Taylor Swift is famous for immortalising past boyfriends in her lyrics, but it turns out her current beau has actually had a hand in writing them. Since she dropped her surprise album Folklore in July, there has been much chatter among the Tay fandom surrounding the identity of a mystery songwriter, William Bowery, who is credited on two tracks on the Grammy-nominated record. Now Swift, who has been dating the British actor Joe Alwyn for around three years, has said: “It’s not a real person. William Bowery is Joe.”
Even before he lent his songwriting abilities to “Exile” and “Betty”, Alwyn had served as Swift’s muse on last year’s Lover album. The Pennsylvania-born superstar sang about rainy cab rides and watching rugby in the pub with her boyfriend’s school mates on “London Boy”, which also featured the memorable refrain: “I fancy you”. It might have raised a few eyebrows among his fellow Brits, but the actor certainly fares far better in her back catalogue than some of Swift’s exes. “Dear John”, which includes the line, “Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with?” is widely believed to have been inspired by John Mayer, while “Look What You Made Me Do” is thought to include veiled swipes at Calvin Harris, who she split from in 2016. Her fling with Harry Styles is believed to have provided Swift with material for no fewer than three tracks: “I Knew You Were Trouble”, “Style”, and “Out of the Woods”.
Swift let the cat out of the bag in Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, a film released on Disney+ this week in which she performs tracks from the album, which she recorded in quarantine. According to the singer, “Joe plays piano beautifully and he’s always just playing and making things up and kind of creating things.”
Given that Folklore is perhaps Swift’s most critically acclaimed album to date – the NME called “The Last Great American Dynasty” the “best song she’s ever written”, and it’s earned her five Grammy nominations – it seems finding someone she can write with, rather than about, has not only enhanced her personal life, but her professional one, too.
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