Swifties are on the case! Taylor Swift fans think Joe Alwyn secretly cowrote two songs on his girlfriend’s upcoming album, Folklore, under the pen name, William Bowery.
The “Delicate” singer, 30, announced on Thursday, July 23, via Instagram that she is dropping her eighth studio album at midnight. Swift thanked songwriters Aaron Dessner, Bon Iver, Jack Antonoff and Bowery for collaborating on the project with her.
However, fans discovered that Bowery is not a registered songwriter or producer and is the only person she didn’t tag in her Instagram post.
“I see no reference for a William Bowery music producer before today, so is that Joe Alwyn’s or Austin Swift’s pseudonym, @taylorswift13?” one fan tweeted, referencing Swift’s brother. Another user wrote, “WHO IS WILLIAM BOWERY TAYLOR??? IS IT JOE OMG IS IT JOE.”
One fan also noted that Alwyn, 29, had a great-grandfather named William Alwyn, who was a composer and music teacher.
The “Shake It Off” singer added in her Instagram post that she penned the album while in quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening, but there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen … I wrote and recorded this music in isolation but got to collaborate with some musical heroes of mine,” she wrote.
The Bowery conspiracy theory could be plausible as Joe revealed in April that the pair were quarantined together. The Harriet star shared a photo via his Instagram Story of himself enjoying a glass of wine while hanging out with Swift’s cat Benjamin Button.
Swift has been inspired by her relationship with Joe in the past. Her songs “Lover,” “Paper Rings,” and “Cornelia Street” are are widely believed to be about the actor.
The couple — who began dating in May 2017 — have been notoriously private about their romance. The Pennsylvania native opened up about their connection in her 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana.
“I also was falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal balanced grounded life,” Swift said. “And we decided together that we wanted our relationship to be private.”
A source told Us Weekly in March that the duo are committed to each other and have “talked about their future and marriage.”
“Taylor considers Joe one of the only safe constants in her life,” the insider said at the time. “He has always been a huge support and stuck by her.”
