Taylor Swift and boyfriend Joe Alwyn's relationship - the story so far

Taylor Swift fans got a surprise treat this week, as Swift released her eighth studio album, folklore, which Metro.co.uk reviewed as the singer back at her ‘lyrical best.’

As has become tradition with a Taylor Swift release, fans have been reading into the lyrics for clues about her personal life, especially regarding her boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn.

Joe, who has starred in the likes of The Sense of an Ending, Operation Finale, The Favourite, Boy Erased, and Mary Queen of Scots, has been spending lockdown with Swift, and playing photographer to her cat.

When did the pair meet and does Taylor reveal anything about their relationship in folklore? Here’s a look at their Love Story so far…

When did Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn start dating?

The pair are thought to have gotten together in 2016, but they’ve kept most of the details to themselves.

The news of their relationship first properly broke in May 2017 when paparazzi snapped pictures of them sitting together on a balcony in Nashville ahead of meeting Taylor’s parents.

Some theories speculate that they may have met at the 2016 Met Gala, with fans inferring this from lyrics of Taylor’s song, dress.

In the song, she has the lyrics ‘flashback to when you met me, your buzzed cut and my hair bleached.’

Taylor Swift folklore: what insight does she give on her relationship in the new album?

As with her previous albums, the 30-year-old singer-songwriter keeps fans guessing with her music.

Many fans suspect that 29-year-old Joe actually had a hand in Taylor’s surprise album.

People suspect that the mysterious co-writer for two of the tracks, William Bowery, is actually Joe.

This is because the pair have hung out at the Bowery Hotel in New York, and Joe’s grandfather was called William.

On the song Invisible String, there are lyrics that fans think are referencing Joe.

Lyrics including ‘Teal was the colour of your shirt, when you were sixteen at the yoghurt shop’ which, according to lyric interpreting website Genius, refers to Joe Alwyn’s part-time job at the UK fro-yo chain Snogs, where the staff wear teal shirts.

Joe revealed he held the part-time job as a teen to Red Magazine in January 2020.

In Invisible String, Taylor also sings about how she is happy to have had experiences with her ex to get to where she is now, including what many infer is a reference to ex Joe Jonas and his now-girlfriend Sophie Turner.

Game of Thrones actress Turner is pregnant with Jonas’ child, and Taylor’s lyric is: ‘Cold was the steel of my axe to grind, For the boys who broke my heart, Now I send their babies presents.’

MORE: Taylor Swift Folklore: The hidden story in three of her songs

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