Matty Healy hasn’t actually listened to TTPD (Picture: Jo Hale/Redferns)
In a mammoth new double album, Taylor Swift unloaded the last two years of her life — which includes some tracks about her romance with Matty Healy.
It seems The 1975 frontman is the only one who hasn’t been listening to the Cruel Summer hitmaker’s The Tortured Poets Department on repeat since Friday.
The tracklist was expected to be detailing her breakup with Joe Alwyn but encompassed so much more in an over two hour journey.
From defending her love story in But Daddy I Love Him to painfully watching her ex visit The Black Dog pub, fans have identified a number of so called ‘diss tracks’.
Attention particularly turned to the lyrics for The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, believed to be about Matty in his ‘Jehovah’s Witness suit’.
Despite the huge speculation and focus on the singer, he has revealed he hasn’t actually listened to the entire 31-track album.
In a rather awkward encounter he was confronted by Entertainment Tonight and asked how he would ‘compare’ his diss track to the ’30 others’.
Frowning at the interviewer behind the camera, a confused Matty responded ‘My diss track?’
They clarified ‘Taylor’s new song?’ prompting laughter from the Chocolate hitmaker who said: ‘I haven’t really listened to that much of it but I’m sure it’s good.’
Some tracks thought to be about Matty lament over a ‘con-man’, although fans have pointed out ‘paternity testing’ lyrics misses the point of the album which aims to call out the speculation over her relationships.
Previously an insider told US Weekly the Somebody Else singer ‘still thinks very highly of Taylor’ but everyone was ‘nervous about what she might have said on the album’.
Taylor’s new double album takes shots at exes and even fans over speculation (Picture: Graham Denholm/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
His family have defended him against Taylor’s lyrics (Picture: Scott Legato/WireImage)
They added: ‘[His family] were worried that Taylor was going to rip him apart. Matty has struggled with life in the public eye, and he’s been doing really well, but the last thing that he needs is for every Swiftie in the world to think he’s a villain.’
A second insider reportedly said he was worried about fans not hearing the full story but appreciated a heads up from Taylor’s team.
The two apparently no longer speak but do have a ‘bond’ which Matty holds in a special place in his heart and ‘couldn’t be happier’ with how he comes across.
Meanwhile, his aunt Debbie Dedes defended him to the MailOnline and shared: ‘Nothing surprises him any more. He will not be surprised by the song, him and her know what went on.’
Adding that Taylor writes about ‘all her relationships’, Debbie added: ‘I don’t think it will come as a shock to him at all. He’s very happy in his new relationship so I’m sure he will be focussing on that.’
Matty ‘couldn’t be happier’ with how he comes across (Picture: Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP, file)
As with all artists, the Clara Bow singer writes about her experiences of events in her life which often centre around relationships and this album appears to be filled with Easter eggs for dedicated fans.
Debbie also stated that the family obviously knew more about what really happened than the media or fans could ever know, but that doesn’t stop Swifties deciphering lyrics.
It isn’t just the one track either as But Daddy I Love Him is about being swept up by a bad boy as everyone in your life screams ‘no’, exactly what happened when Taylor and Matty went public.
Taylor, 34, and the 1975 singer revealed their secret romance in the early days of her break up with Joe, 33, which caused a stir as he was being cancelled constantly.
The Tortured Poets Department documents her last two breakups (Picture: Republic Records via AP)
Fans disapproved of the relationship, which is said to have been off and on for years, even threatening to abandon the The Alchemy singer as she continued to date him amid spiralling behaviour.
Of course, the pair did split and now she is with the beloved Travis Kelce, but it seems she had some things left to say about Denise Welch’s son.
There’s no denying the fountain pen lyrics have Joe in their sights but fans have gone wild over the fact Matty and even Kim Kardashian have caught strays.
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived lyrics – a reference to Matty Healy?
This one is rather cutting as Taylor slams the ‘smallest man who ever lived’ who ‘rusted’ her ‘sparkling summer’.
Their romance ended in June 2023 so the exes would have been dealing with the fall out well into summer.
Matty is well known for wearing black suits on stage when performing so the ‘Jehovah’s Witness’ line appears to be a cutting dig at this.
She briefly dated Matty Healy of The 1975(Picture: BlayzenPhotos / BACKGRID)
‘In public showed me off/Then sank into stoned oblivion,’ Taylor sings, which could be a reference to Matty’s struggles with addiction and drug use.
Along with accusations of ghosting and treating her poorly, one brutal line reads ‘You didn’t measure up in any measure of a man.’
This isn’t the only song seemingly aimed at Matty as loml, short for ‘loss of my life’, discusses a ‘con-man’ who tricked her in a ‘get love quick scheme’.
This feels much more parallel to the short whirlwind romance with the Sound hitmaker, rather than a long slow death she hints at with Joe.
There’s also mentions of ‘rekindling’, which was a rumour that had surfaced after Matty and Taylor’s breakup.
‘And your suit and tie, in the nick of time,’ she sings which seems to be another reference to Matty’s penchant for performing on stage in suits.
Their relationship began just months after her big breakup, which could be ‘the nick of time’ to save her from the depressive spiral the album documents.
However, many fans believe this is still about The Favourite actor as it features the infamous lyric ‘I wish I could unrecall/ How we almost had it all.’
thanK you aIMee lyrics – take cover Kim Kardashian
Track 24 from the epic 31 song double album is titled thanK you aIMee, with the letters K I M capitalised possibly for the reality star.
The celebrity power houses have been at odds for years, with much of Taylor’s snake themed Reputation album said to be pointed at Kim and her ex Kanye West.
A song about a horrible girl from Taylor’s youth called ‘Aimee’, which fans have deciphered could be a metaphor for Kim.
Taylor and Kim Kardashian have been at odds for over a decade (Picture: Getty Images for NARAS)
On thanK you aIMee, the Cruel Summer songstress sings: ‘All that time you were throwin’ punches, I was buildin’ somethin’ / And I can’t forgive the way you made me feel.’
Famously, Kim’s ex stormed onto the VMAs stage in 2009 and declared Taylor was not deserving of her award, which should have instead gone to Beyonce.
This action, which Beyonce looked deeply mortified over, sparked a feud which lead to the creation of Reputation — one of Taylor’s most beloved albums.
While Taylor appeared to make amends with the couple, Ye then released song Famous where he took credit for her successes.
Kanye interrupted her VMA win in 2009 (Picture: MTV)
A messy phone call debacle, leaked by Kim, forced the Grammy winner away from the spotlight before returning with a triumphant Look What You Made Me Do.
Over the years the feud has simmered and faded, with the Skims founder once dancing along to Shake It Off with daughter North on TikTok.
Letting Kim know things are not forgotten so easily, in her new song Taylor sings: ‘And so I changed your name, and any real defining clues/And one day, your kid comes home singin’ a song that only us two is gonna know is about you.’
So Long, London lyrics – a reference to Joe Alwyn?
Even before fans got their hands (or ears) on TTPD, speculation was overwhelming that a song titled So Long, London was about her big break up with Joe.
Starring as the fifth song on the double album, a treasured spot reserved for her most heartbreaking track, this song does not disappoint for gut-wrenching lyrics.
Taylor and Joe Alwyn split in 2023 (Picture: Jackson Lee/GC Images)
‘You swore that you loved, me but where were the clues, I died on the altar waiting for the proof,’ sings Taylor as she plants more hints she was waiting for a ring.
The lyrics lament leaving London, which she ‘loved’ but has now had to leave behind which fans have connected to her Time interview where she said she had moved back from ‘a foreign country’.
‘And I’m p**sed off you let me give you all that youth for free,’ adds another lyric which seems to be a fairly blatant shot at her long relationship with Joe.
‘I didn’t opt in to be your odd man out/ I founded the club she’s heard great things about,’ could possibly in reference to Joe’s Tortured Man Club.
In the music video for Fortnight, Taylor wears a Victorian mourning outfit (Picture: Taylor Swift/Instagram)
However, London is also home to Matty Healy so some have speculated that he is also referenced.
‘For so long, London/ Stitches undone/Two graves, one gun/ I’ll find someone’, could be Taylor giving up on both of them and London as a whole.
Guilty as Sin lyrics – another Matty Healy shot?
Oh Matty, what did you do to our Miss Swift? She sings about ‘fatal fantasies’ as she lusts after someone she shouldn’t be lusting after.
Along with songs But Daddy I Love Him and Fortnight, Taylor appears to be desperate to have the man everyone is telling her not to.
However, Guilty as Sin depicts a more illicit affair as she confesses ‘If it’s make believe/Why does it feel like a vow.’
Fans did not approve of their relationship (Picture: FilmMagic)
Solidifying the song is about her fellow musician, Taylor claims she’s ‘drowning in the blue nile’ which could link to Scottish band The Blue Nile, which Matty once declared his ‘favourite band of all time’.
She knows this relationship would anger the outside world as she sings ‘They’re gonna crucify me anyway/What if the way you hold me is actually what’s holy?’
Taylor is telling her fans she knew the controversies before she went public with Matty but was so swept up that she jumped anyway, she’d already sinned before even sparking a conversation.
This song is exactly why Taylor connects with her fans, stunning lyrical prose about a doomed situationship — we’ve all been there.
Down Bad lyrics – is it Joe or Matty?
‘Did you take all my old clothes?/Just to leave me here naked and alone,’ sings Taylor in Down Bad.
He took her life, her world, even her clothes, just to up and leave her alone after their relationship collapsed.
This song speaks to how wholly Taylor throws herself into relationships, she dives in and is down so bad she’s ‘crying at the gym’.
However, this relationship was filled with promises and she allowed herself to believe they were the one, only to discover they were not her ‘twin’.
She details falling into a depression — ‘I might just die, it would make no difference’ — over the demise of this intense romance.
While it may be ‘teenage petulance’, hinting at Matty, this relationship left her with nothing but her feelings and love for this man.
How Did It End? lyrics – oh it’s so Joever, Joe Alwyn
In her double album twist, there is How Did It End? — a post-mortem examination of a love that could not be ‘cured’ after being hit by ‘unforeseen circumstances’.
Fans had long speculated that the album was a post-mortem of her relationship with Joe and this is the confirmation.
Taylor draws from lots of inspirations so it’s hard to say definitively who inspired what (Picture: Republic Records via AP)
This is possibly one of Taylor’s more devastating bridges she’s ever written.
‘Say it once again with feeling/ How the death rattle breathing/ Silenced as the soul was leaving/ The deflation of our dreaming/ Leaving me bereft and reeling/ My beloved ghost and me/ Sitting in a tree/ D-Y-I-N-G.’
The Our Song hitmaker was ‘reeling’ from a romance that ended unexpectedly, left with a ghost of a love, fading but unable to move on.
This appears to be the absolute end of her six year relationship which only their friends were told about.
She can see the evidence, she knows what happened but heartbreakingly ends the song with ‘But I still don’t know/ How did it end?’
The Manuscript – a farewell to everything
We take it back, this in fact is the most devastating song Taylor has ever written.
Concluding her epic 31 song double album, the Tim McGraw icon opens with the lyrics ‘Now and then she rereads the manuscript/ Of the entire torrid affair.’
She looks back at her entire life in romance and tells listeners, this is it, this is everything and now she is healed and it’s ours to read.
Taylor and John Mayer dated in 2010 for a few months (Picture: Timothy Norris/Getty Images)
In this she references her exes beyond just Matty and Joe, lovers who were much older such as John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal.
‘In the age of him, she wished she was thirty,’ sings Taylor of a romance where she made French press coffee every morning and was promised children and happiness.
When she dated John, who is said to be the inspiration for Dear John, Taylor was just 19 while he was 32.
The Manuscript is all that is left of her relationships (Picture: Mat Hayward/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
The song continues: ‘She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years/ Everything had been above board/ She wasn’t sure.’
She moves forward, hinting at therapy and assessing the trauma that her early relationships had caused before saying ‘at least she knew what the agony had been for’.
Closing the song, and the entire album, Taylor sings: ‘The only thing that’s left is the manuscript/ One last souvenir from my trip to your shores/ Now and then I reread the manuscript/ But the story isn’t mine anymore.’
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department is out now, everywhere
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