After Taylor Swift Announced The Tortured Poets Department Tracklist, Swifties Are Being Brutal Toward Joe Alwyn

We’re all very aware that Taylor Swift can take someone down with a single lyric easily, and she’s been doing it for well over a decade. From Jake Gyllenhaal to John Mayer and more, she’s seemingly written some brutal breakup songs about her exes, and it feels like with Swift’s upcoming project The Tortured Poets Department, Joe Alwyn is next. The Swifties for sure think this, because after the pop star announced her eleventh album and its tracklist, they are being absolutely brutal toward the Conversations with Friends star. 

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 04: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Taylor Swift attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. and LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 15: Joe Alwyn arrives at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2023 at The Royal Opera House on November 15, 2023 in London, England.

(Image credit: Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic and Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

What Are Swifties Saying About Joe Alwyn And The Tortured Poets Department?

While Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn broke up a while ago, and she’s happily in a relationship with Travis Kelce now, The Tortured Poets Department feels like an album all about her last ex. Obviously, the singer hasn’t confirmed this. However, Swifties are of the assumption that it is, and they’re making their feelings about him clear on social media through brutal posts like this one from @ttwaswift: 

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Others have referenced the Swiftie takedowns of Joe Jonas, Jake Gyllenhaal and John Mayer, noting that Alwyn is next. For example, @lyssmadison13 posted an image of death going into rooms and taking down her exes, and then entering a room with the actor’s face on it. To compliment that, they wrote:

SO LONG LONDON?? I LOVE YOU ITS RUINING MY LIFE?? Joe Alwyn count your days #THETORTUEDPOETSDEPARTMENT

Many used very funny memes to express their feelings about Alwyn and TTPD, like @trinawatters who posted:

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Songs like “Bejeweled” and “You’re Losing Me” definitely made Midnights feel like a lowkey-break-up album. However, as @bethmysoul pointed out, The Tortured Poets Department feels like a much more targeted attack:

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Others, like @ZoeRoseBryant took a simpler route, tweeting:

oh it’s over for joe alwyn 😭

Clearly, Swfties are anticipating this breakup album, and it seems like many of them want to see Joe Alwyn go down. Why are they thinking all this, you might be asking, well, there’s an answer. 

Why Are Swifties Being So Brutal Toward Joe Alwyn? 

After Taylor Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department in a gorgeous Grammys outfit that featured a trendy corset, she quickly revealed the tracklist for the album, which you can see below:

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On her album Lover, Swift has love songs that seem to be about Alwyn, like “London Boy.” The same seems true with TTPD. Tracks like “So Long, London” seem to call out the actor directly. Considering her most recent breakup was with him, it seems logical that songs like “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” could be about him.

Adding to all of that, the album’s title seemingly alludes to a group chat Alwyn had with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott called “Tortured Man Club.” That, and other questions about TTPD, like: Who is Clara Bow? seem to allude to what went wrong in Swift and Alwyn’s relationship, especially when it came to their views on her stardom and their private life.

While we haven’t heard a single lyric of The Tortured Poets Department, Swifties are convinced it is all about Joe Alwyn, and they’re ready to take him down. Once the album comes out on April 19, it will be interesting to see if the music amplifies or extinguishes their feelings about him. 

Riley Utley
Weekend Editor

Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite shows Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift to Fire Country, and she's enjoyed every second of it.