Taylor Swift is about to kick off her UK Eras Tour leg tonight in Edinburgh, but what references does she make in her songs of her English exes and London?
Taylor Swift has dated some of the most eligible bachelors in the United Kingdom, with the singer also believed to have penned songs about them too.
Moving to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was just 14, Taylor has lived in America much of her life but seems to have a penchant for guys from the UK – until recently when she went public with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, whom she has been linked to since last summer.
But before she settled on Travis, Taylor dated a string of British men including the likes of Harry Styles, her recent ex Matty Healy, and of course Joe Alwyn. Here, we've taken a look at all of the times she's mentioned her British ex-boyfriends in her songs.
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"Home is where the heart is, but god, I love the English," Taylor Swift penned five years ago on London Boy from her Lover album. Also in this song she mentions Bond Street, Camden Market, and Hackney and Hampstead Heath.
"But you're in London, and I break down, 'cause it's not fair that you're not around," she sings in Come Back… Be Here from her 2012 Red album.
Also from the Red album, Taylor sings in Message In A Bottle: "How is it in London? Where were you while I’m wondering if I’ll ever see you again?".
For the 2019 Cats movie, Taylor sings the track Beautiful Ghosts where she croons: "Too young to wander London streets alone and haunted."
In the Folklore song The Lakes, Taylor sings: "Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die / I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you / Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry," referencing England.
Then, in The Tortured Poets Department on track five, Taylor emotionally sings: "For so long, London. Stitches undone. Two graves, one gun. I'll find someone."
Taylor and Harry dated around 12 years ago. It was December 2012 when the pair were spotted on what was rumoured to be a date, with them pictured wandering around Central Park Zoo in New York City.
Their romance was short-lived and a month later in January 2013, they were reported to have split. But this didn't stop Taylor penning much of 1989 with Harry in mind, according to reports.
The hit song Style from the 2014 album is thought to reference the couple's romance, with Out Of The Woods also rumored to be about the One Direction heartthrob. Vault tracts from the 2023 re-record, Is it Over Now? and Say Don't Go are also thought to be about Harry.
Taylor and Matt Healy have known each other for many years, with Matty even donning a tee with the 1989 album artwork on the front, during his band's show at The Rave in Milwaukee back in 2014. Taylor then famously stepped out wearing The 1975 merchandise in the same year.
Then, last May, it was reported that mere weeks after Taylor's split from longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn, she and Matty had reconnected and they were "madly in love". They were then seen out and about in Nashville, Tennessee. But their romance fizzled out by June 2023 with a source telling ET that they're "not really compatible with each other".
Taylor did seemingly make some references to Matty Healy in some recent tracks from her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department, however. It is thought that The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, LOML, But Daddy I Love Him, and The Tortured Poets Department were all penned with Matty in mind.
At the start of April last year, outlets began reporting that Taylor and Joe had split after six years together. At the time, a source said: "It was not dramatic. The relationship had just run its course. It's why [Alwyn] hasn't been spotted at any [Eras Tour] shows."
Taylor famously penned songs about Joe on her Reputation and Lover albums, with Delicate from the former thought to be about how the pair fell in love, as well as King Of My Heart, Call It What You Want and New Year's Day also thought to be about Joe from Rep.
On the Lover album, Joe seemingly inspired the hit London Boy, Cruel Summer, Daylight, Cornelia Street and False God. And then the couple penned songs together when they wrote songs for Taylor's Folklore and Evermore albums.
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Her 2022 Midnights album is also thought to be about Joe, with the song Sweet Nothing thought to be about their love story, and the song Bejeweled rumoured to be about their split.
Meanwhile, from her latest album, TTPD, Taylor sings about Joe on track five – So, Long London. In this track, Taylor croons: "I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath," with this thought to refer to how the couple resided in Hampstead Heath for a short while, as per reports.
It was previously revealed that Taylor had been looking for a "house with a garden", with the location heavily speculated to be Hampstead Heath in London. "Taylor has been looking for a period house with a garden, and crucially looking at roads and addresses that will provide her with privacy, security and discretion,” Rosy Khalastchy, head of Beauchamp Estates’ St John’s Wood office, told Homes & Property at the time.
"I'm just mad as hell 'cause I loved this place," she sings in the fifth song from the new album. She also croons: "Oh, the tragedy / So long, London."
The end of the song then fades out as Taylor sings: "So (So) long (Long), London (London) / Stitches (Stitches) undone (Undone) / Two (Two) graves (Graves), one gun (Gun) / You'll (You'll) find (Find) someone."
For one night only this June, OXBO Bankside are inviting Swifties to experience a one-off Taylor Swift Drag Brunch, hosted by drag queen, TikTok superstar and die-hard Swiftie, Sophia Stardust, who will be shaking it off in her best-Taylor-Style. The local neighbourhood eatery situation in the award winning Hilton London Bankside are offering Swifties the next best thing to seeing Taylor at her sold-out Wembley show.
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