Swifties are nonetheless in mourning following information that Taylor Swift and her boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, have damaged up.
The surprising flip of occasions was first reported in an unique April 8 piece from ET, adopted by extra confirmations from different information retailers citing sources near the scenario. Neither Swift nor Alwyn have addressed the scenario, but when these sources are to be believed, the break up was completely amicable.
So why are followers, who’ve helmed an outpouring of social media grief-posts since then, so unhappy?
Effectively, Swifties are significantly invested within the happiness of 1 Taylor Alison Swift. Longtime followers have been at Swift’s facet all through her self-professed “hopeless romantic” seek for real love for 17 years. Alwyn’s steadfast presence for six years felt like the tip of a full circle journey for individuals who’ve been along with her for the reason that starting (in addition to youthful followers who’ve skilled the ups-and-downs of her romantic life by listening to the visceral love songs in her again catalog).
That being stated, there’s nothing fallacious with being sans a big different, regardless of who you’re. However the sweetness of lyrics like “My coronary heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue / All’s nicely that ends nicely to finish up with you” begins to style just a little salty in mild of a breakup.
With a heavy coronary heart, Billboard rounds up 13 of probably the most heartbreaking Taylor Swift songs to revisit post-Alwyn (and no, they aren’t all from Lover). Learn them beneath, however have tissues prepared.
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“Cornelia Avenue”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy Photograph Album: Lover
Why it’s heartbreaking: This one is likely to be the obvious within the combine — followers have actually been making pilgrimages to Swift’s notorious West Village house to mourn — however “Cornelia Avenue” is straight up painful now that “Toe” is now not. On this Lover fan favourite, the pop star vows to by no means once more go close to the tucked-away New York house she and Alwyn as soon as shared in the event that they broke up, as a result of the ache of all of it can be that catastrophic.
Saddest lyric: “I hope I by no means lose you, hope it by no means ends / I’d by no means stroll Cornelia Avenue once more / That’s the sort of heartbreak time may by no means mend”
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“Loss of life By a Thousand Cuts”
Album: Lover
Why it’s heartbreaking: Swift as soon as jokingly bragged about how “Loss of life By a Thousand Cuts” proved she was nonetheless capable of write beautiful breakup songs even whereas in a contented, wholesome relationship (see: her Tiny Desk live performance). However now, she most likely pertains to its piercing lyrics in actual time, for the primary time since she wrote them — which, if true, is such a merciless accident.
Saddest lyric: “My coronary heart, my hips, my physique, my love / Looking for part of me that you simply didn’t contact / Gave up on me like I used to be a nasty drug”
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“Final Kiss”
Album: Communicate Now
Why it’s heartbreaking: Sure, “Final Kiss” was written a lengthy time earlier than Swift ever met Alwyn. However the uncooked ache of one in every of her most brutal breakup songs appears contemporary once more; the hook “by no means thought we’d have a final kiss” is very becoming for a love that, to outsiders, appeared like it will final a lifetime.
Saddest lyric: “So I’ll watch your life in photos like I used to look at you sleep / And I really feel you overlook me like I used to really feel you breathe”
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“Midnight Rain”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy Photograph Album: Midnights
Why it’s heartbreaking: This Midnights observe didn’t ring any alarm bells on the time of its launch; followers typically assumed the clashing personalities described within the lyrics have been written about an ex, not Alwyn, who was believed to nonetheless be her boyfriend on the time. Now, it appears believable that “Midnight Rain” was really an early warning of the reported variations that finally induced Swift and Alwyn’s breakup.
Swift has been open prior to now about how the Favorite actor prefers a non-public, quiet, not-so-glamorous way of life. And in “Midnight Rain,” that’s the precise kind of accomplice she describes needing to go away behind: “He wished it comfy, I wished that ache / He wished a bride, I used to be making my very own title.”
Saddest lyric: “I suppose generally all of us get simply what we wished / And he by no means thinks of me, besides once I’m on TV”
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“Dancing With Our Fingers Tied”
Album: Popularity
Why it’s heartbreaking: This anxiety-fueled observe encapsulates a recurring theme on Popularity: concern that Swift’s hectic life would by some means trigger her to lose her love. Really, that’s a recurring theme all through her latter discography — however extra on that later.
Nobody is aware of for certain what actually induced the breakup, but it surely’s arduous to not sympathize with Taylor upon discovering that this concern got here true, at the least to an extent.
Saddest lyric: “I liked you regardless of deep fears that the world would divide us / So, child, can we dance / Oh, by way of an avalanche?”
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“Lover”
Album: Lover
Why it’s heartbreaking: The title observe of Swift’s mushy-gushiest album ever is among the purest, most joyful love songs in her discography. In professing to have discovered her without end accomplice after years of getting her coronary heart damaged time and time once more, “Lover” gave followers in comparable boats hope {that a} soul mate was on the market ready for everybody — now, it doesn’t really feel so sure.
Saddest lyric: “Can I am going the place you go? / Can we all the time be this shut without end and ever?”
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“Invisible String”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy Photograph Album: Folklore
Why it’s heartbreaking: All through “Invisible String,” Swift appears to offer vignetted snapshots of her fated relationship with Alwyn, from his childhood job at a yogurt store to their three-year anniversary lakeside trip. The motif of this folksy serenade is that she and her beau have been destined from the very starting by a metaphoric “thread of gold” that related them by way of all their ups and downs.
To know that the thread was damaged — or worse, by no means really existed — is wildly miserable.
Saddest lyric: “A string that pulled me out of all of the fallacious arms proper into that dive bar / One thing wrapped all of my previous errors in barbed wire / Chains round my demons, wool to courageous the seasons / One single thread of gold tied me to you”
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“The Nice Conflict”
Album: Midnights (3am Version)
Why it’s heartbreaking: The message of this deluxe Midnights stunner is that Swift’s relationship went by way of a grueling, almost deadly tough patch earlier than popping out stronger on the opposite facet. She sings of jealousy, belief points and arguments that just about made her lose the one factor that actually mattered. However as a result of they acquired by way of it, nothing would ever be capable to separate them once more.
Saddest lyric: “That was the evening I almost misplaced you / I actually thought I misplaced you”
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“Peace”
Album: Folklore
Why it’s heartbreaking: Once more, now we have Swift addressing her concern that the tumultuousness of her life may intrude along with her potential to protect her relationship. “For those who’re gonna be in my life, there’s a specific amount that comes with it I can’t cease from taking place,” she stated of the which means behind “Peace” in her Folklore: The Longpond Studio Periods movie. “This track was principally like, is it sufficient? Is the stuff that I can management sufficient to dam out issues that I can’t?”
Saddest lyric: “Provide the silence that solely comes when two individuals perceive one another / Household that I selected, now that I see your brother as my brother / Is it sufficient?”
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“Champagne Issues”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy Photograph Album: Evermore
Why it’s heartbreaking: A part of what makes the fictional breakup story in “Champagne Issues” so devastating is how Swift wrote the track with Alwyn, credited below the pseudonym William Bowery. Have been they predicting their very own break up years earlier than it went down with out even understanding it? We’re not crying, you’re crying.
Saddest lyric: “One for the cash, two for the present / I by no means was prepared, so I watch you go”
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“Candy Nothing”
Album: Midnights
Why it’s heartbreaking: “Candy Nothing” now seems like a untimely response to the fears expressed on “Dancing With Our Fingers Tied” and “Peace.” Additionally written with Alwyn, this easy lullaby appeared to say: sure, so long as now we have one another, that’s sufficient.
Saddest lyric: “All that you simply ever wished from me was nothing”
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“You are On Your Personal, Child”
Album: Midnights
Why it’s heartbreaking: Midnights’ Observe 5 finds Swift realizing that nobody is ready on the finish of the highway for her, not even her accomplice — which is telling, given current occasions. All this time she’s been alone, for higher or for worse, even when she thought she had all of it.
She doesn’t look again with remorse, although. And on the finish, she reminds us that we shouldn’t both: “Every little thing you lose is a step you are taking / So make the friendship bracelets / Take the second and style it / You’ve acquired no motive to be afraid.”
Saddest lyric: “I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this / I hosted events and starved my physique / Like I’d be saved by an ideal kiss”
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“White Horse (Taylor’s Model)”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy Photograph Album: Fearless (Taylor’s Model)
Why it’s heartbreaking: A teenaged Swift used to prophesy that sometime, she’d discover her Prince Charming. After ten years, it appeared like she lastly had.
Sigh.
Saddest lyric: “I’m gonna discover somebody sometime who may really deal with me nicely”
