Fans think Taylor Swift wrote ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ about Matty Healy

nme.com:

Taylor Swift‘s 11th album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, has arrived and fans have taken to social media to theorise what some songs mean, and who the albums was written about.Shortly after the album’s release earlier today (April 19), Swifties took to X (formerly Twitter) to theorise that despite her lengthy relationship with English actor Joe Alwyn, Taylor’s new album is seemingly more about her brief relationship with The 1975‘s Matty Healy.

The pair were romantically linked for a short period time in 2023.According to fans, the title track ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ sees Swift reference Healy, with a lyric seemingly describing an ex-lover as a “tattooed golden retriever”.

She also seemingly makes smaller hints at Healy, singing: “You smokеd then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist / I scratch your head, you fall asleep / Like a tattooed golden retriever“.TTPD – Thank you Taylor for my new favorite description of Matty Healy, "Tattooed golden retriever." The Lucy & Jack name drop & wedding ring thing here triggered some kind of sleeper agent in me.

Kinda wish this was the lead single but it feels too personal to be. 8/10 #TTPD— Yanny ⎕ | Missing the Guys (@laurelsnotyanny) April 19, 2024Fans have pointed out Healy is a notorious smoker, often smoking onstage while performing, while “chocolate” is seemingly a reference to The 1975’s song of the same name.Elsewhere on the title track, Swift seems to namedrop Lucy Dacus – with whom Healy used to be close friends – and Swift’s close friend and collaborator Jack Antonoff.