Did Taylor Swift Ever Feel Comfortable in a Romance with Joe Alwyn?

Many of Taylor Swift’s The most recent albums initially showed a fairytale love story with an ex Joe Alwynbut a closer look at some of the singer’s lyrics suggests the relationship got rocky long before their breakup.

After falling in love with Alwyn, 32, in 2016, Swift, 34, disappeared from the public eye, but returned in 2017 and dropped her “comeback” record Call. Although disguised as a revenge album, Rep was full of songs like “Gorgeous,” “Delicate,” “Call It What You Want” and “New Year’s Day,” all of which gave insight into the beginning of her romance with Alwyn.

Swift’s 2019 follow-up, Lover, seemed to be a continuation of the couple’s story. Swapping dark aesthetics and snakes for pastel pinks and butterflies, Swift set out to write a straightforward love album, with the title track being her most swoon-worthy song yet.

“For years I had thought, ‘God, it would be so great to have a song that people in love would want to dance to.’ “Like slow dancing,” Swift said The New York Times in 2019. “In my head, all I saw were the last two swaying people on a dance floor at 3 a.m.”

However, Swift admitted that there was also an underlying sense of tension in the lyrics. “I wanted the chorus to contain really simple existential questions that we ask ourselves when we’re in love. “Can I go where you are going?” is such a hard thing to ask someone. “Can we always be this close?” has so much fear in it.”

Other tracks on the album reflect a similar kind of fear. “Cornelia Street” – a song initially perceived as a passionate love song for Swift and Alwyn – carries a lot of discomfort. Swift refers to her lover as a “playing card shark” in the verses and claims he “led her on” before catching her just in time.

Lover The fifth track, “The Archer,” is primarily about Swift’s struggle with herself, but also touches on the feeling of hope that she has found someone to support her. However, she still formulates the texts as questions and not as statements. “Who could ever leave me, darling / But who could stay? / You could stay?” she asks in the chorus.

Much of their next album, 2020’s folklorecomes from fictional circumstances, but one of the final tracks, entitled “Peace”, once again describes Swift’s personal fears of a partner who cannot cope with her highly publicized life.

“When I did folkloreLyrically I went completely towards escapism and romance. And I wrote songs imagining myself as a pioneer in a forbidden love affair,” Swift said Paul McCartney during a November 2020 interview for Rolling Stonebefore noting that “peace” was “actually more rooted in….” [her] Private Life” than other titles.

During their nearly six-year romance, Swift and Alwyn notoriously tried to stay out of the spotlight. The two never walked the red carpet together – even when attending the same events – and were often seen running to their cars to avoid being photographed. When Swift won best album at the Grammys folklore In 2021, Alwyn was not in the audience, despite being credited as a co-writer on several tracks.

“I think that through knowing him and the relationship that I’m in right now, I’ve definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and not just an act that in the tabloids,” Swift told McCartney in 2020. “Whether it’s deciding where to live, who to spend time with, or when not to take a photo, the idea of ​​privacy feels so strange, when you try to explain them, but it’s really just about finding a little bit of normality. The song “Peace” talks about this. Like, would it be enough if I could never achieve the normalcy we both crave?”

After Swift and Alwyn announced their retirement in April 2023, a source exclusively shared Us weekly that the singer’s celebrity status contributed to their breakup. Shortly after the breakup, Swift began being photographed at various public events in New York City and LA for the first time in years. (She has continued since then Travis Kelceand the two have often appeared to publicly support each other’s efforts.)

Even in 2022 midnight raises questions about Swift’s fears, as many of the songs – intended to depict 13 sleepless nights in her life – point to relationships on the verge of failure. “Maroon” is about a romance someone can’t quite let go of, while “Bejeweled” describes a partner who prefers to hold back while Swift wants to be seen.

“Familiarity breeds contempt / Don’t put me in the basement / When I want the penthouse of your heart,” Swift sings in the chorus, while the verses read: “I made you my world, did you hear? / I can take back the land / And I miss you / But I miss the sparkle.

There are also songs like “Midnight Rain” and “Question.” These tracks focus on past relationships that could have been, and caused a stir among fans, who noticed that Swift was still with Alwyn when she wrote them. However, the Vault track “You’re Losing Me” may be the most telling.

The heartbreaking ballad was written in December 2021 – more than a year before she broke up with Alwyn – and describes a relationship in which Swift begs her partner to see her pain.

“I stared at you with stormy eyes. How can you say you love someone who you don’t know is dying?” she asks in the first verse. “I sent you signals and bit my nails until the end / My face was gray, but you didn’t want to admit that we were sick.”

In the bridge, Swift draws on similar themes to “Bejeweled” and is frustrated at being with someone who doesn’t appreciate her.

“I wouldn’t marry myself either / A pathological people-pleaser / Who just wanted you to see her,” Swift sings. “And I fade thinking / Do something baby, say something / Lose something baby, risk something / Choose something baby, I got nothing to believe unless you choose me.”

Although Swift rarely confirms what her music is about – or who – fans will likely get a more detailed look at what went wrong between her and Alwyn when her eleventh studio album arrives. The Tortured Poets Departmentwill be released on April 19th.

“I had to do it. It really was a lifeline for me,” she told concertgoers in February Epoch tour Show in Melbourne, Australia. “It kind of reminded me why songwriting is something that actually gets me through life, and I’ve never had an album where I needed songwriting more than Tortured Poets.”