Seemingly nothing Taylor Swift does is by accident. Every time the music megastar drops a new song or music video, her fans are tearing apart the lyrics and reading into the smallest background details to find the hidden Easter eggs. So it’s no surprise that following the shocking news that Swift and Joe Alwyn had broken up after six years of dating, there are many who are convinced she dropped a big hint about the split in late March, with a change to her Eras Tour set list.
News broke over the weekend that T-Swift and Joe Alwyn’s romance had “run its course,” which apparently explained why the actor had not been to any of the shows thus far on Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated Eras Tour. Some fans, however, think she may have broken the news herself, as only she could — with a subtle change to the set list. As one fan pointed out:
hold on cause taylor switched from invisible string (a song about hopeful love) to the 1 (a song about past love) on the set list… pic.twitter.com/NPm4kMgIJsApril 9, 2023
This Swiftie was one of several to make note of the change that first came at her March 31 concert in Arlington, Texas, where she played “The 1” off of folklore, instead of “Invisible String” off the same album. Furthermore, this wasn’t a situation like the surprise songs she’s been featuring, where she plays a different pair of acoustic tunes each night. Taylor Swift has kept “The 1” in that place on the playlist seemingly permanently since that night. This TikToker also sees the song swap as a clear indicator of what had happened:
@tacocat7890 ♬ original sound - TacoCat
The switch from “Invisible String” — a song about a current relationship — to “The 1” — a song that includes to lyrics, “And if my wishes came true / It would've been you / In my defense, I have none / For never leaving well enough alone/ But it would've been fun / If you would've been the one” — does seem subtle. Her set, which features 44 songs nightly and runs for over three hours, is already an emotional affair, with plenty of love songs, breakup songs and a sentimental ode to her late grandmother. Does that one song swap really make a difference? To Swifties, absolutely, as another tweeted:
THINKING ABOUT HOW SHE SWITCHED OUT INVISIBLE STRING FOR THE 1…. pic.twitter.com/szYYX469mrApril 8, 2023
Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn kept their relationship private since they started dating in 2016, so news of their split hit fans pretty hard, especially after seeing some of the sweet moments they shared, like dancing at the VMAs. The song “Lavender Haze” off Midnights was inspired by him, and the two collaborated on multiple songs during their time together. He was credited (under the pseudonym William Bowery) with helping to write several songs on folklore and evermore, which were released in 2020, even winning a Grammy. After being hit with the news that this partnership is over, fans — including this one — are simply not OK:
people saying “is this why she played the 1 instead of invisible string” and that is going to take a huge toll on my mental health pic.twitter.com/UVKGsv4YFjApril 9, 2023
I suppose in that case it’s probably a bad time for a joke about Pete Davidson being Taylor’s next muse? While this is surely a sad time for Taylor Swift (and her fans, by extension), there’s plenty of music and other things for Swifties to look forward to, as we wait to see if the artist will use her Eras Tour to bring us more insight into her current emotional state.
