Last April, pop culture lovers everywhere were left shocked when it was announced that Taylor Swift had split from her boyfriend Joe Alwyn after more than six and a half incredibly private years together.
The two stars began dating in 2016, which was notably around the same time Taylor chose to retreat from the public eye after being branded a “snake” amid her infamous feud with Kanye West (whose name is now Ye) and Kim Kardashian.
While Taylor returned to the spotlight the following year, she continued to protect her new relationship, and in her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, she said that keeping their romance private had been a joint decision.
She also said that Joe being “balanced” and “grounded” was actually the catalyst for her falling in love with him.
In many of Taylor’s songs that were released while she was with Joe, she shared her appreciation for the normalcy of their relationship as she sang about their low-key life together. This included spending time with family and friends away from the glare of the public eye.
But when she released her 10th studio album, Midnights, in October 2022, it appeared as though cracks had started to form. In the songs, Taylor expresses her dissatisfaction with her newfound private life, and vows to “reclaim” the peaks of her past popularity and superstardom.
The breakup announcement came six months later, and while Taylor still hasn’t explicitly addressed the split, she has made her feelings toward Joe incredibly clear in the time since.
The track is told from the point of view of someone who is desperate for their partner to fight for their relationship, only to be left feeling like an “imposition.” It also suggests that marriage was a contentious topic in Taylor’s relationship, with the star singing, “I wouldn’t marry me either.”
The timing of the song’s release left little doubt in fans’ minds that it was about the recent demise of Taylor and Joe’s romance, and as Taylor moved on — first with controversial musician Matty Healy and then NFL star Travis Kelce — many assumed that “You’re Losing Me” was the last we’d hear about Joe.
