The invisible string connecting Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn was reportedly severed in April 2023. In less Swiftian terms: Taylor and Joe have officially broken up.
At the time, Entertainment Tonight was the first to report the split, citing a source close to the former couple who said they actually broke up in an amicable/ânot dramaticâ way. âThe relationship had just run its course,â the source claimed. âItâs why [Joe] hasnât been spotted at any [Eras Tour] shows.â
Taylor and Joe were together for six yearsâand those years happened to be incredibly productive ones for Taylor as a songwriter. So it seems like the only natural way to honor their time together is with a look back at the songs their love inspired. We werenât kidding about how productive Taylor has been since she started seeing Joe (who is apparently QUITE the muse), so our deep dive back through Taylorâs catalog turned up a LOT of tracks, ranging from songs that are Fully and Publicly Confirmed to Be About Joe to many that are Not Confirmed but Almost Universally Assumed to Be Fully About Joe to a few best described as Not *About* Joe but Not Totally *Not* About Joe.
The list is broken down by ~eras~ so you can brush up on Taylor and Joe's exact timeline through songâespecially since fans are theorizing that her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, calls back to their relationship. đŹ
Reputation
ââŠReady for It?â
How about Joe it is: Completely. This song is literally Taylor being like, âHey, Joe, ready for this epic and sexy romance thatâs about to happen? Because itâs definitely about to happen.â
Joe-est lyric/reference: âSome, some boys are tryinâ too hard / He donât try at all though / Younger than my exes but he act like such a man, so / I see nothing better, I keep him forever.â
âEnd Gameâ featuring Ed Sheeran and Future
How about Joe it is: At least one-third. The song also features verses from Ed Sheeran and Future, neither of whom seem to be referring to Joe at all. Taylorâs verse, howeverâpure Joe.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âAnd I canât let you go, your handprintâs on my soul / Itâs like your eyes are liquor, itâs like your body is gold / Youâve been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks / So hereâs the truth from my red lips.â
âDonât Blame Meâ
How about Joe it is: Practically biblically, considering some of the imagery in the song (or unhealthily, if you gravitate more toward the addiction metaphor). Either way, itâs about the intensity of falling for someone and itâs on Reputation, which means itâs about Joe.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âIâve been breakinâ hearts a long time and / Toyinâ with them older guys / Just playthings for me to use / Something happened for the first time, in / The darkest little paradise / Shakinâ, pacinâ, I just need you.â
âDelicateâ
How about Joe it is: Iconically. Hard stop. Their dive bar origin story has become mythic among Swifties.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âDark jeans and your Nikes, look at you / Oh, damn, never seen that color blue / Just think of the fun things we could do.â
âGorgeousâ
How about Joe it is: 100 percent. âGorgeousâ is the story of Joe and Taylorâs electric, tipsy, dancing-on-the-edge-of-infidelity meet-cute.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âOcean blue eyes looking in mine / I feel like I might sink and drown and die.â
âSo It GoesâŠâ
How about Joe it is: Again, totally about Joe. Thereâs a reference to the bar meet-cute. Allusions to the struggles of dating while famous. A promise from Taylor to be there for Joe on his worst days. Even a nod to the âJâ necklace Joe gifted Taylor early in their âship. So many bases covered.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âMet you in a bar / All eyes on me, your illusionist / All eyes on us / I make all your gray days clear and / Wear you like a necklace.â
âKing of My Heartâ
How about Joe it is: Hint: *Heâs* the king from the title.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âYour love is a secret Iâm hoping, dreaming, dying to keep / Change my priorities / The taste of your lips is my idea of luxury.â
âDancing With Our Hands Tiedâ
How about Joe it is: Itâs mostly about Joe, but itâs also about the intersection of loving Joe and dealing with the reality of being Taylor Swift levels of famous and all things that prompted her pre-Reputation withdrawal from public view.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âI loved you in secret / First sight, yeah, we love without reason / Oh, 25 years old / Oh, how were you to know, and / My, my love had been frozen / Deep blue, but you painted me golden.â
âDressâ
How about Joe it is: The only thing âDressâ might be about more than Joe Alwyn is Taylor Swiftâs unabashed horniness for Joe Alwyn.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âFlashback when you met me / Your buzz cut and my hair bleached / Even in my worst times / You could see the best of me.â
âCall It What You Wantâ
How about Joe it is: Itâs about both Joe and the downfall of Taylorâs reputation before she met Joeâtruly hitting all the albumâs biggest themes.
Joe-est lyric/reference: ââCause my babyâs fit like a daydream / Walkinâ with his head down, Iâm the one heâs walkinâ to / So call it what you want, yeah, call it what you want to.â
âNew Yearâs Dayâ
How about Joe it is: Completely Joe-focused, specifically on Taylorâs vision for a very Real Couple future with him (and several reminders of her early insecurity about losing him).
Joe-est lyric/reference: âYou squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi / I can tell that itâs gonna be a long road / Iâll be there if youâre the toast of the town, babe / Or if you strike out and youâre crawling home.â
Lover
âCruel Summerâ
How about Joe it is: Itâs probably honestly more about Taylorâs inner life and headspace during the beginnings of their romance in summer of 2016 (which was just a terrible time for her in many ways), but Joe was there, being the person she was falling for/feeling deeply insecure about falling for/alllllmost breaking her soul until he saved it by looking up grinning like a devil (youâre picturing the exact face right now, right?).
Joe-est lyric/reference: âAnd I screamed for whatever itâs worth / âI love you,â ainât that the worst thing you ever heard? / He looks up grinning like a devil.â
âLoverâ
How about Joe it is: Heâs her lover. Itâs all him (except the house, which is all about flexing her ability to plant Easter eggs multiple albums out).
Joe-est lyric/reference: âIâm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you / Iâve loved you three summers now, honey, but I want âem all.â
âThe Archerâ
How about Joe it is: Not a ton, honestly. âThe Archerâ is really more about Taylor reckoning with the roles sheâs played in other relationships/situations in life and reflecting on her flaws/past mistakes (and then hoping her hardest that she wonât repeat them with Joe).
Joe-est lyric/reference: âAll the kingâs horses, all the kingâs men / Couldnât put me together again / âCause all of my enemies started out friends / Help me hold on to you.â
âI Think He Knowsâ
How about Joe it is: Mostly Joe. A little âMastermindâ foreshadowing.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âHe got that boyish look that I like in a man / I am an architect, Iâm drawing up the plans / Itâs like Iâm 17, nobody understands.â
âPaper Ringsâ
How about Joe it is: 95 percent Joe, 4 percent Joeâs friends and family, 1 percent Taylor confessing to stalking.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âIâm with you even if it makes me blue / Which takes me back / To the color that we painted your brotherâs wall / Honey, without all the exes, fights, and flaws / We wouldnât be standing here so tall.â
âCornelia Streetâ
How about Joe it is: In addition to being about Joe, âCornelia Streetâ highlights a low moment in the âship early on thatâs become as important to their musical mythology as the dive bar.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âBack when we were card sharks, playing games / I thought you were leading me on / I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street / Before you even knew I was gone.â
âLondon Boyâ
How about Joe it is: Despite the title that seems totally Joe-focused, thereâs also a fair amount of Taylor just gushing about British things she likes in addition to the titular boy.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âBut something happened, I heard him laughing / I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent / They say home is where the heart is / But thatâs not where mine lives / You know I love a London boy.â
âAfterglowâ
How about Joe it is: Joe might be (and we assume isâespecially considering the reference to the color blue, which Taylor frequently associates with Joe in songs) the other party in the fight that inspired this song, but itâs much more about Taylor self-reflecting, owning her bad behavior, and apologizing after a blowup.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âI blew things out of proportion, now youâre blue / Put you in jail for something you didnât do.â
âDaylightâ
How about Joe it is: Again, Joe is a factor in the song, but itâs much more about Taylorâs inner journey to learning what real love and a healthy relationship meant for her (while Joe as an individual is associated with blue in her songs, their relationship/real love is associated with gold).
Joe-est lyric/reference: âI once believed love would be (burning red) / But itâs golden / Like daylight, like daylight / Like daylight, daylight.â
âAll of the Girls You Loved Beforeâ
How about Joe it is: Itâs actually, like, 50 percent about Joe and 50 percent an anthem to his exes (and not even in a salty way).
Joe-est lyric/reference: âYour past and mine are parallel lines / Stars all aligned and they intertwined / And taught you / The way you call me âbabyâ / Treat me like a lady / All that I can say is / All of the girls you loved before (ooh) / Made you the one Iâve fallen for.â
Folklore
âInvisible Stringâ
How about Joe it is: If anything, the song is even more about fate and the universe leading you to your Right Person than about Joe and Taylor specifically. But it *does* also include several specifics about their lives (and a dive bar callback).
Joe-est lyric/reference: âA string that pulled me / Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar / Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire / Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons / One single thread of gold tied me to you.â
âPeaceâ
How about Joe it is: âPeaceâ is more about Taylor grappling with her inability to ever give Joe (or any other partner) true peace and normalcy, no matter how hard she triesâand wondering if anything else she does in a relationship (but specifically in her relationship with Joe) can ever fully make up for that fact.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âBut Iâm a fire, and Iâll keep your brittle heart warm / If your cascade ocean wave blues come.â
âThe Lakesâ
How about Joe it is: âThe Lakesâ is mostly art, creating art, and wishing you could do that without the hum of social media and other modern distractions in the background. But the lakes in question are a special place for Taylor and Joe (they spent their three-year anniversary there) and she explicitly dubs him her muse in the song.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âTake me to the lakes where all the poets went to die / I donât belong, and my beloved, neither do you / Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry / Iâm setting off but not without my muse.â
Evermore
âWillowâ
How about Joe it is: Unclear. A lot of the songs on Folklore and Evermore were not autobiographical at all, but there are enough references in âWillowâ to make an argument for some Joe inspiration in the track.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âWherever you stray / I follow / Iâm begging for you to take my hand / Wreck my plans / Thatâs my man.â
âLong Story Shortâ
How about Joe it is: This song covers a lot of the bleh things Taylor went through during the lows of her pre-Reputation and pre-meeting-Joe-Alwyn era. While the focus isnât fully on Joe, he gets credit for being the right decision after all the wrong ones.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âPushed from the precipice / Clung to the nearest lips / Long story short, it was the wrong guy / Now Iâm all about you.â
âEvermoreâ
How about Joe it is: This song is also more about going through a rough patch that just doesnât seem like itâs going to ever end/get better, but once again, Joe makes an appearance as the personified silver lining heâs clearly been for Taylor when she needs it most.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âAnd when I was shipwrecked (canât think of all the cost) / I thought of you (all the things that will be lost now) / In the cracks of light (can we just get a pause?) / I dreamed of you (to be certain weâll be tall again).â
Midnights
âLavender Hazeâ
How about Joe it is: This is Taylorâs confirmed ode to her and Joeâs love bubble and the value of keeping their love private and not letting outside forces affect it.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âAll they keep askinâ me (all they keep askinâ me) / Is if Iâm gonna be your bride / The only kind of girl they see (only kind of girl they see) / Is a one-night or a wife.â
âKarmaâ
How about Joe it is: Barely at all, tbh. But Taylor includes Joe in her list of great things in her life that prove she has good karma, soâŠ.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âKarma is the guy on the screen / Coming straight home to meâ AND ââCause karma is my boyfriend (karma is my boyfriend) / Karma is a god.â
âSweet Nothingâ
How about Joe it is: The song is about how amazing it is that Joe is the calm, steady presence in her life and the person she can count on not to have ulterior motives with her. Oh, and he also co-wrote it, so he must agree that heâs those things.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âEveryoneâs up to something / I find myself running home to your sweet nothings / Outside, theyâre push and shoving / Youâre in the kitchen humming / All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing.â
âMastermindâ
How about Joe it is: Remember how Taylor implied fate brought her and Joe together in âInvisible Stringâ? Well, in âMastermind,â she clarifies that fate might have gotten them to the same room, but then she took over from there (from the touch of a hand referenced in âGorgeous,â it seems). The song also makes it clear that Joe was aware of and on board with her scheming.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âAnd the touch of a hand lit the fuse / Of a chain reaction of countermoves / To assess the equation of you / Checkmate, I couldnât lose.â
âThe Great Warâ
How about Joe it is: Not every moment of Joe and Taylorâs relationship was perfect, and Taylor wrote candidly about one of their worst fights in âThe Great War,â which is about the relationship and Taylorâs conflict resolution skills more than Joe specifically, but heâs definitely in there.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âSoldier down on that icy ground / Looked up at me with honor and truth / Broken and blue, so I called off the troops / That was the night I nearly lost you / I really thought I lost you.â
âGlitchâ
How about Joe it is: Very. In addition to having a very accurate, to-the-day reference to how long theyâd been together at the time the song was written, âGlitchâ reiterates the idea that Taylor thought she and Joe were meant to be friends before the feelings started flying and her plans/preconceived notions went right in the trash.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âI was supposed to sweat you out / In search of glorious happenings of happenstance on someone elseâs playground / But itâs been 2,190 days of our love blackout.â
âYouâre Losing Meâ
How about Joe it is: Seemingly very, considering the timing of the post-breakup release and references to a relationship that died a slow, painful death.
Joe-est lyric/reference: âHow long could we be a sad song / Till we were too far gone to bring back to life? / I gave you all my best meâs, my endless empathy.â
The Tortured Poets Department
âSo Long, Londonâ
How about Joe it is: Incredibly. Fans have dubbed "So Long, London" the antithesis of Lover's "London Boy," both lyrically and sonically. The track details the pain that comes from the city and the relationship that started (and ended) in it.
Joe-est lyric/reference: "You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? / I died on the altar waitin' for the proof / You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days / And I'm just getting color back into my face / I'm just mad as hell 'cause I loved this place for / So long, London."
âFresh Out the Slammerâ
How about Joe it is: I'd say it's 50/50âthe song details how Taylor called up a specific person after a breakup, and Swifties speculate that it could be about her 'ship with Matty Healy after she ended things with Joe.
Joe-est lyric/reference: "All those nights, he kept me goin' / Swirled you into all of my poems / Now we're at the starting line, I did my time."
âlomlâ
How about Joe it is: This somber piano-driven ballad is a devastating account of the end of a relationship. Taylor never actually refers to its subject as the "love of my life," but the "loss of my life" as she recalls talks of getting married and having children with said person.
Joe-est lyric/reference: "You shit-talked me under the table / Talkin' rings and talkin' cradles / I wish I could un-recall / How we almost had it all."
âI Can Do It With a Broken Heartâ
How about Joe it is: A little bit. This uptempo track seemingly samples the sound of Taylor's in-ear monitors during live performances, and its lyrics call back to putting on a show despite being heartbroken. I.e. Taylor embarking on her incredibly successful Eras Tour after her breakup with Joe.
Joe-est lyric/reference: "He said he'd love me all his life / But that life was too short / Breaking down, I hit the floor / All the piДces of me shatterДd as the crowd was chanting, 'More.'"
âThe Albatrossâ
How about Joe it is: Partlyâit seems like it could be about multiple lovers or an ambiguous subject as she muses, "They tried to warn you about me."
Joe-est lyric/reference: "You couldn't conceive it / You were sleeping soundly / When they dragged you from your bed / And I tried to warn you about them."
âHow Did It End?â
How about Joe it is: The entire song details how outsiders asked how a certain relationship ended, as well as the people who made up the partnership. There wasn't much public info on Taylor's split from Joe, aside from multiple reports citing anonymous sources.
Joe-est lyric/reference: "We were blind to unforeseen circumstances / We learned thД right steps to different dancДs / And fell victim to interlopers' glances / Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?"