“I love you. Ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” On Saturday evening, April 8, the news broke that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn had decided to split up. Swifties have been having a tough week, mourning the death of the relationship. The album “Lover,” which is alleged to be about Swift’s now ex-beau, re-entered the charts on iTunes.
Swift and Alwyn have been publicly dating since 2017, and possibly dating in private since 2016. Alwyn has allegedly inspired some of Swift’s greatest works, including songs on the albums “reputation” and “Lover,” as well as a couple of songs off the 2020 album “folklore.” Some Taylor Swift fans initially connected to her music, as she gave a realistic take on the heartbreak of growing up and experiencing your first serious relationships as a woman. The albums that were alleged to be inspired by the relationship gave Swifties hope that one day they’d find their own Joe Alwyn. In memoriam of the famous couple, VALLEY is taking a look back at some of the greatest hits and best songs that Swift allegedly penned about the “Heartbreak Prince.”
1. Cruel Summer
“Cruel Summer,” the second track on Swift’s 2019 album “Lover,” is a fan favorite for good reason. This track is perfect to dance to and perfect to cry to. An upbeat tune mixed in with bittersweet lyrics makes for one of Swift’s most clever songs. In it, she details an experience of falling in love with someone during a time when she was emotionally falling apart. She sings, “Said, ‘I’m fine,’ but it wasn’t true / I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you.” It’s such a universal experience; wanting to present the best version of yourself in a new relationship, but not always succeeding. This song, in all of its brilliant glory, will go down in history as one of Swift’s best songs in her discography.
2. Delicate
Coming from 2017’s “reputation,” “Delicate” is another dance track with surprisingly vulnerable lyrics. Again, this song is fitting for a playlist about a relationship that is still very new. In it, Swift sings about wanting to express how she feels to the person she is with, but being self-conscious about her feelings scaring him off. She penned, “Is it cool that I said all that? / Is it chill that you’re in my head? / ‘Cause I know that it’s delicate.” This song was one of the first introductions to how Swift felt in her relationship that started when she was a controversial figure in the public eye. It gave insight into what it must be like to have people watching your love life so closely and being afraid of messing up on such a large scale.
3. Lover
Who doesn’t love a classic song containing insightful new thoughts about love? The single, “Lover,” was written by Swift alone and was even nominated for “Song of the Year” at the 2020 Grammys. The lyrics tell the story of a love that Swift holds sacred after going through so much heartbreak. She sings, “With every guitar string scar on my hand / I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover.” As she explained in her Tiny Desk Concert on YouTube, Swift wrote this line alluding to her past troubles with other relationships. She thought it was a beautiful sentiment that she used to write songs about her heartbreak but now she only writes songs about love.
4. invisible string
Swift’s 2020 album “folklore,” written and produced all during quarantine, came with some of her most sophisticated and nuanced lyrics. Every song on this album was widely acclaimed by critics and fans alike, and “invisible string” was no exception. Unlike the album “Lover,” this album had very few songs about love on it, “invisible string” being one of them. In the song, Swift sings, “And isn’t it just so pretty to think / All along there was some / Invisible string / Tying you to me?” Swift expresses the sentiment that throughout the course of their lives, fate destined the couple to meet at the time that they did. They went through their separate journeys and found their way to one another.
5. long story short
Last but certainly not least, “long story short” brought about inspiring lyrics that are bound to uplift anyone going through a heartbreak. In the song, Swift sings about her past heartbreaks and bad decisions that she had made. But she’s made peace with her past because it lead her to where she is now – with the right guy. The song goes, “Clung to the nearest lips / Long story short, it was the wrong guy / Now I’m all about you.” Anyone going through a heartbreak can turn on that song and know that it’s all temporary and will eventually lead you down the right path.
Whether or not these songs are about Joe Alwyn, somebody else, or nobody at all, these past six years have given Swift the capacity to write some incredible songs. Whatever she was going through during that time, Swifties can thank their idol for continuing to put herself out there and create something that everyone can find inspiration in. Long story short, we survived.
What do you think about the songs that are *allegedly about Joe Alwyn? Let us know by tagging us on twitter, @VALLEYmag!
