Taylor Swift is known for channeling her feelings and writing about her experiences in her music, but has Matty Healy inspired any of her songs?
While Swift, 34, famously never names her muses, fans have theorized that there are several allusions to Healy, 35, in a selection of her hit songs.
Us Weekly confirmed in April 2023 that Swift had split from Joe Alwyn after nearly six years together. Weeks later, she was spotted hanging out with Healy in New York City before he attended a handful of her domestic Eras Tour concerts. By June 2023, Swift and the 1975 frontman were “no longer romantically involved,” according to a source.
The insider noted at the time that while Swift and Healy “had fun together,” their connection was “never serious.”
Despite Swift and Healy never being an official couple, many of her fans have speculated that she’s written about their dalliance in several songs. (The pair were first linked in 2014 though never publicly addressed the romantic rumors.)
“‘The 1’ by Taylor Swift is about Matty Healy. That’s the tweet,” a social media user wrote via X in July 2020.
Swift dropped “The 1” on her pandemic-released record Folklore, detailing a would-be romance with the one who presumably got away.
“If my wishes came true / It would’ve been you,” she sings. “In my defense, I have none / For never leaving well enough alone / But it would’ve been fun / If you would’ve been the one.”
She later adds, “I persist and resist the temptation to ask you / If one thing had been different / Would everything be different today?”
Other fans have theorized that even the song title is a reference to Healy.
“What if #TaylorSwift’s song ‘The 1’ was actually about Matty Healy since they’ve known each other for a long time?” an X user posited. “And the title is a nod to the fact that his band is called The 1975 (a number with 4 digits … there are 4 members in the band. What if he’s the ‘1’ in 1-9-7-5?”
During Swift and Healy’s romance, she notably swapped “Invisible String” from her Eras setlist to instead sing “The 1” in its place.
Swift was also speculated to have written “Cardigan,” another Folklore track, about Healy.
“When you realize Taylor Swift wrote ‘Cardigan ‘about Matty Healy and ‘chase two girls’ refers to Halsey and herself,” an X user speculated, referring to Halsey’s past relationship with Healy.
In the track, Swift sings, “A friend to all is a friend to none / Chase two girls, lose the one/ When you are young, they assume you know nothin’.”
Another song rumored to be about Healy is “Question…?,” a track off Swift’s 2022 record Midnights.
“Half-moon eyes, bad surprise /Did you realize, out of time,” she sings. “She was on your mind / With some meathead guy / That you saw that night / But you were on something.”
It is thought that “half-moon eyes” identifies the British singer.
“Matty has a hooded eye shape, that looks like a ‘half moon’ while Harry [Styles] has a rounded eye shape. Which isn’t anything like a half-moon,” another fan wrote via X, silencing other rumors that the song is about Styles, 30, before noting that the lyric “Got swept in the grey” seems to respond to Halsey’s song “Colors” penned about Healy and their breakup.
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Not only was “Question…?” seemingly inspired by Healy, but he nearly collaborated on its album.
“We actually worked a bit on [Midnights] but then the version of it never came out,” Healy said during a November 2022 interview with Audacy’s DTS Sound Space. “It was for reasons that are not to be criticized. She’s amazing.”
Fans have also theorized that Healy inspired several tracks on Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, which drops on Friday, April 19.
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