Celebrities Who Inspired Hit Songs (for Better or Worse)

Taylor Swift could be the poster child for writing songs inspired by famous people — her exes and other female icons she simply doesn’t like.

But Swift isn’t the only one writing about her peers. Musicians, like many others, often find inspiration in people. They use love, heartbreak and wayward romances as fodder for hit songs — or as a rather public way to get back at their exes or frenemies.

You might be surprised at just how many hit songs are inspired by iconic celebrity romances and catty feuds. Here’s a list of the most popular among them.

They were the dream couple of millennial teenage lives. Disney stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were a very public couple that ended in a very messy break-up three years into their relationship. 

It’s long been believed that Timberlake’s 2002 hit, revenge ballad and Grammy winner, “Cry Me A River,” is about Spears. The song’s video even features a look-alike of the singer, and lyrics that say, “The bridges were burned / Now it’s your turn, to cry / So cry me a river.”

In his 2018 autobiography, “Hindsight,” Timberlake mentions he wrote the song in just two hours because he was pissed off and needed to get things out. Although the couple never publicly mentioned why they broke up, the song effectively laid the blame on Spears.

But since “what goes around comes around,” Spears also published a memoir in 2023 titled “The Woman in Me” in which the tables are turned and Timberlake is made out to seem like the one at fault.

The passionate love song and wedding favorite, John Legend’s “All of Me” is about his wife, model Chrissy Teigen. The singer has never denied the song is about his wife and their relationship, which taught him “what it means to be in love with somebody” — stop it, already! 

Legend released the song just before their wedding in 2013, debuting it at a performance on Oprah’s “Next Chapter.” 

Teigen stars in the music video, shot at Lake Como leading up to their wedding and ends with scenes from their wedding day. Nabil Elderkin — the man who introduced them to each other — directed the black-and-white video.

“Besides All of Me,” Teigen has also appeared in some of Legend’s other music videos for “Stereo” (where they met for the first time) and “Love Me Now.”