The Tortured Poets Department is out and Taylor Swift is taking no prisoners
While a lot of Swifties thought this would be the album where she puts her ex Joe Awlyn on blast after the end of their six-year relationship, it seems the singer had someone else on her mind.
From the references to tattoos and chocolate all the way to calling out his “Jehovah’s Witness suit,” Matty Healy seemed to serve as the inspiration behind much of her songwriting this time around.
Though the two were linked all the way back in 2014, it wasn’t until 2023 that they seemed to give their relationship a new lease of life – if only for a short while.
So in honour of Taylor’s latest release, we’re having a look back on their brief romance.
November 2014: Matty and Taylor meet
Taylor attends a 1975 concert in Los Angeles with fellow musicians Ellie Goulding and Selena Gomez.
She met him backstage and exchanged numbers with him, according to Matty himself.
Just a few days later, Taylor is spotted out wearing a 1975 shirt, spurring rumours of a potential romance.
December 2014: Matty denies they’re dating
The romance rumours continued to swirl when Taylor went to another 1975 concert, this time with Lily Aldridge and Karlie Kloss, but Matty was quick to shut down any rumours of romance.
“We met each other, we exchanged numbers in the same way that a lot of people in this kind of world do, and we spoke occasionally,” he told Australia’s 2DayFM.
“She’s the biggest pop star in the world and I’m in Australia. There’s no relationship or anything happening. It’s just funny how people really, really buy into that.”
February 2015: They party at the Brit Awards
They are photographed alongside Nick Grimshaw and Ellie Goulding at Universal Music’s bash at the Soho House pop-up in London.
On this night, Taylor is believed to have also met Calvin Harris, whom she soon went on to date into 2016.
March 2016: Matty claims quotes are taken out of context
In an interview with Q Magazine, the lead singer of The 1975 said it would’ve been “emasculating” for him to date the Anti-Hero singer.
“I don’t do anything else, right, so it doesn’t leave a lot of room for me going out, or shagging someone,” he told the outlet.
“So the one time I did have a flirtation with a girl it ends up going everywhere…. I mean, I got on E! News and people were like, ‘Who’s Matt Healy?’ so that was cool, but I didn’t make a big deal out of it myself.
“It’s not really anything to talk about, because if she wasn’t Taylor Swift we wouldn’t be talking about her,” he continued.
“She wasn’t a big impact on my life. It’s just interesting to me how interested the world is about Taylor Swift.”
He added: “If I had 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.’ That’s also a man thing, a de-masculating, emasculating thing.”
Matty later backtracked and released an open letter shortly, claiming that his quotes were “totally taken out of context”.
He went on the clarify that he and Swift never dated, but, amid speculation that they did, he was “immersed in a celebrity world that I found confusing and scary”.
January 2023: Taylor takes the stage
No one was quite so hysterical as the crowd at The 1975’s London concert in January when Matty welcomed Taylor to the stage in what was probably one of the more expected things to happen during their supposed relationship.
The star performed Anti-Hero and The City with the band during the surprise appearance, sparking rumours that the pair might be seeing each other again after years apart.
May 2023: The two are seen out together
A month after it was confirmed that Taylor and her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn had parted ways, there are plenty of snaps of Taylor and Matty together.
On top of this Matty seems to like hanging around the Era’s Tour being spotted in the crowd on multiple occasions.
Eagle-eyed fans note that during their respective performances – Matty’s on the 3rd of May and Taylor’s on the 5th – the two mouth the same words onstage: “This one is about you. You know who you are. I love you”.
June 2023: Is it over now?
According to ET, Matty and Taylor called things off in June, with a source saying that they were very busy and realised that they weren’t compatible.
Taylor has since been in a relationship with athlete Travis Kelce.
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