One thing about Taylor Swift is she will rip her own heart open and spill the blood in the form of her song lyrics.
Welcome to “The Tortured Poets Department.” Her latest music continues Swift’s tradition of sharing insight about her feelings and relationships in her songs.
The double album seems to spill quite a bit of tea, and the Swifties can’t drink it fast enough.
Let’s take a look at a few of the songs and who her diehard-fan base has determined they are about.
“The Tortured Poets Department”
The title track could easily be thought to be about British actor Joe Alwyn, whom Swift quietly dated before splitting after six years in early 2023. That’s because Alwyn and his friends – fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott – have previously shared their group chat is titled “Tortured Man Club.”
But on a closer look, it seems more likely the song is about The 1975 band frontman Matt Healy, whom Swift was first linked with in 2014 and then later, briefly, after her split from Alwyn.
Clues include the opening in which Swift sings, “You left your typewriter at my apartment.” Healy expressed a fondness for typewriters in a 2019 interview with GQ magazine.
Healy was viewed as problematic by some Swifties because of past controversies. “But Daddy I Love Him” on the new album is thought to address that as it takes on the theme of being in a relationship that is met with disapproval by others.
“So Long, London”
It’s a safer bet that this single is about Alwyn, a Brit who had Swift spending a good bit of time across the pond from her native US.
The song laments not only the loss of love, but also the loss of the seeming good times they had in the city she came to adore.
“Thinking how much sad did you think I had, did you think I had in me?/ Oh, the tragedy,” she sings. ”So long, London/You’ll find someone.”
Many see the new song as an extension to her single “London Boy,” featured on her 2019 “Lover” album, also believed to be about Alwyn.
“The Alchemy”
Swift has moved on to happier times and unlike her mostly private relationship with Alwyn, she’s been loving professional football player Travis Kelce out loud. So it stands to reason that the song with all the sports references is probably about her new star player.
“So when I touch down/ Call the amateurs and cut ‘em from the team,” Swift sings. “Ditch the clowns, get the crown/ Baby I’m the one to beat.”
Way to score, Tay.
“thanK you aIMee”
Honorable mention also has to go to another celeb who may have broken Swift’s heart in a different way.
Given that the capital letters in this tune spell “KIM,” listeners are convinced that this song, which on the surface appears to be about a school bully, is taking a shot at Kim Kardashian.
The women famously disputed about Kardashian’s then husband, Kanye West, name-checking Swift in his song, “Famous.”
“To all my southside n****s that know me best/I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that b**** famous,” West raps on the song. Kardashian shared an edited video meant to prove that Swift had heard and approved the lyric in advance, which Swift denied.
It all led to a whole “Taylor Swift is a snake” trend on social media, and Swift has talked about how she withdrew into herself during that time.
In “thanK you aIMee” Swift sings, “I changed your name and any real defining clues/ And one day, your kid comes home singin’ a song that only us two is gonna know is about you.”
Suffice it to say, there might be more than just Swift and the song’s subject in the know.
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