Taylor Swift’s New Album Title Might Be A Joe Alwyn Reference
Who’s torturing who?
After a year of revamping old albums, Taylor Swift’s entering a new era. (No, she’s not revisiting the snarling hiss of 2017’s Reputation — well, not yet at least.) During the Grammys on Feb. 5, Swift revealed her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, will release in April. From the album’s monochrome cover art to its gloomy introduction note, it seems Swift might be embracing her inner Shakespeare. However, some Swifties believe he wasn’t the only English writer on Swift’s moodboard for this album. Enter her ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.
Shortly after Swift announced the album, fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) thought its title sounded familiar. Without fail, the Swifties slipped on their detective hats and proved their suspicion to be true: They have seen this film before. In December 2022, Alwyn and Paul Mescal starred in Variety’s Actor on Actor segment. There, they revealed they had a WhatsApp group chat with Andrew Scott called “The Tortured Man Club.”
At the time, they both joked they weren’t using the chat anymore since they were “less tortured.” In April 2023, nearly four months after the interview, Alwyn and Swift broke up after six years of dating. The month of their breakup also feels specific to The Tortured Poets Department, as it’ll release one year after their split became public.
With these two connections, fans believe Swift might address her former relationship with Alwyn on the album.
This theory isn’t farfetched, as Swift has appeared to dedicate some of her new music to the British actor. In November 2023, the singer released her Midnights vault track, “You’re Losing Me,” on streaming to celebrate becoming Spotify’s Global Top Artist of that year. The somber ballad has always been rumored to be about Swift and Alwyn’s split, especially since it was originally released on Midnights’ exclusive CD one month after their breakup was reported.
Once “You’re Losing Me” became widely available, Jack Antonoff added some context to the track that seemingly altered the timeline of Swift and Alwyn’s breakup. If anything, it further fed into the rumors that this release was a final bow to their relationship. There are also several songs on her late-night record that are believed to reference their past romance.
Now, with these new clues surrounding The Tortured Poets Department, it appears Swift still has a few more proses in her writing book.
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