Since its October 21 release, Taylor Swift’s 10th studio album, Midnights, has been smashing records and sending Swifties into a spin as they decipher the singer’s signature cryptic references and abundant Easter- egg hidden messages.
The singer directly let listeners in on the inspiration behind ‘Lavender Haze’, the opening song on the album, telling her 230 million Instagram followers she thought the phrase “sounded cool” when she first heard it watching an episode of Mad Men.
“It turns out that it was a common phrase that was used in the ’50s where they would just describe being in love,” she said, before referencing her six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn.
“When you’re in the lavender haze, you’ll do anything to stay there and not let people bring you down off of the cloud. This song is about ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”
The lyrics of the song address the scrutiny the low-key lovers have withstood since they started dating in 2016.
“I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say, the 1950s s–t they want from me, I just wanna stay in that lavender haze,” she sings.
“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.”
Chatter about the status of the couple’s relationship only grew louder on October 22, after an anonymous source told gossip Instagram account DeuxMoi that the couple had wed in secret this year.
“I have just had it confirmed to me that Taylor and Joe are married, by someone who was at the wedding,” the source stated.
So, did Alwyn put a ring on it? “If I had a pound for every time I’ve been engaged, then I’d have a lot of pound coins,” Alwyn told WSJ. magazine in April 2022.
“I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say.”
Since 2016, the couple has enjoyed a romance that has been as serious as it is secretive.
They were rumoured to have crossed paths at the Met Gala while Swift, 32, was still dating DJ Calvin Harris.
Less than a month later, Swift and Harris broke up, and she subsequently had a very public summer fling with Tom Hiddleston.
Once that ended in September, she quietly got together with Alwyn, 31, reportedly renting an apartment in London to be near her new boyfriend and wearing disguises to deliberately keep their love on the down-low.
After years of using her spotlit romances with the likes of Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor Kennedy and Harry Styles, Swift has tried to compartmentalise her public and personal lives.
“I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids,” she explained when being interviewed by Paul McCartney for Rolling Stone magazine in 2020.
“Whether that’s deciding where to live, who to hang out with, when to not take a picture – the idea of privacy feels so strange to try to explain, but it’s really just trying to find bits of normalcy.”
Watch Below: Taylor Swift announces all-new album set for October
Alwyn, who has collaborated with Swift on several songs, has said he finds it “flattering” when their love sparks creative inspiration, but has no interest in stealing away the spotlight.
With a world tour on the horizon, the couple, who usually split their time between Nashville and London, are soaking up Swift’s success while leaning on each other for support.
“Taylor and Joe have the best of all worlds right now,” says an Us Weekly source. “They are wildly happy together and are excited about their future.”
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