The split between Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn came as a surprise, but were Swift fans just not paying attention?
They stayed out of the public eye during their six-year relationship, which began in 2016. Taylor Swift Ends the Year on a High Note by Being Named Spotify’s Global Top Artist in 2023. She Asks, “Um, This is Real?!”
Someone who knew the couple well told Us Weekly that they were “taking it slow” the next year and were “very much in love.” Swift first talked about the relationship briefly in her 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, which was about the time of her album Reputation. It was said that Swift was “alone” and “bitter” at the time, but Alwyn changed that.
The singer said, “We both agreed that we wanted our relationship to be private.” But I was happy even though it was a terrible time. I wasn’t happy the way I was taught to be happy, though. It was happiness that didn’t depend on anyone else. We were just… pleased. Taylor Swift is the Artist of the Year for Apple Music in 2023
Late that same year, a different source told Us that Swift saw Alwyn as “one of the only safe constants in her life” and that the two were making plans to spend the rest of their lives together.
In March 2020, a source said, “They’ve talked about their future and getting married.” “There is no set due date for them.”
Fans thought that Swift and Alwyn were engaged, but neither of them ever confirmed the reports, and sources told Us that there wasn’t even a ring. Taylor Swift Wears a Loose Rugby Top and Knee-high Boots Without Pants, Looking Very Preppy!
When Swift started mentioning Alwyn in public (during the Disney+ Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions in 2020 and her 2021 Grammy Awards speech), the actor did even more to keep things from the public.
Alwyn told Elle in April 2022 that he was keeping his relationship “guarded and private” because he lived in a world that was becoming more and more nosy. “Something will be taken from you no matter how much you give or don’t give.”
There was news in April 2023 that Swift and Alwyn were no longer together, but it’s not clear when they really broke up.
Scroll down to see all the signs that Swift and Alwyn were about to break up:
Alwyn’s Absence from the “Eras Tour”
When Swift began her Eras Tour in March 2023, he wasn’t in the VIP tent at all.
Over the course of their six-year relationship, fans have only ever seen him at one of her shows, which was recorded for Miss Americana. In the documentary, Alwyn was seen backstage with his black hat pulled down over his face, as if he wanted to avoid being seen by the cameras.
This is not at all like Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce, which began in late 2023. Soon after their relationship became public, the NFL player went to his second Eras Tour show and got very close to the singer after she changed a lyric to honor him.
The Secret of the Engagement
When fans thought that Swift and Alwyn were engaged in 2020, he didn’t say much about the reports.
In April 2022, he told WSJ. Magazine, “If I had a pound for every time I think I’ve been told I’ve been engaged, I’d have a lot of pounds.” “To be honest, I wouldn’t say if the answer was yes or no.”
Apparently, Alwyn kept their love life very quiet, which, as a source told Us in April 2023, led to the breakup.
“Joe is very shy and didn’t like all the attention getting together with one of the world’s most famous singers,” the source said.
Getting rid of a Love Declaration
When Swift deleted the “Lavender Haze” song explanation from Instagram after they broke up, it seemed like she and Alwyn were talking to each other.
Before the October 2022 release of her record Midnights, Swift talked about how the song was a love declaration.
“The term “lavender cloud” came to my attention while I was watching Mad Men. It sounded cool, so I looked it up. But it turns out that people used that saying to talk about being in love in the 1950s,” Swift said in the now-deleted video. “Being in the “lavender haze” meant being in that love glow that made you feel whole.” I thought that was very pretty.
The Setlist for the “Eras Tour”
When people found out about the breakup, Swift changed the first song from “Invisible String” to “The 1.” People began to wonder if she was giving hints about her breakup with Alwyn.
‘You’re Losing Me’
The Midnights From the Vault track was “written and recorded” in December 2021, according to Jack Antonoff, who works with Swift a lot.
The song first came out in May 2023 on a CD that was only available to fans at the Eras Tour. However, the song could be streamed starting in November of that year. When Antonoff shared more information, fans quickly thought that the song was about the end of her relationship with Alwyn. But this raises a new question: did Swift and Alwyn’s relationship stop years ago?
“I wouldn’t marry me either/A pathological people-pleaser/Who only wanted you to see her,” Swift sings in the bridge of the song. As the sun goes down, I can’t help but think, “Do something, babe, say something; lose something, babe, risk something; choose something, babe, I got nothing to believe, unless you’re choosing me.”