Rumors about Swift’s partners have flooded the internet for years now, and alongside conspiracies about her male counterparts, there’s a whole community out there who think she’s secretly dated women. Introducing: the “Gaylor” theory.
Taylor’s old bestie Karlie Kloss was the first target of speculation. The pair became inseparable in New York around 2012, so much so that Karlie supposedly had her own room in Taylor’s house! Lyrics from her song “Welcome to New York” are arguably the first time she’s hinted at their relationship, and queerness, in her music.
If the fans weren’t shocked enough by Folklore, Taylor surprise-dropping Evermore less than five months later was almost too much to handle. She described it as Folklore’s sister album, inspired by escapism and the ‘cottagecore’ aesthetic.
You might be looking for backstories like her previous songs, but Evermore is all about storytelling. “Champagne Problems” tells the story of a girl turning down a marriage proposal and taking responsibility for a breakup, leading fans to wonder if Taylor once turned down Joe’s proposal. Was it fictional after all?
One of Taylor’s most devastating songs is track five on Folklore, the haunting “My Tears Ricochet”. Many fans believe it’s Swift’s best and saddest song and the meaning behind it explains why it hit so hard.
The song is about Scott Borchetta, who discovered Taylor at just 14. In 2017, he was responsible for selling her original masters to Scooter Braun. The song’s dark imagery explains Taylor’s devastation at losing control of her music, which she’s thankfully now in the process of regaining with her “Taylor’s Version” re-releases.
We were all surprised when Taylor dropped Folklore during the pandemic, entering another completely new-sounding era. Swift herself explained that it was influenced by loneliness and nostalgia during quarantine, and it’s unlike anything we’ve had from her before.
“The 1” provided a stripped-back sound for Taylor, telling the story of a lost love, writing “It would've been fun, if you would've been the one”. The only problem was that even the most dedicated sleuthing Swifties have not been able to pinpoint exactly which of her exes she's talking about.
With a title like “Style”, and her very public dating history, it seems Taylor was hardly trying to disguise the inspiration for this song. It wasn’t just the title that hinted at being about her tumultuous relationship with heartthrob Harry Styles. In the video, Taylor is spotted wearing the same paper airplane necklace Harry was known for wearing. Suspicious, right?
The song talks about an unhealthy relationship where the pair just can’t escape each other. And whoever it’s actually about, it’s the perfect pop song, so it doesn’t really matter.
Swift has often been criticized for the way she dates men, only to write crushing breakup hits about them later. The “boy-crazy” persona has followed Swift throughout her career, though she’s arguably not completely innocent for stirring up the media’s interest in her love life.
At first glance, “Blank Space” seems like an admission of guilt, but in her 2014 Grammy performance, Taylor admits the song is a parody of the “psycho serial dater girl” character the media makes her out to be. Smart move, Taylor.
Swift told Entertainment Weekly that “Cornelia Street” is one of the most personal songs on Lover, and the song “nearest to her heart”.
The song is about how afraid Taylor is that a certain relationship will end, referring to a townhouse on the real “Cornelia Street” in New York which she rented while her home was being renovated. Many people think it refers to old flame Karlie Kloss, who lived close to the real street. But along with the other love songs on Lover, it’s more likely about Joe Alwyn.
“Picture to Burn” showed us that even from a young age, Taylor nailed writing the perfect diss track. She penned the angsty breakup song at just 14 years old, about high school classmate Jordan Alford. And the lyrics are not subtle.
It seems she was pretty angry at Jordan, immortalizing him in her lyrical history books as a “redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying”. Ouch! After the pair ended things, he dated fellow classmate Chelsea who later became his wife, so at least there was a happy ending.
If you’re a real Swiftie, you’ll know Taylor is re-recording her old albums because her old masters were sold away from her. That’s a whole other complicated story, but the recent re-release of Red: Taylor’s Version also uncovered new material.
“Nothing New” was written by 22-year-old Swift feeling she was already old news in the music industry. Many people speculate that by releasing it now, she’s referring to feeling old compared to young stars like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo smashing their way through the industry.
If there’s one thing Taylor knows how to do perfectly, it’s bring up the past in an unexpected and totally devastating way. The songs we never got to hear from her infamous Vault are the gift that keeps on giving.
Taylor re-recorded her 2008 Fearless album, this time including a surprise song “Mr. Perfectly Fine”, dragging an ex-boyfriend for acting nonchalantly after they split. We all remember how Mr. Jonas dumped Swift back in 2008, so the sleuthing Swifties took those clues to mean the song was about Joe.
