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)
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Phil Collins's Song "You’ll Be In My Heart," Which He Wrote For The Movie Tarzan, Was Actually Meant For His Daughter Lily Collins And He Referred To Her Throughout The Track
Singer John Legend Wrote And Dedicated The Track "All Of Me" To Wife Chrissy Teigen
It Turns Out, Lily Allen's "F**k You" Was Written About The Former Us President George W. Bush
It’s no secret that the music industry is full of the most legendary power couples ever. I mean, how wouldn’t it be, when love has been an endless source of inspiration since the dawn of art?
But it turns out, some of the singing lovebirds started their romance in the studio while recording. For example, the world-famous “Crazy In Love” Jay Z and Beyoncé fell for each other while collaborating on the 2002 track “Bonnie and Clyde.”
Meanwhile, J.Lo and Diddy met in the studio while working for Lopez' album “On the 6.” They proceeded to date for two years until calling it quits due to Diddy’s arrest in connection with a shooting.
Coldplay's Lead Singer Chris Martin Wrote "Fix You" For His Wife At The Time, Gwyneth Paltrow, After Her Father Died
Christina Aguilera Wrote "Can't Hold Us Down" As A Response To Eminem's Negative Comments About Her
Pink And The Indigo Girls Wrote A Song Called "Dear Mr. President" Which Was A Message To George W. Bush While He Was In Office. The Song Criticised His Position On Homelessness, Lgbtq Rights, And The Iraq War
While Ariana Grande was working on her debut album “Victorious,” Mac Miller offered to sing a duet with her. Their piece “The Way” ended up debuting at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Another teen favorite singer Selena Gomez is also said to have had a romance with her former producer Zedd while collaborating on the 2015 song "I Want You to Know." This line “I want you to know that I'm all yours" in particular sparked romance rumors that the singer later confirmed were, in fact, true.
Katy Perry Said That Her Single "I Kissed A Girl" Was Inspired By Scarlett Johansson
EXACTLY what I was thinking!! There are a few specific people that shine in beauty and character who could easily cause this heterosexual to change sides. Scarlett and Gina Gershon being the TWO!
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Katy Perry got a lot of heat over this song. People thought she was making fun of the LGBTQ community.
Bon Iver's Song "Perth" Was A Tribute To Heath Ledger After He Died In 2008. Heath, Who Was Born In Perth, Australia, Was The Best Friend Of Lead Singer Justin Vernon
Justin Timberlake Wrote "Cry Me A River" After Breaking Up With Britney Spears
Ahh if only she ended up with him... She'd be much happier. They looked genuinely in love together that time.
"Something" By The Beatles, "Layla" By Derek And The Dominoes, And "Wonderful Tonight" By Eric Clapton Were Written About Model Pattie Boyd
Not Many Know That Nirvana's Legendary Song "Heart-Shaped Box" Is About Courtney Love And... Her Vagina
While Katy Perry Was Dating The Lead Singer From Gym Class Heroes Named Travie Mccoy, He Wrote Her The Famous "Cupid’s Chokehold"
"Ms. Jackson" By Outkast Was An Apology To Erykah Badu And Her Mother After Badu And Andre 3000 Broke Up
A Verse In Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" Is About Warren Beatty
After Jay-Z And Alicia Keys Released "Empire State Of Mind," Katy Perry Wrote "California Gurls" Because She Wanted There To Be A Song To Represent California
You mean besides the literal HUNDEREDS of songs about California?
"Colors" By Halsey Was About Her Ex-Boyfriend Matty Healy, The Lead Singer Of The 1975
Fans Believe That Taylor Swift Wrote "I Knew You Were Trouble" With Her Ex-Boyfriend Harry Styles In Mind
Ed Sheeran Wrote "Don't" After Ellie Goulding Cheated On Him With Niall From One Direction
After Miley Cyrus Got Engaged To Liam Hemsworth, Her Ex Nick Jonas Wrote Her A Song Called "Wedding Bells"
"Madness" By Muse Is About Matt Bellamy's (The Lead Singer) Relationship With Kate Hudson. It Was Inspired By A Fight They Had
The Weeknd Was Going Through A Painful Breakup With Selena Gomez When He Wrote "Call Out My Name"
"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
Justin Bieber Wrote "What Do You Mean" About His On-Again Off-Again Relationship With Selena Gomez
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."
Why Do You Have To Write All Of Your Titles With Every Damn First Letter Of Every F*****g Word On Capslock?
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
"Dear John" By Taylor Swift Is About Her Ex, John Mayer. Mayer's Song "Paper Doll" Was Allegedly His Rebuttal
Florence Welch From Florence + The Machine Wrote A Song "Patricia" For The Singer Patti Smith
I love Florence so much! She actually got to randomly meet Smith on day in a restaurant, and says she was super nice and down to earth.
"Cinderella" By Mac Miller, A Song That Has Lyrics About Very Intimate Bedroom Moments, Is About Ariana Grande
And "You're Never Over" By Eminem Was A Tribute To His Friend, The Rapper Proof. Proof Was Shot And Killed In 2006
"Circle The Drain" By Katy Perry Was About Travie Mccoy's Drug Addiction
"My Way" By Calvin Harris Was About His Ex-Girlfriend, Taylor Swift, And The Struggles Of Their Relationship
"All Too Well" By Taylor Swift Was About Her Ex-Boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal
"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
You mean Edie S., hanging around at Warhol's Factory? This is the single worst-written entry in this list. Open Wikipedia and you find she's in a dozen songs (starting with the Velvets' "Femme Fatale" obviously) plus a handful of films (The Doors, anyone?).
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
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!”
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.”
Taylor Swift Wrote "Better Than Revenge" About Camilla Belle Dating Joe Jonas (Her Ex)
"Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" By Elton John Was A Tribute To John Lennon, Who Had Been Assassinated 15 Months Prior To Its Release
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
These 2 are the most overrated artists in the industry. Beyoncé is generic at best yet she has fans who literally worship her like she’s a God...it’s weird
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.”
"The Warning" By Eminem Is A Clapback At Mariah’s "Obsessed."
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
"Boyfriend" By Ashlee Simpson Was Aimed At Lindsay Lohan For Accusing Simpson Of Stealing Her Then-Boyfriend, Wilmer Valderrama
Mariah Carey Wrote "Obsessed" About Eminem
A lot of people know this one, prolly the only diss track to ever put a dent in Eminem - because he couldn't hit back without proving her right
Katy Perry Wrote "By The Grace Of God" About Russell Brand
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
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
"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
Celebrity gossip. Neat...... In other news, a national park in Thailand has been shipping rubbish back to the visitors who left it behind. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54200833
I'm missing the most mind blowing one! "You oughtta know" from Alanis Morissette is about David Coulier (uncle Joey from Full House)
Wow I didn’t know that! I couldn’t picture her dating Uncle Joey either. She also use to date Ryan Reynolds
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What I learned here was don't date Taylor Swift because she'll probably write a song about you when it doesn't work out anymore.
What a long and self-centered way to say you read the title and skipped the article. Sure, Taylor has become something of a dating trope, but she is only on here twice and one of those is clearly stated as fan speculation only haha. Katy Perry, on the other hand, makes it on here thrice.
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I did not know most of these and also Taylor Swift has had a lot of relationships
Not any more than any other person or celebrity. Her difference is she has to write a song about every single one
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Why is it murderous? I thought Ben was his pet
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This might be something everyone knows, but "Candle In The Wind" by Elton John was about Marilyn Monroe
and the later version was about princess diana .. thought everyone knew this
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It was changed slightly and rereleased in 1997 for her
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You could go with a whole festival of songs about famous people, especially ones with their respective names in the title. I guess this list is more about the subtler ones, that don't directly name their subjects in the title. Maybe their name might appear in the lyrics, though. And, while on topic, you could go with all of the punk songs about Margaret Thatcher, the Queen and other political figures.
Load More Replies... Go beyond mainstream to find the really good stuff. Some of these pop stars wouldn't be able to write a song on their own if their lives depended on it.
Sheryl Crow's song "My Favourite Mistake" is about the breakdown of her relationship with Eric Clapton, I forget at the last count at how many of Madonna's songs are about Sean Penn. She did also do a couple about Guy Richie. Kate Bush's songs are always about someone else, Breathing is about a child in the womb who doesn't want to be born because of the threat of nuclear war at the time, Babooshka was about a woman who was convinced her husband was having an affair, Cloudbursting is based on the life of a famous German scientist, ABBA's song "The Visitors" is about Russian spies after a Soviet submarine was discovered in the Stockholm archipelago during the height of the Cold War!!
Some of these are cool like the tributes but most of them are like dude who cares lmao
White rabbit is about doing drugs and getting high. You probably should have already knew that lol
Just in case anybody was wondering if Sergio is a f*****g idiot ^
Load More Replies... Celebrity gossip. Neat...... In other news, a national park in Thailand has been shipping rubbish back to the visitors who left it behind. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54200833
I'm missing the most mind blowing one! "You oughtta know" from Alanis Morissette is about David Coulier (uncle Joey from Full House)
Wow I didn’t know that! I couldn’t picture her dating Uncle Joey either. She also use to date Ryan Reynolds
Load More Replies... What I learned here was don't date Taylor Swift because she'll probably write a song about you when it doesn't work out anymore.
What a long and self-centered way to say you read the title and skipped the article. Sure, Taylor has become something of a dating trope, but she is only on here twice and one of those is clearly stated as fan speculation only haha. Katy Perry, on the other hand, makes it on here thrice.
Load More Replies... I did not know most of these and also Taylor Swift has had a lot of relationships
Not any more than any other person or celebrity. Her difference is she has to write a song about every single one
Load More Replies... Why is it murderous? I thought Ben was his pet
Load More Replies... This might be something everyone knows, but "Candle In The Wind" by Elton John was about Marilyn Monroe
and the later version was about princess diana .. thought everyone knew this
Load More Replies... It was changed slightly and rereleased in 1997 for her
Load More Replies... You could go with a whole festival of songs about famous people, especially ones with their respective names in the title. I guess this list is more about the subtler ones, that don't directly name their subjects in the title. Maybe their name might appear in the lyrics, though. And, while on topic, you could go with all of the punk songs about Margaret Thatcher, the Queen and other political figures.
Load More Replies... Go beyond mainstream to find the really good stuff. Some of these pop stars wouldn't be able to write a song on their own if their lives depended on it.
Sheryl Crow's song "My Favourite Mistake" is about the breakdown of her relationship with Eric Clapton, I forget at the last count at how many of Madonna's songs are about Sean Penn. She did also do a couple about Guy Richie. Kate Bush's songs are always about someone else, Breathing is about a child in the womb who doesn't want to be born because of the threat of nuclear war at the time, Babooshka was about a woman who was convinced her husband was having an affair, Cloudbursting is based on the life of a famous German scientist, ABBA's song "The Visitors" is about Russian spies after a Soviet submarine was discovered in the Stockholm archipelago during the height of the Cold War!!
Some of these are cool like the tributes but most of them are like dude who cares lmao
White rabbit is about doing drugs and getting high. You probably should have already knew that lol
Just in case anybody was wondering if Sergio is a f*****g idiot ^
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