We’re really using those analytical skills and diving into this song. Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” Tom Hiddleston and Joe Alwyn reveal means there was probably a love triangle between the pop star and the two actors. The revelation comes as Swift drops more songs and music videos from Lover.
Fans are going all-in hunting down easter eggs and clues to references to past songs and their visual companions. Swift and Alwyn may have started officially dating in the fall of 2016, but in her latest song, “Cruel Summer,” the songstress reveals she was falling for Alwyn long before then, actually back in summer. What was going on in Swift’s life at this point, you might be wondering? Well, she had a highly publicized, short-lived romance with Avengers star Tom Hiddleston. On her last album, Swift revealed that she first met The Favourite actor back at the 2016 Met Gala when she was with DJ Calvin Harris. On her latest album, Lover, Swift is getting even more vulnerable, revealing that she didn’t stop thinking about Alwyn for months. The most telling lyric that all but confirms this is when Swift sings the bridge,
I’m drunk in the back of a car, and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar, said I’m fine but it wasn’t true, I don’t want to keep secrets just to keep you, snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate.
The drama just escalates from there. The “Cruel Summer” singer then notes in her lyrics the “worst thing” Alwyn could have “ever heard.” Meaning that while she was still seeing Hiddleston and displaying all sorts of affection, it would mean saying “I love you,” to Tom would have been the worst thing Alywn ever heard. What a doozy.
“Cruel Summer” isn’t, of course, the only song where Swift references her relationship with Alwyn. On “Paper Rings,” the singer croons, “I hate accidents, except when we went from friends to this,” which seems to tell fans in the chorus that while Swift and Alywn remained friends following the Met Gala, it definitely turned into something more.
Then, there’s, of course, the ultimate clue. In the title song for the album, “Lover,” Swift sings, “I’ve loved you for three summers now but honey, I want them all.” Honestly? That just about says it all.
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