Taylor Swift dropped her highly-anticipated “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday and at 2 a.m. the star surprised fans by dropping an additional 15 tracks, calling it a “double album.” Fans furiously began dissecting the lyrics of the songs, trying to discern who they were about. Many speculate most songs are about her recent exes, Matt Healy and Joe Alwyn. Who are they?
Who is Joe Alwyn?
Alwyn, a 33-year-old British actor, and Swift began dating in 2016 and broke up last year while she was on her Eras tour. He is known for films like the Oscar-nominated “The Favourite” and “Mary Queen of Scots.”
Swift, known for writing songs about her high-profile relationships and giving fans Easter eggs as to who they are about, has admitted to writing songs about Alwyn before. In 2022, she told Entertainment Tonight that the song “Lavender Haze” from her album “Midnights” is about wanting to stay in the “lavender haze” feeling you have when you’re in love – even when it’s made difficult.
“Like my relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff and we just ignore it. This song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff,” she said.
Alwyn has even contributed to Swift’s albums before, under the pseudonym William Bowery, ET reports. He is credited in the track “Sweet Nothing” on “Midnights” as well as several songs on “Folklore and “Evermore,” her two 2020 albums.
Swift confirmed in her documentary “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions” that Alwyn was on those albums. He contributed to the songs “Exile,” “Betty,” “Champagne Problems,” “Coney Island” and “Evermore” and even won a Grammy for his work.
Alwyn lives in London, so fans speculate her track “So Long To London” on “The Tortured Poets Department” is about their breakup.
After her public feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West in 2016, Swift “moved to a foreign country,” she told Time Magazine during her “Person of the Year” cover interview last year. “I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls.” These feelings are reflected in the lyrics of the song.
Several songs on the new album are about a difficult breakup, including “Down Bad,” “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “Fresh Out the Slammer,” and “Fortnite,” which features Post Malone.
Who is Matty Healy?
Healy is a member of the band 1975. He and Swift have supported each other’s music throughout the years – with the pop star attending one of his concerts in 2014.
Romance rumors swirled then, and Healy said in a 2016 interview with Q Magazine that he had a “flirtation” with Swift, which gained him news coverage, but that she “wasn’t a big impact” on his life, ET reports.
Healy once wore a t-shirt promoting Swift’s 1989 album during a concert and Swift was photographed wearing a 1975 shirt.
When “Midnights” came out in 2021, Healy admitted his band recorded a song with Swift for the album but it didn’t make the cut.
Then, about a month after her breakup with Alwyn, Healy attended the Eras tour in May 2023, and the pair were photographed holding hands. They were spotted together several times, but called it quits in June, ET reports.
Fans speculate her song new, “Fortnight,” is about Healy because of the several blatant references to their mutual friends.
“Sometimes I wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me, But you told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave,” she sings, seemingly referring to Lucy Dacus, a member of the band Boygenius.
“And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen, Everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be,” she sings in another verse, seemingly referring to her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, who helped Swift and Healy reconnect, a source told ET.
Travis Kelce
After her brief relationship with Healy, Swift began dating Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce after he attended an Eras tour concert. Their relationship soon became a massive spectacle, with fans and media following their every move.
Swift was first seen at a Chiefs game in September 2023 and attended several other games, often bringing celebrity friends. There was much fanfare over her attendance at the Super Bowl, which the team won. She is even attributed with boosting sales of Kelce’s jersey.
Fans speculate her new song “Alchemy” is about Kelce because the love song includes many subtle football references.
“So when I touch down, call the amateurs and cut ’em from the team,” she sings.
Swift and Kelce often travel to be together and “touch down” could be a play-on-words for a football touchdown.
“These blokes warm the benches, we’ve been on a winning streak,” she sings in another line.
“Where’s the trophy? He just comes runnin’ over to me,” is a line that fans speculate is about Swift and Kelce embracing after his Super Bowl win.
Kim Kardashian
On “The Tortured Poets Department,” there is a song called “thanK you aIMee” – stylized so the letters KIM are capitalized. Fans believe this is a blatant reference to Kim Kardashian.
Aside from referencing a “bronze spray-tanned statue,” which likely refers to spray tan fan Kardashian, Swift appears to sing about the fallout after her feud with Kardashian and Kanye West, the rapper known as Ye.
Ever since Ye interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs, there has been tension between the artists that seems to have never gone away.
When Ye released a song that referenced Swift in 2016, Swift claimed she was not OK with the lyrics. But Kardashian released audio from a phone call between Swift and Ye during which Swift appears to give the rapper her blessing to mention her in the song.
“All that time you were throwin’ punches, it was all for nothin’,” Swift sings in “thanK you aIMee.”
“I wrote a thousand songs that you find uncool, I built a legacy, which you can’t undo, But when I count the scars, there’s a moment of truth, That there wouldn’t be this if there hadn’t been you,” she sings in another song.
The three appeared to have mended their rift several times, with Ye sending Swift flowers and Kardashian and Swift seen dancing during a Ye performance at an awards show. But the feud was seen to have damaged Swift’s reputation – and fans believe her album “Reputation” was inspired by the fallout. In her Time interview, Swift called the scandal “a career death.”
