Taylor Swift Addresses Engagement Rumors on ‘Midnights’

Taylor Swift’s love life has been the topic of speculation ever since her self-titled debut album in 2006, so it comes as little surprise that her romantic life is once again at the center of conversation following the Friday release of her 10th studio album, Midnights. Aptly dropping at midnight, the album features Swift addressing her six-year relationship with boyfriend Joe Alwyn, and she didn’t take long to tackle those long-standing engagement rumors head-on.

Speculation that Swift and Alwyn are engaged, and even married, has risen from to time, with engagement rumors having surfaced multiple times in the last year alone. In “Lavender Haze,” the opening track on Midnights, Swift, notoriously private when it comes to her romantic life with Alwyn, addressed those “weird rumors” about her relationship, singing, “I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say/ the 1950s s- they want from me/ I just wanna stay in that lavender haze/ 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.”Prior to the song’s release, Swift confirmed “Lavender Haze” was about her romance with Alwyn, sharing, “We’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. And so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”

The 13-track Midnights album is a deep dive into Swift’s inner thoughts, many of the songs featuring the singer giving a rare glimpse into her love story with Alwyn. In “Snow on the Beach,” the fourth track of the album that also features Lana Del Ray, Swift sings, “Now I’m all for you like Janet/ Can this be a real thing/ Can it?” Later she sings in “Labyrinth,” “You know how scared I am of elevators/ Never trust it if it rises fast/ It can’t last/ I thought the plane was going down/ How’d you turn it right around?”

Swift even recruited Alwyn, her growing muse, for some help on the album. The actor, better known in Swift’s music catalog as William Bowery, is credited as co-writer on “Sweet Nothing,” the 12th song on Midnights. The song paints a picture of their love as Swift croons, “I found myself running home to your sweet nothings / I’ll take their pushin’, shovin’ / You’re in the kitchen humming / All that you ever wanted from me was nothing.” The song opens with Swift singing, “I spy with my little tired eye/ Tiny as a firefly a pebble that we picked up last July/ Down deep inside your pocket we almost forgot it/ Does it ever miss Wicklow sometimes,” a likely reference to the time she and Alwyn spent in Ireland while he filmed Conversations With Friends.

Swift and Alwyn reportedly first met at the 2016 Met Gala and began dating a year later. Midnights, Swift’s 10th studio album, captures “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.” Swift also released the 3am tracks, seven additional songs that didn’t make it onto the album but are now streaming.