Taylor Swift Songs About Joe Alwyn: Swifties Believe These Songs are About Their Relationship
“Delicate” – 2017
“This ain’t for the best / My reputation’s never been worse, so / You must like me for me,” Taylor coos on the opening lines of “Delicate.” Again, the song was included on the album that she released shortly after starting her relationship with Joe. However, she also entered the relationship at a time when she was caught in drama. Her reputation took a hit, but she found someone who liked her for her. Seems pretty on the nose!
“Gorgeous” – 2017
The biggest hint in her song “Gorgeous” is an allusion to “ocean blue eyes.” Of course, fans will remember that Joe‘s got a pair of baby blues!
“Ocean blue eyes looking in mine / I feel like I might sink and drown and die,” she sings about falling into a relationship with a gorgeous man.
“Dress” – 2017
Swifties did some digging to prove that “Dress” is about Joe, and the biggest hint traces back to the belief that they met at the Met Gala in 2016. “Flashback when you met me, your buzzcut and my hair bleached / Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me,” she sings on the bridge.
Taylor, in the midst of all the drama that inspired Reputation, walked the red carpet with bleached hair. You won’t be surprised to know Joe had a buzz cut at the event.
“Lover” – 2019
Three years into their relationship, Taylor‘s track “Lover” fits perfectly into a lovestruck album by the same name. It’s also likely dedicated to Joe.
“I’ve loved you three summers now, honey, but I want ‘em all,” she sings in the most clear reference to Joe on the track.
“I Think He Knows” – 2019
Taylor makes another reference to blue eyes on “I Think He Knows,” a song about her boyfriend knowing how she feels about him.
“Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh / We could follow the sparks, I’ll drive,” she sings, later adding that she thinks he knows that her feelings are real.
“Paper Rings” – 2019
Swifties know that the high-octane “Paper Rings” is about Joe based solely on one line – “I’m with you even if it makes me blue / Which takes me back / To the color that we painted your brother’s wall.” A photo released in promotion of Taylor‘s last tour showed her painting a wall blue while she was with Joe.
“Cornelia Street” – 2019
“Cornelia Street” tracks the early days of the couple’s relationship, which happened at a time when Taylor had an apartment on the street.
“And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends / I’d never walk Cornelia Street again / That’s the kinda heartbreak time could never mend / I’d never walk Cornelia Street again,” she sings on the track.
The song was included on the Bargaining playlist.
“London Boy” – 2019
The title alone should confirm that “London Boy” is about Joe, who grew up in London.
“You know I love a London boy,” she sings, adding “Darling, I fancy you” before talking about meeting her partner’s friends around where Joe lived.
“Peace” – 2020
Swifties think that “Peace” off Taylor’s album Folklore addresses her time with Joe because she told Paul McCartney it was “more rooted in my personal life” during a conversation for Rolling Stone.
“I know you have done a really excellent job of this in your personal life: carving out a human life within a public life, and how scary that can be when you do fall in love and you meet someone, especially if you’ve met someone who has a very grounded, normal way of living,” she explained. “I, oftentimes, in my anxieties, can control how I am as a person and how normal I act and rationalize things, but I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives. I can’t control if there’s going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow.”
She added that her partner “absolutely” understood the situation.
“But I think that in knowing him and being in the relationship I am in now, I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids,” she continued. “Whether that’s deciding where to live, who to hang out with, when to not take a picture — the idea of privacy feels so strange to try to explain, but it’s really just trying to find bits of normalcy. That’s what that song ‘Peace’ is talking about. Like, would it be enough if I could never fully achieve the normalcy that we both crave? Stella always tells me that she had as normal a childhood as she could ever hope for under the circumstances.”
The song was included on the Bargaining playlist.
“Invisible String” – 2020
“Teal was the color of your shirt / When you were sixteen at the yogurt shop / You used to work at to make a little money,” Taylor sings in the first verse of “Invisible String.” If you weren’t aware, Joe wore a teal shirt while working at his high school job!
The song was included on the Acceptance playlist.
“The Lakes” – 2020
“The Lakes” – a Folklore bonus track – seemingly reveals details about Taylor‘s relationship with Joe. In the song, she addresses visiting a lake in England, where fans think that she and Joe had been together.
“Exile,” “Betty” – 2020
“Exile” – a collab with Bon Iver – and “Betty” don’t seem to describe Joe and Taylor‘s relationship. However, they are the songs that he is credited on as a co-writer from Folklore. If you’re confused, he’s named “William Bowery,” which Taylor then explained.
“Exile” was included on the Anger playlist.
“Champagne Problems,” “Coney Island” and “Evermore” – 2020
Joe returned as a co-writer on Taylor‘s second 2020 album Evermore. These are his three contributions to the album.
“Champagne Problems” and “Coney Island” were included on the Depression playlist.
“Lavender Haze” – 2022
“I live under scrutiny,” Taylor sings on “Lavender Haze” off her newest album Midnights. However, she notes told her partner that they “handle it beautifully.”
Taking to Instagram, Taylor explained that the song was inspired by the idea that being in a “lavender haze” means that you are deeply in love and won’t let anyone get in the way of that. She added that her relationship required the couple to “dodge” the headlines and focus on themselves.
“Glitch” – 2022
Swifties believe that “Glitch” revealed Taylor and Joe‘s anniversary date thanks to the line “But it’s been two-thousand one-hundred ninety days of our love blackout.”
They did the math, which took them back to October 21, 2016, which would be around the time the couple might have defined the relationship.
The song was included on the Denial playlist.
“Sweet Nothings” – 2022
“Sweet Nothings” is Taylor and Joe‘s final track written together. Lyrically, it references a partner who is steadily by Taylor‘s side no matter what is going on in the outside world – someone who has stood with her through the highs and the lows. Considering when they got together again, it seemed to be their love story set to music.
However, there’s a new prevailing theory that the song is about another celebrity couple.
“You’re Losing Me” – 2023
Taylor unearthed a song from her vault for Midnights (Til Dawn Edition), and many think that the lyrics are about her relationship with Joe.
“We thought a cure would come through in time, now, I fear it won’t,” she sings, adding, “Now, I just sit in the dark and wonder if it’s time.”
Taylor gets even more emotional on the chorus, singing, “I can’t find a pulse / My heart won’t start anymore for you / ‘Cause you’re losing me.”
Later on in the bridge, Taylor makes the devastating confession: “I wouldn’t marry me either / A pathological people pleaser / Who only wanted you to see her.”
Friend and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff shared a detail about the song that might throw a wrench into the theory.
The song was included on the Depression playlist.
If you missed it, Taylor already customized one of her songs as a cute tribute to current boyfriend Travis Kelce.
