Wondering what Taylor Swift, 32, thinks of her boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn, 31? All you have to do is listen to one of his songs, which he probably inspired many. See: “Lover”, “London Boy”.

Swift said she doesn’t talk (much) about her personal life or dating history, but she Is Write about it. “I don’t talk about my personal life in detail. I talk about it in my songs and I feel like you can share enough about your life in your music to let people know what you’re going through,” Swift told Glamor in 2012.

After meeting in 2016, the two went (somewhat) Instagram official in May 2018, when they posted similar photos of themselves standing next to a giant cactus.

As they’ve become more public with their relationship, Swift and the “Conversations With Friends” star have spoken about each sparingly in interviews — but more often in lyrics.

Ahead of her upcoming album, “Midnights,” Swift said the song “Lavender Haze” was inspired by her relationship. “Lavender mist,” she said, “signifies the ‘all-encompassing glow of love.'”

“If the world finds out you’re in love with someone, they’re gonna weigh in on it. My relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff – and we just ignore it” “This song kind of talks about the act of ignoring those things to protect the real things.”

The rest of the songs on the album, she says, will focus on one of her favorite subjects: the concept of midnight.

Here’s a timeline of Alwyn and Swift’s relationship, in their own words.

Fans Think They Met at the 2016 Met Gala Because of This Song

Fans assume that Swift and Alwyn met at the 2016 Met Gala because of a song taken from the 2017 song “Dress,” featured on the “Reputation” album.

Swift sings, “Flashback when you met me / Your buzz cut / And my bleached hair.”

Take a look back at the 2016 Met Gala photos and, behold, Swift showed up to the event with a bleached blonde bob and Alwyn sported a buzz cut.

They started dating in 2016

Although they never confirmed where they met, Alwyn and Swift were dating in late 2016. Earlier that year, Swift had been linked to Tom Hiddleston and Calvin Harris.

On 2019’s “Lover” album, Swift shared photocopies of her journal entries, including one from Jan. 3, 2017, which talks about her new relationship. Although Alwyn is not named, the timeline of the diary entries matches her relationship.

“I’m basically based in London, hiding out to try to protect us from the mean world that just wants to mess things up.

“We’ve been together and no one has known for three months now. I want it to stay that way because I don’t want it to change anything.

“It’s foolish to worry about not being happy one day when I’m happy now,” she continued.

Swift and Alwyn went Instagram official in 2018

About a year and a half after they started dating, Swift and Alwyn gave a nod to their relationship online.

They shared similar photos on their Instagram accounts of themselves standing next to a large cactus.

In the caption, Swift revealed how excited she was to be on her “Reputation” tour.

“Fact: I’ve never been more excited about a tour than this one,” she said. “And it starts TOMORROW. Also, not even related to the tour, but today I met a cactus. 🌵.”

As for Alwyn’s post? The actor shared a cactus emoji in the caption.

Alwyn said he would ‘rather talk about work’ than relationships

During a May 2018 interview with British Vogue — shortly after the aforementioned cactus photos — Alwyn was asked about his relationship with Swift and said he’d rather not discuss it with the publication.

“I’m aware that people want to know that side of things,” he said. “I think we managed to be very private and people have now understood. But I really prefer to talk about work.”

That year also marked Alwyn’s breakout, following his 2016 appearance on “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.” The English actor has acted in four films: “The Favourite”, “Mary Queen of Scots”, “Boy Erased” and “Operation Finale”.

When asked about Swift again in a September 2018 interview with Total Film, Alywn explained why he was reluctant to talk about his relationship with the press.

“I understand people’s curiosity about the world we live in, about people’s privacy. Well, I don’t understand it, but I know it exists,” he said. “For me, I don’t think it’s something I want to give away to be chosen by people who don’t know it, and it’s just not theirs.”

Swift says Alwyn “absolutely” understands what she’s going through

While speaking with Paul McCartney for Rolling Stone’s November 2020 cover, Swift opened up about the challenges of dating as an A-Lister. She said it can be “scary” as a public figure to fall in love with someone who “has a very grounded, normal lifestyle.”

“I can often, in my anxieties, control how I am as a person and how well I act and rationalize things, but I can’t control if there are 20 photographers out in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives,” she said. “I can’t control if there’s going to be some weird fake headline about us in the news tomorrow.”

“But I think knowing him and being in the relationship I’m in now, I definitely made some decisions that made my life feel more like real life and less like a tabloid comment story. “, continued Swift. .

When asked if her partner sympathized with what she faced as a singer, she replied “absolutely”.

Swift reveals Alwyn co-wrote ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ albums

When Swift released her eighth studio album, “Folklore,” in July 2020, fans listed William Bowery’s name in the credits of “Betty” and “Exile.” And on “Evermore,” released later that year, Bowery was among the writers for “Coney Island,” “Champagne Problems,” and “Evermore.”

Amid speculation over the identity of William Bowery, Swift spilled the wick in the 2020 Disney+ project “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.

“There’s been a lot of talk about William Bowery and his identity because he’s not a real person,” Swift said in the film. “William Bowery is Joe, as we know it.”

During an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in 2022, Alwyn explained why they decided to use a pseudonym.

“We chose to do this so that people, first and foremost, would listen to the music before dissecting the fact that we did this together,” Alwyn said.

The name has a special meaning: “It was a combination of William, my great-grandfather, whom I never met, (who) was a composer,” Alwyn said. “He wrote a lot of classical music and he wrote a lot of film scores. And then Bowery is the neighborhood in New York where I spent a lot of time when I first went there. “

Alwyn went on to win a Grammy for her contributions to Swift’s “Folklore” album. In March 2021, he won his first Grammy alongside his girlfriend, who won her third album of the year award.

In her acceptance speech, Swift gave Alwyn a sweet shoutout. She said, “Joe, who’s the first person I play every song I write, and I’ve had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine.”

In an April 2022 interview with The Guardian, Alwyn opened up about working with Swift and revealed how he became a collaborator on some of Swift’s songs.

“It wasn’t like, ‘It’s five o’clock, it’s time to try to write a song together,'” he said. “That came from messing around on a piano and singing badly and then being overheard and being, like, ‘Let’s see what happens if we make it to the end together.'”

Alwyn denies engagement rumors

In April 2020, Alwyn kept his promise not to speak to the press about his relationship when asked by The Wall Street Journal if the rumors that he and Swift were engaged were true.

“If I had a pound every time I think I was told I was engaged, I’d have a lot of pound coins,” he joked.

“I mean, the truth is if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say,” Alwyn added.

Engagement rumors linger, with fans wondering if the “chaotic surprise” Swift promised on the evening’s “Midnight” drops is Alwyn-related.

“Lavender Haze” and other songs are about Joe Alwyn

On Instagram, Swift confirmed that her relationship inspired the “Midnights” song “Lavender Haze.”

It is also believed to have inspired other songs. Alwyn and Swift were dating when “Reputation” came out in 2017 and were a couple during the time of “Lover” (2019), boosting one of its most romantic eras.

In “Invisible String”, she sings about two people’s journey to meet: “Teal was the color of your shirt / When you were sixteen at the yogurt store / You were working to earn some money.” Alwyn has spoken before about working at a fro-yo establishment.

“London Boy” may be about their romance: “You know I love a boy from London,” she sings. “He likes my American smile.”

Or in “Daylight,” Swift references how her idea of ​​love has changed since releasing the album “Red” at age 22: “I once believed that love would be bright red / but it’s golden.”

If any of these love songs are your favorite, you can probably thank Alwyn.