Taylor Swift’s Upcoming Album Title Is Very Similar To The Name Of A Group Chat Her Ex Joe Alwyn Once Mentioned Being In, And People Don’t Think That’s A Coincidence

The two stars began dating in 2016, which was notably around the same time Taylor chose to retreat from the public eye after being branded a “snake” amid her infamous feud with Kanye West (whose name is now Ye) and Kim Kardashian. 

While Taylor returned to the spotlight the following year, she continued to protect her new relationship, and in her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, she said that keeping their romance private had been a joint decision. 

She also said that Joe being "balanced" and "grounded" was actually the catalyst for her falling in love with him.

In many of Taylor’s songs that were released while she was with Joe, she shared her appreciation for the normalcy of their relationship as she sang about their low-key life together. This included spending time with family and friends away from the glare of the public eye.

But when she released her 10th studio album, Midnights, in October 2022, it appeared as though cracks had started to form. In the songs, Taylor expresses her dissatisfaction with her newfound private life, and vows to “reclaim” the peaks of her past popularity and superstardom.

The breakup announcement came six months later, and while Taylor still hasn’t explicitly addressed the split, she has made her feelings toward Joe incredibly clear in the time since. 

The track is told from the point of view of someone who is desperate for their partner to fight for their relationship, only to be left feeling like an “imposition.” It also suggests that marriage was a contentious topic in Taylor's relationship, with the star singing, “I wouldn’t marry me either.”

The timing of the song’s release left little doubt in fans’ minds that it was about the recent demise of Taylor and Joe’s romance, and as Taylor moved on — first with controversial musician Matty Healy and then NFL star Travis Kelce — many assumed that “You’re Losing Me” was the last we’d hear about Joe.

In fact, Jack went so far as to give the exact date of Dec. 5, 2021, meaning that Taylor had written the heartbreaking lyrics almost 18 months before she and Joe finally brought their relationship to an end. 

Suffice to say, this information sparked fresh scrutiny of the British actor, which only intensified when Taylor then took the time to subtly like a year-old tweet that debunked a widely assumed theory that her 2022 love song “Sweet Nothing” was inspired by Joe. 

Despite initially telling fans that all of the songs on Midnights are “directly autobiographical,” she suggested that “Sweet Nothing” was actually inspired by Paul McCartney’s marriage to Linda McCartney.

Tree called out popular Instagram gossip blog Deuxmoi for causing “pain and trauma” by doubling down on their claim that a ceremony of sorts had happened in England.

And just days later, Taylor appeared to make thinly veiled digs at Joe in an interview with Time magazine, where she praised her new boyfriend, Travis, for not being afraid to show up for her. 

“The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone,” Taylor continued. “And we’re just proud of each other.”

Alluding to the low-key life that she had prior to splitting up with Joe, Taylor added, “Life is short. Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years — I’ll never get that time back. I’m more trusting now than I was six years ago.” 

Taylor also casually changed the meaning of another of her Midnights love songs that was initially thought to be about Joe, instead claiming that “Mastermind” had actually been inspired by the movie Phantom Thread.

“She's on a mission to make every love song post 2017 to be about a third person/thing,” another added. One more joked, “We’re about to find out London Boy is about her neighbour at the rental place.”

Then, when Taylor announced her brand-new album, The Tortured Poets Department, at the Grammys on Sunday, it didn’t take long for fans to pick up on yet another apparent dig at her ex. 

In an Instagram post that followed, Taylor included a handwritten note that teased “all’s fair in love and poetry."

Fans immediately started to speculate that this warning, combined with the fact that Taylor went out of her way to specify that the album had been in the works for the last two years, means that the songs are likely about the end of her and Joe’s romance. 

Many were left shook by Taylor’s decision, with one person quote-tweeting the Variety interview and joking, “she never ceases to amaze me…go off Taylor!!!!!!”

Another added, “I love that taylor swift represents the crazy girls so well I feel seen.” Somebody else wrote, “No you don’t understand how much I love pettiness.”

One more said, “Finding out Joe Alwyn had a Tortured Poets Man Club and now the Tortured Poets Department album name makes a lot more sense now.”

They also shared their sympathy for Joe, who has not publicly commented on Taylor in any capacity since their split.

“I really hope she never complains again about people making her music about the men in her life. But she probably will. This is so petty and I really don't buy her ‘I’m happier than ever’-attitude when she does stuff like this at the same time,” one person wrote in a Reddit forum.

One more referenced Taylor’s own past comments amid her feud with Kanye as they wrote, “Joe would very much like to be excluded from this narrative.”