Taylor Swift and her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn have called it quits after dating for six years. The Wildest Dreams singer and the British actor broke up a few weeks ago. As per Entertainment Tonight , the split was amicable, and “it was not dramatic.” The news outlet also mentioned that “the relationship had just run its course.” 33-year-old Swift is currently on her iconic The Eras Tour and the absence of her beau, Alwyn, has been the talk of the town and the reason behind the recent reports of the split.
While it might seem like yesterday that the star couple made things official with their first public outing to a Kings of Leon concert in New York City, the rest of their closely guarded relationship has always been surrounded by mystery. There were engagement rumors swirling when the couple was spotted on several public outings together. However, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal , Alwyn had quipped – “If I had a pound for every time I think I’ve been told I’ve been engaged, then I’d have a lot of pound coins.”
Swift began dating the Boy Erased actor in 2016. People had reported that Swift “is very happy” in their relationship. “He is her rock. Their relationship is mature and wonderful.” The couple even came up with a music collaboration while staying together during the pandemic. Swift had confirmed in her Disney+ documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions , which premiered in November, that the mystery songwriter on her Grammy-nominated album Folklore , listed as “William Bowery,” was in fact, Alwyn.
“I heard Joe singing the entire fully formed chorus of ‘Betty’ from another room, and I just was like, ‘Hello,'” Swift revealed in the film about the folklore track. “I came in and I was like, ‘Hey, this could be really weird and we could hate this, [but] because we’re in quarantine and there’s nothing else going on, could we just try to see what it’s like if we write this song together?'” Alwyn was credited for three more songs on her new album e vermore , which dropped as a surprise for fans on December 11.
On the record, Alwyn was under a pseudonym and credited as a co-writer for three songs — Champagne Problems , Coney Island , and Evermore ’s title track — but was happy to stay behind the scenes. “Taylor was very excited to share a second album with fans, and Joe has been supportive as always, he is a very laidback person,” a source had said at the time. Folklore won the 2021 Grammy for Album of the Year and evermore was nominated for the same award at the 2022 ceremony. While accepting the award Swift had even given Alwyn a major shout-out: “Joe is the first person that I play every single song that I write, and I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine,” she said.
As reported by Elle , Swift recently detailed her relationship in her new album Midnights with the track Lavender Haze . Discussing the meaning of the title, she said, “I guess, theoretically, when you’re in the ‘lavender haze,’ you’ll do anything to stay there. And not let people bring you down off of that cloud.” She further spoke about the impact of social media on relationships.
“I think that a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just like ‘public figures,’ because we live in the era of social media,” she said. “If the world finds out if you’re in love with somebody they’re going to weigh in on it. Like my relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. So this song is about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”
While Swift has been open about her relationship through songs, Alwyn has remained guarded. “I think because the precedent was set—that our choice is to be private and not feed that side of things—the more you do that, hopefully, the more that intrusiveness or intrigue drops off,” he said in an interview with GQ . At present, both have not confirmed their split officially.