Is Taylor Swift's Level Of Fame To Blame For Her Split With Joe Alwyn?

For years, Taylor Swift fans found themselves waiting with bated breath to see which eligible celebrity bachelor she would date next (and what cryptic secrets she would spill about them in her lyrics). There was Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Harry Styles, to name a few. But in 2016, Joe Alwyn disrupted the dating cycle — at least for a little while. As the "Boy Erased" star's relationship with the "Bad Blood" singer progressed and thrived, it sucked the lifeblood out of the jokes about Swift needing to get her heart broken by Hollywood hunks to get her creative juices flowing.

Swift fans started adjusting to the singer's anchored era, finding comfort in the constancy of her relationship with Alwyn — once they realized that the couple's sustained happiness had no effect on Swift's songwriting capabilities. Swift herself confessed that she worried about what would happen to her career after she found what she believed to be lasting love. "I woke up one day with all these heartbreak lyrics in my head, and I was like, 'It's still here! Yes!'" she recalled during her 2019 NPR Tiny Desk concert. "'I don't have to stop writing songs about heartache and misery.'"

For Swift, breakups begat success and fame, but Alywn came along and made her believe she could finally have it all. Unfortunately, that same fame may have confirmed the "Labyrinth" singer's fear that love is just like one of those predictable, petrifying elevators.

As Taylor Swift experienced a career high — the start of her Eras Tour — fans had no idea that she was nursing a broken heart. An insider told People that she and Joe Alwyn kept their split under wraps for weeks before it became public knowledge in April 2023. "Joe has struggled with Taylor's level of fame and the attention from the public," the source stated. "The differences in their personalities have also become harder to ignore after years together." Love blossomed between the pair during Swift's "Reputation" era, a time when she had retreated from the public eye. She and Alwyn then reportedly strengthened their bond during the pandemic's early days. But once they emerged from the isolation of lockdown, apparently they realized that they weren't as compatible as they once thought.

Swift and Alwyn didn't immediately offer any explanations for what went wrong them, so Swifties turned to their idol's large catalog of songs penned while the two were together to see if any lyrics backed up People's reporting. On Twitter, some fans wondered whether Swift is singing about Alwyn in "Peace." She's clearly grappling with how fame will affect a relationship, worrying about her inability to offer her partner peace and stability. "There's robbers to the east, clowns to the west," she sings. "I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best / But the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me."

Some Swifties mourned the end of Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn's relationship of six years, while others had an easier time shaking it off. There were Pete Davidson jokes aplenty and some mentions of the viral tagline from Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" movie. "She was Barbie and he was just Ken," one Twitter user quipped of Swift and Alwyn. The film's poster reads, "She's everything. He's just Ken," a reference to Barbie being a doctor, singer, ice skater, gymnast, teacher, etc., while her boyfriend is basically a grinning accessory. But Alwyn does have a successful career of his own and won't just be known as Swift's ex. In fact, in the 2018 historical drama "Mary Queen of Scots," he starred alongside Margot Robbie, who would later land the role of the doll who has it all. In 2018, Robbie told Net-a-Porter that she had no idea Alywn and Swift were a couple, so her co-star clearly never spoke to her about his girlfriend while they were working together.

Alwyn also didn't like to discuss his relationship with Swift in interviews. "I really prefer to talk about work," he told British Vogue in 2018. And according to Page Six, he landed some new work to talk about after his breakup from Swift: a role in a drama titled "The Brutalist." However, as Alwyn continues making his own name, chasing that fame, he may find it difficult to dodge questions about why he and Swift split.