Although much of TTPD, which hits shelves on Friday, April 19, is highly anticipated to revolve around her split from Joe Alwyn, a few of the record’s song titles hint that the pop star will also give listeners a glimpse into her romance with Healy, whom she briefly dated in the spring of last year.
If Tortured Poets retells Swift’s story in chronological order of her life’s events, it’s possible the opening track, “Fortnite,” through tracks five and six — “So Long, London” and “But Daddy, I Love Him” — will center on Alwyn, 32. (The actor is British, after all.)
However, things may take a turn at track 7, titled “Florida!!!,” which Swift cowrote with Florence Welch. Tampa, Florida is where Swift was performing for her worldwide Eras Tour when her breakup with Alwyn was first announced. The pair were together for nearly six years before calling it quits for good in April 2023.
Less than one month later, rumors swirled that Swift had moved on with Healy when he attended her Eras concerts in Nashville. The twosome, who both count Jack Antonoff as a friend and collaborator, were first linked in 2014 when they were seen wearing each other’s merch.
The twosome never confirmed a romance, and Healy later found himself in hot water when he claimed that it was “emasculating” to date someone more famous than him.
“It’s just interesting to me how interested the world is about Taylor Swift,” he told Q Magazine in 2016. “The reason I mention that is because if I had [properly] gone out with Taylor Swift, I would’ve been, ‘F–king hell, I am not being Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.’ You know, ‘F–k. That.’” (He later walked back the remarks.)
Swift and Healy reconnected professionally in 2021 when Swift was crafting Midnights. According to Healy, the pair worked on a “version” of the record that never made the final cut. Swift also popped up at a 1975 concert in January 2022 in London to perform her lead single, “Anti-Hero,” live for the first time.
Once Swift officially called it quits with Alwyn, she and Healy sparked dating speculation when they were spotted together on multiple occasions, even holding hands while at a restaurant in New York City in May 2023. They fueled rumors further when both of them mouthed the same phrase at separate events, seemingly saying, “This is about you, I love you, you know how you are,” before launching into love songs.
Things took a turn for the worse when comments Healy made during a February 2023 episode of “The Adam Friedland Show” podcast resurfaced online. In the interview, Healy mocked rapper Ice Spice — who worked with Swift on a remix of “Karma” — and her ethnicity. (Ice Spice later shared that Healy had apologized “a bunch of times” for his words.)
By June 2023, Swift and Healy had gone their separate ways. “Taylor and Matt are no longer romantically involved,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “They had fun together, but it was never serious.”
Many fans believe Healy’s problematic behavior factored into the split, which is why TTPD songs “Guilty as Sin,” “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” are rumored to be about The 1975 frontman.
“I can practically hear Taylor Swift singing ‘I can fix him, no really I can’ in the most sarcastic tone,” one person wrote via X, while another said, “Did you really think Taylor was going to write a song called ‘I Can Fix Him’ and have it not be about Matty Healy?”
A third fan added, “‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ is obviously about Matty Healy. It’s not about a long term boyfriend.”
Others pointed out that Swift has often sung about fearing that she may not find a partner who can handle her highly publicized life in songs like “Peace,” “The Archer” and “Anti-Hero.” TTPD’s track 10, “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” could also touch on the topic, referring back to Healy’s past issues about dating someone with bigger celebrity status.
“If ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me’ is even moderately in the realm of being about someone who made her feel small suddenly begging her not to use her songwriting power against them now that it’s look ing like they’re going to split I will actually inconsolable,” one person wrote of the song via X.
Although Swift has not confirmed who her songs on TTPD will be about, she did share during her Melbourne, Australia Eras Tour concert last month that the album was a “lifeline” for her during a hard time in her life.
“It sort of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through life,” she told the crowd, “and I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”
The Tortured Poets Department hits shelves on Friday, April 19.
