Which of Taylor Swift’s Songs Are About Joe Alwyn?
It has been years since Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn called it quits on their six-year romance. Since then, Swift has released new music, found her forever love, and gotten married. That doesn’t mean she’s stopped writing about her past loves, though. Her latest drop, “Patient Zero,” is rumored to be about Alwyn and would mark her harshest take on the past love. Still, it’s not the first song she’s rumored to have written about him.
Is ‘Patient Zero’ about Joe Alwyn?
On September 25, Taylor Swift dropped four new songs with the release of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore. The standout single, “Patient Zero,” is about a toxic relationship, and fans quickly began speculating about who inspired it. Swift hasn’t named a muse, but Alwyn is among the names fans are discussing most.
The song uses imagery of toxins, illness, and emotional damage while looking back on a relationship gone wrong. It describes a man who seems charming but ultimately leaves the woman feeling diminished. Its illness imagery also recalls “You’re Losing Me,” another song widely associated with the end of Swift’s relationship with Alwyn.
Fans are divided on who they think the song is actually about. While some theorize that Swift is shading Alwyn for using her to climb the social ladder, others are arguing that Swift might have pulled inspiration for the song from someone else’s romantic mishap. Some fans think she used Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’ split as inspiration.
The other Taylor Swift songs linked to Joe Alwyn
While “Patient Zero” is the song fans are currently talking about in relation to Joe Alwyn, it isn’t the first one they suspect was written about the actor. Since Swift and Alwyn spent so many years together, it would stand to reason that some of her music was inspired by their love affair. After all, Swift almost always pulls inspiration for her songs from her own life.
“Delicate” and “Cornelia Street” are both believed to be about her early romance with Alwyn. “London Boy” is also believed to be a nod to the actor. “You’re Losing Me,” “So Long, London” and “Lavender Haze” are all connected to the slow shift and eventual demise of their romance.
Alwyn also collaborated directly with Swift. Under the pseudonym William Bowery, he is credited on at least two songs from Folklore and a few from Evermore. He described co-writing “Exile” as a pandemic accident, likening it to the way other people made sourdough.
The song could mark a shift in her feelings
If “Patient Zero” is about Joe Alwyn, it marks one of Taylor Swift’s harshest portrayals of him yet. While Swift is known for eviscerating past loves through music, she was more melancholy than angry in songs like “So Long, London,” which was connected to the split. Alwyn seemed to get off easy musically in the breakup, but if “Patient Zero” is, in fact, about him, he’s not getting off easy now.
The song homes in on toxic traits, ulterior motives, and the way things become clear over time. If it is about Alwyn, fans can’t help but wonder what might have happened more recently to prompt her to take such an intense jab at him just months after her wedding.
