Taylor Swift. Singer, songwriter, actress, director, and until recently, girlfriend. The 12-time Grammy winner had been dating British actor, Joe Alwyn, for six years, with Alwyn being credited on a total of six songs on Taylor Swift’s albums, folklore, evermore, and Midnights, under the pseudonym “William Bowery”. Swift has also written countless love songs about Alwyn on her last five albums. However, the couple was not as perfect as they seemed. On April 8, Entertainment Tonight reported that the two had called it quits. Swift and Alwyn had been an extremely private couple, as depicted in the opening track, “Lavender Haze,” of her most recent album, Midnights. Swift confirmed that this song was about her relationship with Alwyn, and the private nature of their romance by posting a video saying this on her Instagram. The post has since been deleted .

“I happened on the phrase ‘lavender haze’ when I was watching Mad Men, and I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool, and it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the ’50s where they would just describe being in love,” she commented. “If you were in the lavender haze that meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow. I thought that was really beautiful.”
She continued, saying, “I guess, theoretically, when you’re in the lavender haze you’ll do anything to stay there and not let people bring you down off of that cloud. I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just ‘public figures,’ because we live in the era of social media, and if the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody they’re going to weigh in on it,” Swift added, “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.”

Despite the privacy of their relationship, reportedly, Alwyn didn’t enjoy being under the spotlight. Sources indicate that Alwyn wanted to settle down and live a normal life out of the public eye, whilst Swift is still extremely focused on her career. Swift is currently on the road, on her tour of America, The Eras Tour. She is performing tracks from her last eight albums. Taylor Swift fans, or “Swifties”, knew something was up when she changed “invisible string”, a love song about Alwyn, to “the 1”, a song about looking back on a relationship after the fact, and wondering if they could have been “the one” on her 44 song, three hour long setlist. Swifties also speculate that the breakup is the reason why Alwyn hasn’t been spotted at any shows. Sources close to the pair have revealed that the reason for the breakup was that the two had found it increasingly difficult to work past their differences, as Alwyn is shy and introverted, and Swift is the opposite, always putting on a show. The couple had been drifting apart recently, but by all accounts, they have no “bad blood” between them. The breakup was amicable, and Swifties still have “nothing but respect” for Alwyn.

“Joe Alwyn deserves nothing but respect from us, Swifties. We have no idea what happened between them and it’s not our business. All I know is that he has always been by Taylor’s side especially in the darkest moment of her career. We need to remember that definitely,” says @intoyoustyle on Twitter, referring to Alwyn sticking by Swift even when her reputation was down.
In Swift’s own words, “The rumors are terrible and cruel, but honey most of them are true…” on her 1989 track, “New Romantics”. If the rumors are true then the Swifties are living for single Taylor, and are looking forward to the next album. However, if not, we wish Swift and Alwyn nothing but the best!