A Timeline of Taylor Swift's Dramatic Relationship History in London
Taylor Swift has made several references to London over the years, and The Tortured Poets Department is no exception thanks to a lil' song casually titled "So Long London." And her focus on the city makes sense! London has been a huge part of Taylor's life; She's lived in England, has had several serious relationships based in the city, and even recorded music there.
Considering Tay's Tortured Poets promotion already has several 🇬🇧-themed Easter eggs (um, hi to the QR code referencing Matty Healy's alias), we're here with the Taylor + London relationship timeline you didn't know you needed.
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March 2012
Taylor starts dating the original London Boy™ Harry Styles, and they actually spend quite a lot of time together in England! Like, here they are chilling in Cheshire:
October 2012
Taylor drops Red, and let's just say the song "Come Back...Be Here" has some telling London refs....
"I guess you're in London today
And I don't wanna need you this way
Come back, be here
Come back, be here"
and...
"But you're in London, and I break down
'Cause it's not fair that you're not around"
~2013
Taylor Swift writes 1989 and has this to say about "Clean:"
"Clean" I wrote as I was walking out of Liberty in London," she tells ELLE. "Someone I used to date—it hit me that I'd been in the same city as him for two weeks and I hadn't thought about it. When it did hit me, it was like, Oh, I hope he's doing well. And nothing else. And you know how it is when you're going through heartbreak. A heartbroken person is unlike any other person. Their time moves at a completely different pace than ours. It's this mental, physical, emotional ache and feeling so conflicted. Nothing distracts you from it. Then time passes, and the more you live your life and create new habits, you get used to not having a text message every morning saying, "Hello, beautiful. Good morning." You get used to not calling someone at night to tell them how your day was. You replace these old habits with new habits, like texting your friends in a group chat all day and planning fun dinner parties and going out on adventures with your girlfriends, and then all of a sudden one day you're in London and you realize you've been in the same place as your ex for two weeks and you're fine. And you hope he's fine. The first thought that came to my mind was, I'm finally clean."
February 2015
Taylor and another ~London Boy~ Matty Healy are spotted at a party in the U.K. and a quick round of dating rumors begins:
June 2016
Taylor starts dating Tom Hiddleston, man who is from—you guessed it—London. She loves herself a British accent! Though FWIW, the vast majority of Taylor and Tom's short relationship takes place stateside (specifically in Rhode Island) vs. in Tom's homeland.
May 2017
The Sun reports that Taylor was staying in North London (in disguise) and that she and Joe Alwyn are dating. Note: Taylor and Tom Hiddleston broke up in September of 2016, and she seemingly moved to London soon after.
Taylor actually spoke about this phase of her life with TIME Magazine during her Person of the Year interview, saying (re: Kim Kardashian infamous leaking her call with Kanye West), “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
Anyway, back to The Sun! The outlet spoke to an insider in May 2017 who says "She's been walking around with Joe in London using disguises, like scarves and hats, to keep her identity under wraps. Nobody has a clue they've been walking past a music superstar - not even her new neighbors."
~2018
Taylor starts working on Lover and records both "London Boy" and "Daylight" at Metropolis Studios in London.
February 2019
The closest Tay and Joe come to going Instagram official is when she drops this pic from the BAFTAs in London, where she and Joe celebrated his film The Favourite.
January 11, 2021
A source tells E! News that Taylor is "back and forth between Nashville and England spending time with her family and with Joe's family. They take walks in the neighborhood and go on hikes to get fresh air."
May 11, 2021
Tay wins a BRIT Award and mentions Joe explicitly in her speech.
An extra special speech from @taylorswift13 as she receives the BRITs Global Icon Award 💕 #BRITs pic.twitter.com/kZ7EGSIv7Y
— BRIT Awards (@BRITs) May 11, 2021
May 2023
Taylor starts dating Matty Healy shortly after her breakup with fellow Brit Joe Alwyn. They don't spend time (that we know of) in London during their brief 'ship, but the vibes are...certainly messy:
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