Why Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s alleged breakup is breaking fans’ hearts

The Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn era may actually be over.

In early April, outlets began to report that their six year-long relationship had come to a close, using confirmation from an unnamed source.

Together since 2017, the “Midnights” singer and British actor mainly kept mum about their relationship in interviews — but Swift used her song lyrics to let fans in. Alwyn was thought to be the inspiration for many songs, like “Lover” or “Daylight,” and was a co-writer on a few recent tracks.

The Alwyn era, if one could call it that, was representative of how Swift's idea of love changed since her days writing music as a teenager. Swift’s lyrics about Alwyn painted a picture of security and warmth (“at every table, I’ll save you a seat, lover”) — and now, fans are wondering what went wrong.

While neither Swift, 33, nor Alwyn, 32, have yet to publicly comment, the singer’s passionate fans are speaking up about this potentially major change in her life.

After the news of the breakup broke on April 8, fans were seen laying flowers outside of Swift’s old New York City residence, a Greenwich Village townhouse located on Cornelia Street, which is the title of a track from her “Lover” album. Others took to social media to grieve the relationship with fellow Swifties.

Below, we speak to a few Swift fans about why this breakup hits harder for them than Swift’s prior public relationships ending.

Fans say they feel ‘heartbroken’ for Swift

Online, fans shared their reactions to the seismic news in real time. One TikToker, Taylor Clark, 25, posted a clip of her friend group in tears that has garnered over 75 thousand views.

“Had to document this historical moment so that our children can unpack their generational trauma in therapy later,” she captioned the post.

Clark tells TODAY.com that her reaction stems from just feeling “so sad” for Swift, who Clark says has experienced “so much heartbreak” in the past. "Again, our sweet baby girl had her heart broken,” she says.

Fans have watched Swift go through multiple public relationships, many of which end up being referenced in song lyrics. In Alwyn, whom Swift met when she was about 27 following a bout of difficult press, Clark says she felt like Swift had found “her person” who would be there to “champion her.”

Madeline Crescitelli, 21, one of the friends in Clark's now viral video, is feeling bereft because she imagines that’s how Swift is feeling, too.

“When we found out that they had broken up, you have to be sad for her because there’s no way she’s not sad — even if it’s an amicable breakup,” Crescitelli says.

The reaction reduces to the same question: How is she doing? “I always listen to Taylor Swift when I’m going through anything. I’m like, ‘What does Taylor Swift listen to when Taylor Swift goes through a breakup?’” Olivia Horner, 26, asks TODAY.com.

Say it ain’t so: Fans are holding out for confirmation

While multiple outlets have reported the news, some fans are hoping it might all be a misunderstanding, and are waiting for official word from Swift and Alwyn to officially begin grieving.

Horner is among the Swifties “holding out hope” the news isn’t true, as she wrote in the caption of a TikTok video of her eating dinner while listening to “Last Kiss,” a Swift breakup song. The sentiment resonated with other Swifties, with some writing they “refuse to believe” that the relationship had run its course in the comments.

Krista Schnur, 31, tells TODAY.com of the potential split, “I don’t want to believe that it’s true."

Schnur, who used a Swift song for her first dance at her wedding, envisioned a different path for Swift and Alwyn, and is struggling to square her former idea with the (potential) new reality.

“A lot of us thought maybe she was secretly married or maybe had a secret family already,” she says.

Swift herself expressed ambivalence about her relationship taking a more conventional route. Swift, in the 2022 track “Lavender Haze,” referenced being frustrated by questions of engagement. “All they keep asking me / Is if I’m gonna be your bride / The only kinda girl they see / Is a one-night or a wife / I find it dizzying,” she sings.

Why fans are taking this news so hard

Swift’s fans are reacting the way they might if a close friend experienced a breakup. Dr. Elizabeth Scala, a professor of English at University of Texas at Austin, says that’s because she is their friend — kind of.

“It’s too simple to say that her fans are deluded into thinking that they have a relationship with her,” she says.

Scala has been teaching a literary course centering around Swift’s songbook since last fall, and even has an Instagram account, @swiftieprof, where she posts Swift-related content.

She feels like Swift resonates with her fans so deeply because “she writes so personally and biographically.”

Meghan Siegmund, 26, has been a Swiftie since the singer’s first album was released in 2006. She says she feels like every album her favorite artist drops is relevant to her.

“She has this relatability in terms of what she goes through and parallel experiences like you would have with a friend,” she says. “You feel like you know her because her music is so honest and to her core. It does feel like a friend.”

It helps that it seems like the relationship goes both ways: Swift is fiercely loyal to her fandom, inviting some over to her home in Tennessee for secret listening sessions and appearing at their engagements.

Looking for signs of a breakup

Was the writing on the wall — or in the lyrics — all along? Swift has been known to scatter Easter eggs and clues in liner notes, Instagram captions, music videos, clothing choices and beyond. The result is a fandom of amateur sleuths with PhDs in Swift.

Swift is well aware of this behavior and encourages it. “I’ve trained them to be that way,” Swift said to Entertainment Weekly in 2019 of her fans’ penchant for clue-finding. “I love that they like the cryptic hint-dropping. Because as long as they like it, I’ll keep doing it. It’s fun. It feels mischievous and playful.”

Now, her “well-trained” fans are looking for clues again; this time, though, in the singer’s actions.

While Siegmund did not score a coveted Eras Tour ticket, she did get a front row seat of Swift earlier this week when the singer made her first public appearance since headlines of the separation. Siegmund was out walking her dog in New York City on April 10 when Swift exited a restaurant, sporting an off the shoulder black top and jeans with a bedazzled butterfly-shaped cutout.

Eagle-eyed fans suspect this intentional clothing selection may be another indication of the alleged breakup. Swift told Entertainment Weekly in 2019 that she uses butterflies to suggest “breaking free of that darkness and, you know, fluttering into the light.”

Swift again may have recently alluded to the breakup at her Eras Tour stop in Tampa on April 13.

The first concert since the news broke, Swift addressed the audience saying, “So we have a lot to catch up on don’t we?” Fans are also reading into the fact that she switched out “Invisible String,” a ballad with specific biographic references to her and Alwyn’s lives, to “The 1,” a breakup song off the same track, for setlist.

It’s all still speculation. But many, including longtime fan Michelle Lopez, 27, are gearing up for a new Taylor to emerge.

“I’m looking forward to her new era,” she tells TODAY.com, “and I’m hoping that she kind of writes more about loving herself.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com