to remind you / The mess you left when you left / It’s not right for you to disown me / Or the cross you left me / You, you, you ought to know,” goes the familiar refrain.

Justin Bieber – Love yourself

The long relationship of Justin Bieber with Selena Gomez has been a great source of inspiration for his songs, some positive and some negative. Among the latter, this one takes the upper hand, with digs in the text such as “My mother doesn’t like you, and she likes everyone” or “I didn’t want to write this song because I don’t want anyone to think I still care about you.” It was originally written by Ed Sheeran to pass on to Rihanna, but after keeping it, Bieber clarified in an interview with Ryan Seacrest that “It’s definitely about someone from my past.”

Ed Sheeran – Don’t

Sheeran knows how to settle scores with music. A good example is this hits which she composed as therapy to get over infidelity, detailing the episode: “I never saw it as a threat / Until you disappeared with him to have sex, of course / And it’s not like we were both on tour / We were staying in the same fucking hotel.”

The singer prefers not to clarify who it was addressed to, but from the text it is clear that he was referring to another artist and everything suggests that it is Ellie Goulding, with whom he had a relationship. The tabloids also speculate that the infidelity was committed with Niall Horan.

Justin Timberlake – Cry Me A River

It has always been believed that one of Justin Timberlake’s (and later made YouTube famous, Justin Bieber) early solo hits was inspired by his three-year relationship with Britney Spears and his possible infidelity (“And it’s not like she just talks to him, don’t pretend you don’t know”).

In his book published in 2018, Hindsight: & All the Things I Can’t See in Front of Me, he admits, without mentioning Spears, that the feelings he had were so strong that he compelled him to compose her, which only took him two hours. “I felt offended, I was angry,” he wrote. Two years ago he also apologized on Instagram to the singer for the way she had treated herin conjunction with the release of the documentary Framing Britney Spears.

Bonus: Joni Mitchell – That Song About The Midway

This song by Joni Mitchell deserves special mention, because she directly used it to break up her relationship with fellow musician David Crosby during a party at Monkees member Peter Tork’s house. Crosby himself recounted her experience on Howard Stern’s radio show:

“She announced that she had written a new song and everyone’s reaction was, ‘Oh great, a new song by Joni.’ She started singing it and it was like a way to say goodbye. She sang it twice, just in case I didn’t get the message the first time. It was amazing!