Joe Jonas or Joe Alwyn? Fans Have Competing Theories About Who Taylor Swift’s ‘Patient Zero’ Is Really About
Taylor Swift has sent her fans on another quest.
Earlier this week, the singer-songwriter teased the release of her new single, “Patient Zero.” The track officially dropped on September 25 (with a star-studded video set to premiere during the VMAs this weekend). It didn’t take people long to start speculating about who the song – in which a woman reaches out to her toxic ex’s new girlfriend – was really about.
Is ‘Patient Zero’ about Joe Alwyn?
“If you wanna party with somebody who might know / About the devil on his shoulder under his halo / When the toxins take their hold, you’d rather die than let it go / But if you’re sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero,” Swift sings as the song begins.
Two main theories quickly emerged about the mystery man’s real identity.
Some people thought the song was aimed at Joe Alwyn. Swift, who is now married to Travis Kelce, dated the actor from 2017 to 2023 – her longest public relationship. They think that some references to a social climbing ex refer to Alwyn, who was relatively unknown when he and the “Karma” singer got together. In the track, Swift disses her former partner, suggesting he was using her to gain fame.
“I know he charmed your family and friends/And you thought it’s ’cause he loves you/But it’s ’cause he loves how everybody loves him. I know it seems like he shines bright/But he’s bathing in your reflected light/On a free social climb,” she sings.
Swift also references willingly leaving the relationship in the lines “Take it from somebody who lost his games but won the race … Someone who had him and walked away.” While Swift’s split from Alwyn was reportedly amicable, insiders said that she was ultimately the one who decided to call it quits. The song could be interpreted as a warning to Alwyn’s current girlfriend, actor Sarah Pidgeon.
“Let’s face it, the song is clearly about Joe Alwyn,” one person wrote on Reddit.
New Taylor Swift track could be about Joe Jonas
While some Swifties are convinced “Patient Zero” is a reference to Alwyn, others think it’s about a man she dated nearly two decades ago: Joe Jonas. Swift and Jonas were involved for about three months before the Disney Channel star infamously dumped her in 27-second phone call.
Swift later laughed about the experience of teenage heartbreak. But in 2023, she showed she was keeping an eye on her ex when she invited Sophie Turner to stay at her home in New York after her marriage to Jonas imploded.
The Grammy-winner has said that “Patient Zero” was inspired by women coming together to share warnings about their problematic partners. It’s possible that she and Turner spent some time bonding over their shared experiences with Jonas.
“100% about Joe Jonas. Patient Zero being the first to be jilted by him. This song is for Sophie Turner,” argued one Redditor.
What Taylor Swift has said about her new song
However, there’s also a subset of Swifties who think “Patient Zero” isn’t about a specific person at all. They think it’s a meta-commentary on Swift’s own fame, with the title referencing a 2024 Los Angeles Times article that referred to her as ““patient zero for emotional contagion.” The comment came in an article analyzing the public’s intense involvement in her then relatively new romance with Kelce. Others theorize it’s not aimed at any one ex at all but is rather a commentary on relationships in general. Swift’s own comments support that idea.
“The story behind me writing the song ‘Patient Zero’ is that I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, and one of my friends told us that she had been reached out to by the new girlfriend of an ex of hers, asking for guidance on if she had had the same experiences with this guy,” she said (via Capital FM). “Everyone in our group just immediately started saying like, ‘Oh, I’ve been through that too’, and telling the stories of when this kind of reach out had happened for them.”
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