Taylor Swift has lived in London, recorded music and has even had several serious relationships in the city, therefore it is not a surprise her newest album The Tortured Poets Department includes a song called So Long London. It is thought to be about Taylor’s British ex-boyfriend Joe Alywn, whom she dated from 2016 to 2023. This is the second time Swift has used London in a track title.
Here is a breakdown of Swift’s relationship with London you didn’t know you needed.
Harry Styles
Swift gets a taste for England when she starts dating the One Direction star in March 2012.
The former couple, who became known to fans as "Haylor" dated from the end of 2012 until the beginning of 2013.
The pair seem to be on good terms today as they shared a hug during the 2023 Grammys.
Red and 1989
So Long London isn’t the first time London got a mention in one of her albums.
The song Come back … Be Here mentions the big city and how far she feels from her lover.
The song goes:
“I guess you're in London today
And I don't wanna need you this way
Come back, be here
Come back, be here.”
In another verse, she adds:
“But you're in London, and I break down
Cause it's not fair that you're not around.”
Two years after Red was released in 2012 Swift comes out with another great album, 1989.
The song Clean many fans suspect was written about her relationship with Styles.
The rumours escalated when she told Elle magazine she wrote it “while walking out of Liberty in London” about “someone I used to date – it hit me hard that I’d been in the same city as him for two weeks and I hadn’t thought about it”.
Matty Healy
Swift was then linked with another Englishman and this time it was none other than the 1975 singer.
The pair reportedly dated from 2013 to early 2014. However, in an awkward 2016 interview with Healy, he tells Q magazine that dating Swift would have been “emasculating”.
He said: “If I had gone out with Taylor Swift I would’ve been, ‘Fucking hell! I am NOT being Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.’ You know, ‘FUCK. THAT.’”
Tom Hiddleston
Swift was then rumoured to be with another London boy Tom Hiddleston.
The pair reportedly dated between 2016-2017 but despite their short relationship Hiddleston had nice things to say about Swift.
The actor told GQ in February 2017: “Taylor is an amazing woman. She’s generous and kind and lovely, and we had the best time.”
Moving to London
Soon after their breakup the Sun reported that Swift moved to north London to live with then boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
Swift appeared to confirm her move to London in a Time Magazine interview as she spoke about the controversy involving Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
“That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone any more. I went down really, really hard.”
London Boy
This timeline wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t give a special mention to the song London Boy. In 2018, Swift begins working on her new album Lover and she records London Boy at Metropolis Studios in London
2021 Brit Awards
It turns out that the UK loves Swift just as much as she loves Britain. Swift was awarded the Global Icon Award at the Brit Awards in 2021.
Alwyn even got a special shout out in Swift’s award speech. While talking about the three albums she released over lockdown, she said with a smile:
"Thank you Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Joe.”
So Long, London
While London Boy was upbeat, a new song in So Long, London is a melancholy song of heartbreak. The song appears to be saying goodbye to the city and the relationship she had with Alwyn.
She paints a picture of a relationship in its last stages, when one partner starts to create distance from the other and that other struggles to hold them together. The 34-year-old mentions being left by the Heath, where she lived in London in the context of her relationship ending with Alwyn.
“I left all I knew
You left me at the house by the heath,” she sings.
