A dish best served up in song! As Taylor reportedly breaks up with British boyfriend Joe Alwyn, find out how she takes revenge on her exes using her smash hits

Revenge may be a dish best served cold. But in the case of singer Taylor Swift, it’s even sweeter when served up as the subject of one of her many smash hits.

Over the weekend news broke that Taylor’s longest relationship to date, with British actor Joe Alwyn, has ended after six years. The split has left Swifties (as her devoted fans are known) wondering two things.

First, what could have gone wrong? And second, if it is all over, how long before Alwyn finds himself the subject of one of Taylor’s break-up songs, where she reveals personal, and often unflattering, details of their time together?

Swift, 33, refuses to discuss her private life in interviews, but why drop their name in an interview when she can make them the subject of hit songs on her 12 studio albums — which have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, netting her a £460 million fortune?

So prolific are her digs in songs that spotting them and matching them to the victim has become a favourite pastime of Swifties. 

Revenge may be a dish best served cold. But in the case of singer Taylor Swift, it’s even sweeter when served up as the subject of one of her many smash hits

Over the weekend news broke that Taylor’s longest relationship to date, with British actor Joe Alwyn, has ended after six years . The split has left Swifties (as her devoted fans are known) wondering two things

She and 32-year-old Alwyn, best known for his roles in The Favourite and Mary Queen Of Scots, met at the 2016 Met Gala and even went on to write songs together. 

Credited under the pseudonym of William Bowery, Alwyn contributed to several tracks on Taylor’s 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, including Champagne Problems about a woman who rejects a marriage proposal from her beau. 

Swifties are now speculating that the song was written by the couple about their own relationship.

Taylor added fuel to the fire after she added Champagne Problems to her set list at a concert in Arizona last month and appeared to become tearful during the performance. 

The lyrics include: ‘Your mom’s ring in your pocket / My picture in your wallet / Your heart was glass, I dropped it / Champagne problems’.

Singer Joe Jonas was the first boyfriend to feel the wrath of her lyrics. In songs including Forever And Always and Mr Perfectly Fine, believed to be about the Jonas Brothers star, she details her former lover’s broken promises and accuses him of leaving her broken-hearted.

Jonas fared better than singer John Mayer, who was so upset about the song Taylor wrote about him, Dear John, that he accused her of abusing her talent.

For her part, Taylor has rebuffed criticism of her habit of slating past loves. ‘I think that’s a very sexist angle to take,’ she said. ‘No one says that about Ed Sheeran or Bruno Mars — they’re all writing songs about their exes, . . . and no one raises a red flag.’

So, although sources say Taylor and Joe’s split is amicable, he may be nervous about what’s in store. After all, every other ex of Taylor’s has incurred Swift revenge . . .

Joe Jonas

July 2008 – October 2008 

She may have dated boy band member Joe Jonas for only three months but teenage Taylor was furious when, as she revealed on The Ellen Show, the cad dumped her by phone.

Song: Forever And Always.

Lyrics: Oh, I stare at the phone, he still hasn’t called / And then you feel so low you can’t feel nothing at all / And you flashback to when we said forever and always.

Was I out of line? / Did I say something way too honest, made you run and hide / Like a scared little boy.

She didn’t stop there either. Mr Perfectly Fine is also said to be about Joe: ‘Hello Mr Casually Cruel, Mr Everything revolves around you.’

Revenge Rating: 4/5 

She may have dated boy band member Joe Jonas for only three months but teenage Taylor was furious when, as she revealed on The Ellen Show, the cad dumped her by phone

Taylor Lautner

Autumn 2009 – December 2009 

Taylor enjoyed another brief teenage relationship after she met Twilight star and heart-throb Taylor Lautner when they played high school sweethearts in the film Valentine’s Day.

She ended the relationship in December 2009, and the song Back To December is widely thought to be about Lautner.

This time, unusually, Taylor seems to be accepting the blame for the break-up. Asked in a 2016 interview what he thought about the song, Lautner shrugged and said: ‘That’s what she does.’

Song: Back To December.

Lyrics: You gave me roses and I left them there to die / So this is me swallowin’ my pride / Standin’ in front of you sayin’ I’m sorry for that night / And I go back to December all the time.

Revenge Rating: 1/5 

Taylor enjoyed another brief teenage relationship after she met Twilight star and heart-throb Taylor Lautner when they played high school sweethearts in the film Valentine’s Day

John Mayer 

December 2009 – February 2010 

After ending his relationship with Jennifer Aniston, singer John Mayer had a rebound fling with a teenage Taylor — something he would bitterly regret after she wrote Dear John, one of her angriest songs to date.

Referring to herself throughout as ‘the girl in the dress’, Taylor accuses him of making her cry, misleading her and playing mind games. 

Mayer later said he didn’t deserve such vitriol and that she should have warned him about the song’s release.

‘It really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down,’ he said. ‘How would you feel if at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?’

Song: Dear John.

Lyrics: Dear John, I see it all now, it was wrong / Don’t you think nineteen’s too young / To be played by your dark, twisted games, when I loved you so?

Another verse says: Well maybe it’s me and my blind optimism to blame / Maybe it’s you and your sick need to give love then take it away / And you’ll add my name to your long list of traitors who don’t understand / And I’ll look back and regret how I ignored when they said ‘run as fast as you can.’

Revenge Rating: 5/5 

After ending his relationship with Jennifer Aniston, singer John Mayer had a rebound fling with a teenage Taylor — something he would bitterly regret after she wrote Dear John, one of her angriest songs to date

Jake Gyllenhaal

October 2010 – January 2011 

It was Gwyneth Paltrow and her then husband, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who played matchmaker when they invited Taylor and actor Jake Gyllenhaal to dinner at their home in London.

They were famously photographed with their arms wrapped around one another on Thanksgiving, only for things to turn sour a few weeks later when Gyllenhaal supposedly blindsided Taylor by dumping her.

As a result, many tracks on her 2012 album, Red, are said to be about him, including The Moment I Knew, about Gyllenhaal missing her 21st birthday party.

Song: The Moment I Knew.

Lyrics: And it was like slow motion / Standing there in my party dress / In red lipstick / With no one to impress / And they’re all laughing / As I’m looking around the room / But there was one thing missing / And that was the moment I knew.

Revenge Rating: 3/5 

They were famously photographed with their arms wrapped around one another on Thanksgiving, only for things to turn sour a few weeks later when Gyllenhaal supposedly blindsided Taylor by dumping her

Harry Styles 

November 2012 – January 2013 

Taylor broke a million One Direction fans’ hearts when she went public with her relationship with pop star Harry Styles when the pair were pictured walking hand in hand in Central Park. 

But within three months ‘Haylor’ (as they became collectively known) was over.

Taylor confirmed that one of her most famous songs — I Knew You Were Trouble — was about Harry after performing it at the Brits two months following their split, saying: ‘It’s not hard to access that emotion when the person the song is directed at is standing by the side of the stage watching.’

Song: I Knew You Were Trouble.

Lyrics: No apologies/ He’ll never see you cry / Pretends he doesn’t know / That he’s the reason why / You’re drowning . . . And I heard you moved on / From whispers on the street / A new notch in your belt / Is all I’ll ever be.

Revenge Rating: 4/5 

Taylor broke a million One Direction fans’ hearts when she went public with her relationship with pop star Harry Styles when the pair were pictured walking hand in hand in Central Park

Calvin Harris 

February 2015 – May 2016 

Taylor’s first romance to hit the one-year mark was with Scottish DJ and record producer Calvin Harris. 

They met at the Elle Style Awards and were soon seen shopping in Nashville, where Taylor has a home. 

Harris broke things off, and his 2016 song Ole was rumoured to be about Taylor allegedly cheating on him with a mystery man many Swifties believe to be British Hollywood star Tom Hiddleston. 

In High Infidelity, rumoured to be written about Harris, Taylor hints at fooling around, suggesting a lack of love drove her away.

Song: High Infidelity.

Lyrics: You know there’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love / The slowest way is never loving them enough / Do you really want to know where I was April 29th? / Do I really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?

Revenge Rating: 3/5 

Taylor’s first romance to hit the one-year mark was with Scottish DJ and record producer Calvin Harris

Tom Hiddleston 

May 2016 – September 2016 

This summer fling hit the headlines after Taylor and British actor Hiddleston were spotted dancing at the Met Gala. 

A series of what many thought to be staged photos followed, including the pair kissing on a beach and Hiddleston wearing an ‘I heart TS’ T-shirt on Independence Day, which Taylor ridiculed in her video for Look What You Made Me Do. 

‘It was real,’ insisted Hiddleston — as was their break-up and the song Taylor wrote about it, which suggests that, for her, the relationship wasn’t a big deal.

Song: Getaway Car.

Lyrics: It was the best of times, the worst of crimes / I struck a match and blew your mind / But I didn’t mean it, and you didn’t see it

The ties were black, the lies were white / In shades of grey in candlelight / I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason.

Revenge Rating: 3/5 

A series of what many thought to be staged photos followed, including the pair kissing on a beach and Hiddleston wearing an ‘I heart TS’ T-shirt on Independence Day, which Taylor ridiculed in her video for Look What You Made Me Do

Joe Alwyn 

May 2017 – April 2023 

Taylor’s songs about her most recent ex have mostly been warm, detailing early dates and blossoming love.

Song: London Boy.

Lyrics: You know I love a London boy / I enjoy walking Camden Market in the afternoon / He likes my American smile . . . So I guess all the rumours are true / You know I love a London boy / Boy, I fancy you.

However, Swifties are now speculating that the writing may have been on the wall last year when they wrote a song together that hinted at trouble in paradise.

Song: Sweet Nothing, which they co-wrote during their romance.

Lyrics: They said the end is coming / Everyone’s up to something / I find myself running home to your sweet nothings / Outside, they’re push and shoving / You’re in the kitchen humming / All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing.

Taylor’s songs about her most recent ex have mostly been warm, detailing early dates and blossoming love

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