After Taylor Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department at the 2024 Grammys, fans speculated the new album could be about her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn—and they were right. The pair dated for six years before breaking up in March last year.
Fans recently noted that Alwyn had a Soundcloud where he read poetry that pre-dated his relationship with Swift. His December 2022 discussion with Paul Mescal for Variety also re-surfaced when fans noticed they revealed they had a WhatsApp group chat called “The Tortured Man Club.” This perhaps explains the album name.
A source spoke to U.K. outlet The Daily Mail in February about the British actor’s feelings about Swift’s then-upcoming work. Alwyn had no plans to speak out about it and is hopeful the album won’t be too revealing about their relationship. So far, he hasn’t said a word since it’s midnight release.
The outlet’s piece was published before Swift released her track list, where fans really started speculating Alwyn was a muse for the album given “So Long, London.”
The Alwyn source said, “Joe has not said one word about Taylor or their breakup and has been completely respectful of her. It’s undeniable that the name of her upcoming album is in reference to Joe’s WhatsApp group chat. Taylor knocked him for the name of this when they were together. She didn’t want people to think that it had anything to do with her, so when he spoke out about it, she was, of course, bothered.”
“Joe has no reason to believe yet that she is going to diss him or their relationship,” the source continued. “She writes about her past using code and points of reference. It may just be that she is reflecting on their time together, and he is hoping it is nothing more. If it is a diss album, that is shady. He helped her with song writing on her past album [under pseudonym William Bowery on Folklore and Evermore] so it will really come as a shock to him if she talks about their breakup, as it is something he has not spoken of at all. Regardless of what she does, he will still not respond because he has removed himself from her narrative and is very glad he did.”
This is the track list Swift released. The source did not discuss Alwyn’s thoughts on it.
