Joe Alwyn Addresses Theory He Inspired Taylor Swift Song “The Black Dog”

Joe Alwyn was someone who, until recent events, kept his secrets to himself. 

However, the Kinds of Kindness star recently broke his silence on his past, six-year relationship with Taylor Swift, and even subtly addressed just how much of The Tortured Poets Department could be inspired by their relationship. 

In fact, when a Sunday Times reporter postulated in his recent interview, published June 15, that the Conversations with Friends actor may frequent The Black Dog pub in London's Vauxhall neighborhood—a spot many fans believed was the location mentioned in Taylor's song of the same name—he noted simply, "I've never been to Vauxhall."

Of course in light of Joe's admission, some fans conclude that "The Black Dog" may be referencing Matty Healy instead. After all, a lyric in "The Black Dog" references a song by The Starting Line, a band that The 1975 frontman has covered at concerts before. 

And while Joe was willing to divulge this piece of trivia, he otherwise held back on revealing too many details of his former relationship—a decision, he emphasized, was made with the "Karma" singer.

"As everyone knows, we together—both of us, mutually—decided to keep the more private details of our relationship private," he added. "It was never something to commodify and I see no reason to change that now."

Ultimately, Joe also expressed desire for people to recognize the stress of the situation for both him and Taylor, regardless of their level in the public eye. 

"I would hope that anyone and everyone can empathize and understand the difficulties that come with the end of a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years—that is a hard thing to navigate," he added to the Sunday Times. "What is unusual and abnormal in this situation is that, one week later, it's suddenly in the public domain and the outside world is able to weigh in."

And now, over a year after the former couple's breakup was announced, Taylor appears to be feeling so high school with her new boyfriend Travis Kelce.

As for Joe? "I'm sure you can appreciate, given the level of noise and scrutiny about my past relationship," he added to the Sunday Times when asked about his dating life, "why I wouldn't want to just open the door to things like that right now."

This London Boy may not have inspired "The Black Dog," but he has played a big part in Taylor's past discography. Keep reading to see all of her songs that include a nod to her past relationship with Joe. 

The first song Taylor Swift collaborated on with her former boyfriend Joe Alwyn, the ballad appears on 2020's Folklore as a duet with Bon Iver. At the time of the album's release, Joe was credited under the pseudonym William Bowery, though Taylor confirmed William and Joe were one and the same during her Disney+ concert film, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.

Taylor revealed Joe had written the entire piano part, along with singing, "I can see you standin' honey/With his arms around your body/Laughin' but the joke's not funny at all." She went on to say The Favourite actor was "always just playing and making things up and kind of creating things," but the couple may have never worked together if it wasn't for the COVID-19 shutdown. 

"I was like, 'Hey, this could be really weird, and we could hate this,'" she explained, "'because we're in quarantine and there's nothing else going on, could we just try to see what it's like if we write this song together?'" 

The result of their professional collaboration? Winning Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammys.

"We're so proud of 'Exile,'" Taylor gushed. "All I have to do is dream up some lyrics and come up with some gut-wrenching, heart-shattering story to write with him."

For the title track off her ninth studio album, Taylor explained to Apple Music's Zane Lowe that she and Joe worked together the same way they did on "Exile," with Joe crafting the melody, Taylor writing the lyrics and Bon Iver once again serving as the male singing voice.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the song's co-producer Aaron Dessner said it was "really important" for Joe to play the piano part on "Evermore" as he wasn't able to on "Exile" due to recording issues.

"But this time, we could," Aaron said. "I just think it's an important and special part of the story."

Just hours before Taylor kicked off The Eras tour in Glendale, Ariz., on March 17, the Grammy winner treated fans to four brand-new songs, including "All of the Girls You Loved Before." Originally intended for her 2019 album Lover, fans theorized that the track was about Joe. 

Taylor begins her pre-chorus by singing, "Your past and mine are parallel lines / Stars all aligned and they intertwined." Those lyrics reminded fans of another song she wrote about Joe on Midnights titled "Mastermind" on which she sings, "Once upon a time, the planets and the fates / And all the stars aligned / You and I ended up in the same room / At the same time."

Later in the song, Taylor croons, "The way you call me 'baby' / Treat me like a lady." Swifties quickly flashed back to Taylor's reputation hit "King of My Heart," which is also about Joe. In the track, she sings, "We met a few weeks ago / Now you try on callin' me 'baby' like tryin' on clothes."

Part of the high school love triangle trilogy on Folklore, Taylor said "Betty" was the result of her hearing Joe "singing the entire, fully formed chorus from another room." 

"I really liked that it seemed to be an apology," she continued. "And I've written so many songs from a female's perspective of wanting a male apology, that we decided to make it from a teenage boy's perspective, apologizing after he loses the love of his life because he's been foolish."

While Joe wasn't actively involved with the production on Midnights' opening track—Zoë Kravitz is credited as a co-songwriter though!—Taylor's desire to protect their relationship from the public was the inspiration for the song.

"If the world finds out that you're in love with somebody, they're going to weigh in on it," she explained on Instagram. "My relationship for six years, we've had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff—and we just ignore it. This song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff."

The title comes from a phrase commonly used in the 1950s that Taylor first heard while watching Mad Men, sharing that it meant an "all-encompassing love glow."

Though the couple co-wrote the Evermore song about a failed engagement, Taylor shot down the speculation that it was about their relationship.

"I say it was a surprise that we started writing together, but in a way, it wasn't," she told Zane Lowe. "Because we have always bonded over music and had the same musical tastes, and he's always the person who's showing me songs by artists and then they become my favorite songs or whatever."

Taylor continued, "Joe and I really love sad songs. We've always bonded over music. So...we write the saddest [ones]. We just really love sad songs. What can I say?"

In addition to the title track and "Champagne Problems," Joe also co-wrote "Coney Island," a dark duet featuring The National frontman Matt Berninger,  on Evermore.

Described by Taylor as the most vulnerable song on Folklore, the ballad was the result of the superstar feeling "more rooted in my personal life" because of Joe, she told Paul McCartney in an interview for Rolling Stone.

"I think that in knowing him and being in the relationship I am in now," she said, "I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids."

The only track Joe co-wrote on Midnights, this sweet love song opens with a pebble picked up from a beach in Wicklow, which is the county in Ireland where the actor filmed the Hulu series Conversations With Friends.

Taylor wrote the ballad "You're Losing Me" about a dying relationship on Dec. 5, 2021, according to collaborator Jack Antonoff. He revealed the "very special track from the midnights sessions" was "written and recorded at home" just weeks after she released Red (Taylor's Version) and the "All Too Well" short film.

Taylor waited over a year to release it, debuting it as a Midnights bonus song in May 2023 (one month after news broke of her split with Joe, leading fans to speculate it's about their breakup). 

"I can't find a pulse / My heart won't start anymore / For you / 'Cause you're losin' me," she sings. "How long could we be a sad song / 'Til we were too far gone to bring back to life? / I gave you all my best me's, my endless empathy."

The lyrics also hint at a rejected marriage proposal: "And I wouldn't marry me either / A pathological people pleaser / Who only wanted you to see her."

Um, Joe is British. Enough said. 

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