Ah! Love - the emotion that makes birds sing about and makes time pass faster than it should. Falling in love has spurred countless artists to create hits and anthems. From "When I Fall In Love..." to the "Next Time I Fall In Love," it is often painted as something blissful and evergreen.
Well, not everyone. Not all love stories are meant to last. Not all relationships even end amicably. We are all familiar with Taylor Swift's mastery of the matter. Harry Styles and The Weeknd have also written a song or two for their respective muses.
Some of these experiences led to songs with some really spicy lyrics. Here are three scathing songs from the last decade, apparently written by its respective artist about their ex-lovers.
"Circle The Drain" by Katy Perry
"Circle The Drain" appeared on the 2010 Katy Perry album "Teenage Dream." It was widely believed to be about one of her ex-lovers, specifically Travie McCoy. McCoy was the former frontman for rap-rock band "Gym Class Heroes." The two dated sometime between Summer 2007 and broke up in December 2008. During this time, he went into rehab, which made fans believe that a particularly scathing line from the Katy Perry song was about him.
"You fall asleep during foreplay/ 'Cause the pills you take are more your forte/ I'm not sticking around to watch you go down," the chorus went.
When Travie Mccoy caught wind of the song purportedly about him, he responded. "I heard she put out a song that's about me, or about some old habits or whatever," the "Billionaire" artist said. He added: "I'm just stoked that she finally has a song with some substance on her record. Good job."
"You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette
It was all but confirmed by Alanis Morissette, though she never denied it also. The supposed "inspiration" for the song, actor-comedian Dave Coulier, has both confirmed and denied it. He is also unsure whether it's really about him.
"You Oughta Know" had the line: "I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner/ It was a slap in the face/ How quickly I was replaced." Bob Saget, Coulier's former TV co-star, once claimed that he was with Dave when Alanis Morissette made the now-historic dinner phone call.
"And every time you speak her name./ Does she know how you told me/You'd hold me until you died./ 'Til you died, but you're still alive," one of the most memorable lines in the Alanis Morissette song went.
"Don't" by Ed Sheeran
Although the world knows Ed Sheeran as the ever-lovable singer-songwriter of the Weasley family, he does spit out flaming bars every now and then. In his 2014 album "x," read as "multiply," he wrote the song "Don't." While he initially had no plans to release it, he was persuaded by people who liked the song.
When "Don't" first hit the airwaves, people clamored to know who inspired its lyrics. One of the first names that came out was Taylor Swift, Ed's friend, and collaborator. In a 2014 Rolling Stone interview, Ed Sheeran clarified that Swift was not among the people he dated and that she was the first to hear the song.
It was later widely speculated that British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding was the person behind the track. Popularly attached to the speculation is a 2015 interview of Ed with Fuse.
"But you didn't need to take him to bed, that's all/ And I never saw him as a threat/ Until you disappeared with him to have sex, of course," Ed sings halfway through the song.
For more songs about ex-lovers, check out Top 10 Taylor Swift Songs Inspired by Ex-Boyfriends. Additionally, T-Swift herself appeared in one of the 3 Harry Styles songs about his ex-girlfriends. Alanis Morissette's fellow Canadian superstar, Abel Tesfaye, also wrote songs as The Weeknd's 'After Hours' supposedly reference Bella Hadid, Selena Gomez.
