Taylor Swift keeps details of her six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn private, so fans cherish any Alwyn-Swift breadcrumb they can get. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Alwyn’s pseudonym William Bowery co-wrote on Midnights track “Sweet Nothing,” and she shared that opener “Lavender Haze” is about protecting her and Alwyn’s love from public speculation. But the arrival of Midnights today (October 21) brought to light that Swift’s 10th studio album might not exist at all without Alwyn.
“Midnights is a wild ride of an album and I couldn’t be happier that my co-pilot on this adventure was @jackantonoff,” Swift captioned a celebratory Instagram carousel. “He’s my friend for life (presumptuous I know but I stand by it) and we’ve been making music together for nearly a decade HOWEVER… this is our first album we’ve done with just the two of us as main collaborators. We’d been toying with ideas and had written a few things we loved, but Midnights actually really coalesced and flowed out of us when our partners (both actors) did a film together in Panama. Jack and I found ourselves back in New York, alone, recording every night, staying up late and exploring old memories and midnights past.”
Antonoff is reportedly engaged to Margaret Qualley, who played Alwyn’s very intense love interest in Stars At Noon. The A24 romantic thriller’s official synopsis reads, “In 1984’s Nicaragua, a mysterious English businessman and a headstrong American journalist strike up a romance as they soon become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country.”
For those keeping Easter egg notes at home, “Labyrinth” is the tenth track on Midnights and finds Swift reckoning with lost love and “getting over you my whole life” while falling in love all over again.
Stars At Noon hits Hulu next Friday (October 28).
Midnights is out now via Republic. Get it here.
