Joe Alwyn has officially bid so long to Taylor Swift.
A source told People that the actor, 33, is “dating and happy” one year after he and Swift, 34, ended their six-year-long relationship. “He’s a great guy and not into drama in any way,” the insider added.
Having “moved on” from Swift, the source told People he had nothing bad to say about the Grammy winner amid the release of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. The record, which dropped, featured many songs rumored to be about Alwyn and Swift’s split.
“[He] certainly doesn’t talk poorly about her,” the insider told the outlet, adding, “He was in love with her, and it just didn’t work out.” The source also noted that despite his love for acting, Alwyn “can’t stand the attention that comes with it” and is “not comfortable in the spotlight.”
Not long after news of the pair’s split broke in April 2023, an insider exclusively told Us Weekly that fame played a big role in their relationship’s downfall. “Joe is very shy and never liked all of the attention that came with dating one of the most popular singers in the world,” the source explained, adding that Alwyn never “blamed” Swift for her popularity. “He just didn’t like having to be on all of the time.”
Swift appeared to offer clues into more reasons for their breakup on TTPD, including in the lyrics of the album’s fifth track, “So Long London.” (Swift has previously stated that she puts her most emotional and vulnerable songs of each album as No. 5 on the record’s track list.)
“And you say I abandoned ship / But I was going down with it / My white-knuckle dying grip / Holding tight to your quiet resentment,” Swift sings in the song’s bridge. “And my friends said it isn’t right to be scared / Every day of a love affair / Every breath feels like rarest air / When you’re not sure if he wants to be there.”
One of TTPD’s most musically upbeat tracks “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” seemingly detailed how Swift tackled launching her worldwide Eras Tour in the midst of her and Alwyn’s split. “’Cause I’m a real tough kid / I can handle my s—t / They said, ‘Babe, you gotta fake it ‘til you make it,’ and I did,” she sings in the pre-chorus. “Lights, camera, bitch, smile / Even when you wanna die / He said he’d love me all his life.”
She continues: “I was grinnin’ like I’m winnin’ / I was hittin’ my marks / ‘Cause I can do it with a broken heart.” (The Eras Tour launched one less than one month before news of the duo’s split broke.)
In the TTPD song “The Black Dog,” Swift sings about forgetting to turn off an ex’s (rumored to be Alwyn) phone location and speculating what he might be up to in the song title’s U.K. bar of the same name. “I just don’t understand / How you don’t miss me in The Black Dog / When someone plays ‘The Starting Line’ / And you jump up, but she’s too young to know this song,” the lyrics state. “That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming / Old habits die screaming.”
Swifties have since swarmed The Black Dog pub, the owner of which teased to Sky News earlier this month that Alwyn was a “regular” at the establishment.
