14 Times Artists Called Out Another Celeb In A Song And Got Backlash From Fans Or The Person They Wrote About

Many singers and rappers have written songs about other people in the music industry. However, it's not always a sweet love song for a peer they dated or an homage to their hero's greatness.

Apple Music / Via giphy.com

When an artist decides to call out another artist in a song, there's a strong possibility they'll face backlash from the fans or the person they're singing about — even though such criticism isn't always warranted.

Here are 14 times rappers and singers got called out for dissing another artist in their song:

1.THE SONG: In "Circo Loco," Drake referenced the viral conspiracy theory that Megan Thee Stallion lied about being shot with this lyric: "This bitch lie 'bout getting shot but she still a stallion / She don’t even get the joke but she still smiling."

THE BACKLASH: Across social media, fans stood with Megan and called out Drake for promoting the harmful theory about her.

Megan herself also called him out, tweeting, "I know I’m very popular, but y’all gotta stop attaching weak ass conspiracy theories in bars to my name."

2.THE SONG: On his 2021 track "Beatbox Freestyle," DaBaby name-dropped JoJo Siwa in the lyric, "You a bitch, JoJo Siwa (bitch)."

THE BACKLASH: After listening, many Twitter users were both critical of and confused by the supposed beef.

DABABY'S DEFENSE: On Twitter, he seemed to clarify that he was using "Siwa" as a play on "see why."

3.THE SONG: When Olivia Rodrigo dropped her breakout single "Drivers License," many fans speculated that it was about her rumored relationship with costar Joshua Bassett — and that the line "you're probably with that blonde girl" referenced Sabrina Carpenter. It sparked intense rumors of a love triangle.

THE BACKLASH: In her song "Skin," Sabrina sang, "Maybe then we could pretend there's no gravity in the words we write / Maybe you didn't mean it / Maybe blonde was the only rhyme."

She told Zach Sang, "But I also think, again, people are pointing fingers. But at the same time, it's not for me to say who it is or isn't about, 'cause it's not my story. That's not my narrative. I'm just approaching it from the attention that people directed toward me assuming that it was me. I was just like, well, you know, it does make sense, I am blonde — but I think I came at it from a very honest place of saying, 'I don't think anyone meant any hard feelings, and I don't think that is what it's about.'"

4.THE SONG: In 2016, Ye [then known as Kanye West] name-dropped Taylor Swift on his song "Famous" with the line "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous."

THE BACKLASH: Taylor's friends and fans alike criticized the lyric as misogynist. Her brother Austin posted an Instagram video of himself throwing out his Yeezy sneakers.

YE'S DEFENSE: Ye alleged that he "had an hour-long convo with her" and she gave her "blessing," which Taylor's team denied in an official statement. Then, his then-wife Kim Kardashian released an edited video of the phone call that had been recorded without Taylor's knowledge but seemed to back him up.

THE BACKLASH PT. 2: In 2020, the full version of the recorded phone call leaked, proving that Taylor had been telling the truth all along. Many fans jumped to her defense online, but she used the attention to promote the World Health Organization and Feeding America.

5.THE SONG: Taylor Swift's listeners have long speculated that she wrote "Dear John" about John Mayer, whom she dated when she was 19 and he was 32. Telltale lyrics included "Don't you think I was too young to be messed with?" and "Don't you think 19 is too young to be played by your dark twisted games, when I loved you so?"

THE BACKLASH: Two years after the song was released, John told Rolling Stone, "I was really caught off-guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down. I mean, how would you feel if, at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?" He also called it "cheap songwriting" but refused to address the lyrics about her being "too young."

TAYLOR'S DEFENSE: In her 2022 song "Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve," Taylor seemed to express regret about dating him in the first place with lyrics like "I damn sure would've never danced with the devil at 19" and "give me back my girlhood / it was mine first."

6.THE SONG: In 2016, Remy Ma dropped "shETHER," a diss track about her rap rival Nicki Minaj. Her lyrics included telltale lines like "You was screaming 'Free Remy' when I was upstate doomed / But now that they freed Remy, you don't sing the same tune," and "How are you on the VMAs acting like you hood? / Way across the stage, talking 'bout 'Miley, what's good?' / That's Hannah Montana, she was always happy."

THE BACKLASH: After several weeks of fans eagerly waiting for Nicki to respond, she dropped three songs about Remy — "No Frauds," "Changed It," and "Regret in Your Tears." On Instagram, Nicki said, "We don't do diss records, we drop HIT RECORDS & diss u ON them."

7.THE SONG: On her 2020 track "How To Rob (Remix)," CupcakKe mocked several other rappers, including Megan Thee Stallion ("Run up on Megan like 'Give me your funds,' and you can't even run cause you just got shot"), Cardi B ("Runnin' through your party just so I can find Cardi. Like 'Bitch I'm finna give you your old teeth back!'"), and Lizzo ("Catch Lizzo and drag her out the food court").

THE BACKLASH: Fans criticized her decision to make fun of other women in rap.

CUPCAKKE'S DEFENSE: On Twitter, she said, "I think [the use of diss tracks in rap is] a beautiful thing & any one upset with it it's just use to the mediocre. Understand it's not male rappers complaining it's female rappers. Sit back & enjoy talent at its finest & for the last time it's all love to all the rappers mentioned. Don't be sensitive. [sic]"

8.THE SONG: Neil Young wrote "Southern Man" and "Alabama" about the Civil Rights Movement, but Lynyrd Skynyrd misinterpreted them as a dig at their native American South and took the songs as a personal insult.

THE BACKLASH: Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote "Sweet Home Alabama" in response, calling out Neil by name in these lyrics: "Well I heard Mister Young sing about her / Well I heard ol' Neil put her down / Well I hope Neil Young will remember / A southern man don't need him around anyhow."

NEIL'S APOLOGY: In his 2013 memoir Waging Heavy Peace, he wrote, "'Alabama' richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don’t like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue."

Neil and the band previously reconciled before the plane crash that killed several members in 1977.

9.THE SONG: Evanescence dropped "Call Me When You're Sober" the same day lead singer Amy Lee's ex-boyfriend, Seether's Shaun Morgan, was admitted to rehab. A few weeks later, she revealed she'd written the song about him.

THE BACKLASH: A year later, Shaun told MTV, "I was bummed out. I was really upset that she would say and do those things. In any relationship, I don't think it's right to say and do those things when people break up, and she obviously felt the need to go out there and make me sound like a complete a—hole. What can I do? I just refuse to lower myself to that level."

"But it was a painful thing, and it got me down — people coming up to me on the street and referring to that song. But I didn't feel the need to write back and be mean," he said.

10.THE SONG: After Mariah Carey denied Eminem's claims that they dated, he rapped about it in "Bagpipes from Baghdad." Lyrics referencing Mariah included "Mariah, what ever happened to us? Why did we have to break up?" and "Nick Cannon better back the fuck up / I'm not playin', I want her back, you punk."

THE BACKLASH: In response, Mariah dropped "Obsessed," singing, "Why you so obsessed with me? Boy, I wanna know / Lying that you're sexing me, when everybody knows." In the music video, she dressed a stalker in a hoodie, seeming to channel the rapper.

11.THE SONG: Eminem again accused Mariah Carey of lying with several explicit lines in "The Warning." The lyrics included "Wow Mariah, didn't expect you to go balls out / Bitch, shut the fuck up 'fore I put all them phone calls out / You made to my house when you was wildin' out before Nick."

THE BACKLASH: Mariah's then-husband Nick Cannon called him out in a blog post, writing, "A mediocre (at best) Eminem record that sounds like it was written in 2001. ... I thought we got past the days where white men could spew vulgar obscenities at our beautiful queens and get away with it."

EMINEM'S DEFENSE: He attempted to defend himself to BBC Radio 1, claiming, "At the end of the day, it’s a line I said; it’s a song. What I actually meant to say is: I wish them the best. That’s what I meant to say."

12.THE SONG: Pink name-dropped Britney Spears on her 2001 song "Don’t Let Me Get Me," singing, "Tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears / She's so pretty, that just ain't me."

THE BACKLASH: Britney told Rolling Stone, "She probably [said] that to protect her whole gimmick thing. I respect that, but don't be a hypocrite and put me down when you're, like, performing with your belly showing, too. ... I still think her music rocks, but the whole thing hurt my feelings."

While performing the song in 2007, Pink changed "pretty" to "crazy."

PINK'S APOLOGY: In 2021, she told People, "It was so unfair to all the girls [to be compared]. None of us wanted that. ... I love Britney — she used to carry around my album. I was like, 'Dude, I'm a street punk, I just skateboard. That doesn't have to be the anti-Britney. I don't want to fight anybody.'"

13.THE SONG: After his breakup with Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake wrote "Cry Me a River" and cast a lookalike in the music video.

THE BACKLASH: Britney told Rolling Stone, "I think it looks like such a desperate attempt, personally. But that was a great way to sell the record."

14.And finally, THE SONG: After "Cry Me a River" came out, Limp Bizkit released their own song about Britney and her alleged relationship with lead singer Fred Durst, who'd recently spoken about her in graphic detail on The Howard Stern Show. It was called "Just Drop Dead" and included lyrics like "I deserve more / You act like a whore / So just drop dead."

THE BACKLASH: In the same Rolling Stone interview, Britney said, "That’s my bad for just associating myself with people like that. ... We had two days of working together. We went out one night somewhere. And I’m dating the guy now. It was news to me. ... Something must be going on for someone to be that desperate to go on a show and talk about a girl, about someone you don’t really know that well."