Swifties can officially calm down now, knowing that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn are still going strong! Following the release of Swift's surprise album Folklore earlier this month, some fans were questioning whether the two had called it quits due to all of the lyrics and songs about heartbreak. However, Swift's new song "The Lakes" (a bonus track on the album) seems to confirm that theory isn't true, as it contains several loving references to the British actor.
"Take me to the lakes, where all the poets went to die / I don't belong and, my beloved, neither do you," she sings. "Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry / I'm setting off, but not without my muse."
It's no secret that Alwyn has been a muse to Swift ever since the two began dating over three years ago. On top of that, the "Windermere" line seems to reference England's largest natural lake. The lovebirds have spent plenty of quality time together in the country, so it makes sense why she'd want to pay tribute to the U.K. in some way.
Fans also know that Swift has been trying to keep her life more private in recent years, especially when it comes to love. Unlike past relationships, Swift decided to keep her romance with Alwyn off social media, which she seems to address later in the song.
"And I want you right here / A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground / With no one around to tweet it," she sings on the track. "While I bathe in cliffside pools / With my calamitous love and insurmountable grief."
At the beginning of "The Lakes," Swift also seems to reference her life in the spotlight, and the unglamorous side of fame, when she sings, "Is it romantic how all of my elegies eulogize me? / I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones / These hunters with cell phones."
The singer has been very vocal in recent years about how the public has perceived her, most notably, the backlash she faced amid her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West over his 2016 hit "Famous."
"A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience," Swift told Vogue last September. "I don't think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly. When you say someone is canceled, it's not a TV show. It's a human being. You’re sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, 'kill yourself.'"
"I realized I needed to restructure my life because it felt completely out of control," she continued. "I knew immediately I needed to make music about it because I knew it was the only way I could survive it. It was the only way I could preserve my mental health and also tell the story of what it's like to go through something so humiliating."
Hear more in the video below.
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