Taylor Swift released her highly-anticipated 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on Friday, featuring 15 tracks more than fans had expected. Immediately after the album’s release, fans started dissecting the lyrics, speculating that many songs are about her recent exes, Matty Healy and Joe Alwyn. Joe and Taylor began dating in 2016 but broke up last year during her Eras tour. Healy, a member of the band The 1975, has supported Taylor’s music over the years. Around a month after her split from Joe, Healy joined Taylor at her Eras tour in May 2023, and they were photographed holding hands. Despite being seen together multiple times, they called it quits after a month of dating, according to reports.
Fans speculated that “Fortnight,” the first song on Tortured Poets, symbolises the two weeks it took for Taylor’s relationship with Joe to end. The title track of Taylor’s album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” has also piqued a lot of interest. A fan wrote, “The Manuscript being about Joe falling for his costar and Taylor watching it happen in real time WAS NOT what I thought that song was gonna be about.”
matty was literally saying sorry to taylor two days after the break up last year and we didn’t take it seriously 😭 pic.twitter.com/b6xhfQlNT5
— shelly ⎕ (@balladofmaroon) April 19, 2024
Fans are noting similarities between the album title and a WhatsApp group, The Tortured Man Club, involving Joe and Paul Mescal. This connection is drawing attention, especially considering Taylor’s friendship with Paul’s ex, Phoebe Bridgers. However, fans also had conflicting theories. One person said, “So Joe Alwyn was getting canceled by Swifties cause they thought he cheated. But it was Taylor Swift who was cheating & fantasizing about marrying someone else while being with him.”
Another person also sided with Joe, and wrote, “So Taylor first played Red (Kansas City Chiefs) then announced a bonus track called The Bolter (someone who runs away) and said she NEEDED to write the album coz of what she was going through at the time and then sings You’re Losing Me? Poor Joe Alwyn.”
The song “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” is being described by fans as a ‘post break-up song.’ A fan explained, “I like how Taylor Swift can write a whole album about how much she loved Matty Healy and would’ve thrown everything away for it to have worked out when I don’t think I’ve actually ever heard her publicly say is name.”
Taylor had previously opened up about the album and as reported by Teen Vogue, she said, “Tortured Poets is an album — I think more than any of my albums that I’ve ever made — I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me. Just the things I was going through and the things I was writing about. It kind of reminded me of why songwriting was something that actually gets me through my life.”
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