13 Times Celebs Watched Their Exes Perform Live (And If The Songs Were About Them)
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When you're a celebrity who's dating other celebrities, watching awards show performances or attending concerts probably has the same energy as this deleted Miley Cyrus tweet.
"I wanna see the new Hunger Games but that means I'll have to look at my ex for 2 fucking hours" - Miley Cyrus pic.twitter.com/qlrhAtH0Tt
— Miley Cyrus Updates (@CyrusEvolution) December 6, 2013
Miley Cyrus / Via twitter.com
Here are 13 times singers performed in front of their exes:
2.Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel were married from 1985-1994. He wrote his iconic song "Uptown Girl" about her early in their relationship. Decades later, when Christie attended his NYC show in 2024, Billy played the song while she happily sang along.
You can watch a clip from the performance here.
3.At the 2015 VMAs, Justin Bieber performed "What Do You Mean?". His ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez, was in attendance, and she reportedly went backstage with her friends ahead of his appearance.
Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic / Via Getty, C Flanigan / Getty Images
Justin and Selena dated on and off between 2010-2018.
At the end of the song, Justin cried.
He later explained the emotional moment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Watch Justin's full performance below:
4.Then, in 2016, Justin Bieber posted a throwback picture of himself kissing his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez on Instagram, captioning it, "feels." A few days later, she reportedly attended one of his shows in LA.
At the time, a source told E! that Justin and Selena were "talking" about rekindling their relationship.
However, they didn't get back together for another year a half. At that point, their relationship only lasted a few months before they broke up for good.
5.Halsey reportedly dated The 1975 singer Matty Healy in 2015. Then, in 2022, she showed up at one of the band's shows.
Gabriel Olsen / Via Getty, Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Images
Halsey even posted clips on their Instagram story, praising Matty for the show's "very cool production."
6.During the 2019 ACM Awards, Miranda Lambert subtly changed the lyrics to "Little Red Wagon" to reference her split from Blake Shelton, whom she'd lived in Oklahoma with during their marriage.
Blake and his new partner (and now wife) Gwen Stefani were in the audience.
Watch Miranda's performance below, with this part starting at the one-minute mark:
7.Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner reportedly dated for a few months in late 2009. Then, in 2023, Swift surprised fans by bringing Lautner out on stage at The Eras Tour for the premiere of her "I Can See You" music video — which he also starred in!
Lautner and his wife — who's also named Taylor Lautner — attended several of Swift's shows together. In a video on her Instagram stories, they joked about having "post Taylor Swift show depression."
8.Country singer Chase Rice and Victoria Fuller "spent a night together in Charlotte." He knew she was going on The Bachelor, but when he played a private concert on the show, he was "pretty surprised" when Victoria showed up on a date with Peter Weber.
On the Fitz in the Morning radio show, Chase said, "So I told my manager and my publicist [about my history with Victoria before agreeing to be on the show], they were like, ‘Don’t even worry about that. They’re not going to do that to you, that’s a weird coincidence, but they’re not gonna — there’s no way they would do that to you. They’ve never brought somebody else in like that, surprised the guest on the show.' So the fact they did that to me, it’s over the top, it’s unnecessary, I didn’t expect it. But at the end of the day, it happened. I don’t know if it’s the producers, or if they just got lucky. I know what I think, but I’ll let everybody else figure out what they think."
In an interview on The Bachelor, Victoria said, "We turn the corner, I see Chase, my ex-boyfriend. Nothing could be worse. I'm freaking out right now."
Here's the full clip of their verrrrry awkward date:
9.Kendall Jenner and Harry Styles were first the subject of romance rumors in 2013, and they were reportedly linked again between 2015-2016. Then, in 2022, she went to one of his concerts in Los Angeles with Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber.
Fans speculated that Harry blew Kendall a kiss during "Love of My Life," which is rumored to be about her.
10.When Bad Bunny played Coachella in 2023, his ex-girlfriend, Gabriela Berlingeri, was reportedly seen in the VIP area, where his then-girlfriend, Kendall Jenner, was also watching from.
Telemundo / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images, Jim Poorten / NBAE via Getty Images
Bad Bunny reportedly dated Gabriela on and off from 2017-2022 then dated Kendall from 2023-2024.
11.Country singer Lindsay Ell and radio host Bobby Bones were together for about a year before their 2017 split. In 2019, Bobby invited Lindsay to perform at his Million Dollar Show fundraiser concert.
In 2020, Lindsay returned and played her new song, "I Don't Love You." Bobby was on stage during the performance. From the crowd, someone shouted, "You messed up, Bobby!" And Bobby replied, "Gettin' the sympathy vote out there, I appreciate that."
You can watch a clip of her performance here.
12.Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney got engaged in 2015 but broke up in 2016. However, they remained friends, and in 2017, Taylor attended her show in Chicago.
Fans reportedly saw him go backstage as well.
13.When Adele played the BST Hyde Park Festival in London in 2022, her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, was reportedly spotted watching the show next to her current partner, Rich Paul.
Kevin Mazur / WireImage / Via Getty, Johnny Nunez / Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Adele and Simon were married from 2018-2019. She and Rich went public with their romance in 2021.
14.And finally, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's breakup was immortalized through tracks they both penned for Fleetwood Mac's 1977 breakout album, Rumours. However, Stevie's magnum opus, "Silver Springs," was cut from the tracklist without her input and relegated to the B-side of their single "Go Your Own Way" (which was Lindsay's POV of the split). However, in 1997, the band resurrected "Silver Springs" for their live album The Dance.
In 2024, Stevie told People, "It didn't come back around until The Dance, where it was the live version, it was the single, and as far as I'm concerned it kicked that whole record into the universe. Then ‘Silver Springs’ burst into the world, and then I thought, ‘Well, maybe it was a good thing,’ because then guess what? My mom [who I gifted the publishing rights to] got thousands of dollars every month for the rest of her life.”
They recorded a live performance of the song with Lindsey on guitar. It's becoming one of Fleetwood Mac's most enduring songs, proving Stevie's lyrics to be true: "You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you."
Watch their iconic 1997 live performance below:
