NEED TO KNOW
Jessie J is setting the record straight on the inspiration behind her new diss track “Threw It Away.”
The British singer, 37, raised eyebrows last week with the soulful track, as fans wondered if the tune — which refers to her ex as a “beast” — might be about Channing Tatum, whom the star dated from 2018 to 2020.
But in a since-expired Instagram Stories post she shared on Thursday, Nov. 27, Jessie revealed that Tatum, 45, is not the song’s subject.
“Threw it away is NOT about @channingtatum,” she wrote. “I NEVER said it was.”
The singer — who released her new album Don’t Tease Me with a Good Time on Nov. 28 — said she felt compelled to speak out in defense of Tatum because she knows that “if the shoe was on the other foot he would correct the narrative too.”
“He is a Dad and an amazing one and I would never want his beautiful daughter to ever read any of it or be told about it thinking I said it about her Dad. Not fair,” she said, referring to his 12-year-old daughter Everly with ex-wife Jenna Dewan. “Channing and I ended our relationship on great terms and I have nothing but respect for him, he was never a beast to me.”
Jessie (real name Jessica Cornish) also said she was unhappy with headlines that painted Tatum in a bad light due to the song, and wanted everyone to “move on now.”
In a new interview with the Guardian, Jessie spoke more about the inspiration for “Threw It Away,” and after she was asked directly whether it was about the actor, said the song came from dating multiple people when she lived in Los Angeles.
“That’s funny. Yeah, I reckon there’s probably a little bit of that in there. But it wasn’t just about him,” she said. “I dated a lot of people when I was in L.A. and there were lots of men who were, like, ‘Yeah, ride on my motorbike and I’ll show you around,’ and then they just drop you off. That’s the negative of L.A.”
Karwai Tang/WireImage; Amy Sussman/Getty
She also revealed that she’d sent Tatum a track on the album that did reference him, and he was okay with it (On “Complicated,” she sings, “I met a Magic Mike, will that ever be forgotten?/’Cause everything they write, that’s the headline and the topic”).
The star praised the Roofman actor to the outlet as “such a sweet guy.”
“We were such good friends and had such a good time together,” she said. “[But] it did get frustrating. It felt that everything I read about myself was about him.”
Jessie first sent the rumor mill churning that “Threw It Away” might be about Tatum at a listening party for the new record in London. According to The Sun, she played the song, then told attendees, “This next song I wrote in 2020 with Ryan Tedder, and you can figure out who I was dating.”
The “Domino” singer dated Tatum for more than a year before they split in December 2019. The pair reconciled a month later, but called it quits once again in April 2020, with a source telling PEOPLE at the time that the split was “totally amicable.”
Jessie is currently dating Chanan Colman, and the two welcomed son Sky Safir in May 2023. Tatum, meanwhile, called off his engagement to Zoe Kravitz in October 2024, and has since moved on with girlfriend Inka Williams.
