Taylor Swift Seemingly Has A Scathing Review Of Her Time With Matty Healy On New Album

Taylor Swift has launched what fans believe is a pretty damning review of her short-lived relationship with 1975 frontman Matty Healy in her newly-released album The Tortured Poets Department.

The 11^th studio album from the star, which was released on April 19, features one song titled 'The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived', which is believed to allude to Healy's height given it has been the subject of debate for some time. For example, in 2018, the star told The Fader: 'Everyone in [the 1975] is 6’4" and I’m 5’10", so everyone thinks that I’m 5’5”.' In 2022, he also told a fan that he was 'sick to f*cking death' of this injustice, given that he is, in fact, 'a big boy'.

While we don't know for sure that Swift's song is about Healy, one of the biggest suggestions that it is is the song's first verse, which features the line 'Gazing at me, starry-eyed / In your Jehovah’s Witness suit.' Healy’s iconic 1975 outfit is, as The New Yorker described it, a 'close-cut suit and a tie', which is an ensemble often worn by Jehovah’s Witnesses who look to 'reflect the values that we live by' and 'show respect for our God'. While it's important to note that Healy is not a Jehovah Witness, the comparison between his suit choice is telling.

In the song Swift also compares the unnamed man to a ‘tattooed golden retriever’, adding that the individual is ‘in self sabotage mode / Throwing spikes down on the road’ and questions whether ‘trusting my sparkling summer was the goal’.

The summer reference is crucial here as Swift and Healy began dating last summer following the Grammy Award winner’s split from British actor Joe Alwyn, who she dated for six years. Swift and Healy were regularly seen attending each other’s concerts, attending dinners together, heading to a Brits Awards after party, kissing, and had a mutual friend and producer in Jack Antonoff.

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However, the romance was short lived and by June the pair had called it quits.

While it’s not unusual for Swift to pull from her previous relationships as inspiration for her music (see Joe Jonas, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston for reference), but it seems her time with Healy has provided a powerful memory of creativity for the star. Swift is currently in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce.

In the track, Swift dubs the individual ‘not Dylan Thomas’, adding: ‘Sometimes I wonder if you’re going to screw this up with me / But you told Lucy you would kill yourself if I ever leave.

‘And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen / Everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be / Because we’re crazy.

‘You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine / And that made me want to die / The idea you had of me, who was she? / A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you.’

In 'The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived', Swift also notes: ‘I would have died for your sins / Instead I just died inside / And you deserve prison / But you won’t get time / You’ll slide into inboxes / And slip through the bars.’

Of course, Swift isn’t the only one to look back at their time together with less than rose-tinted glasses.

In an interview with Q in 2016, Healy (who was first linked to Swift in 2015), reportedly described the prospect of dating the singer-songwriter as a ‘de-masculinating, emasculating thing’.

‘She wasn’t a big impact on my life. It’s just interesting to me how interested the world is about Taylor Swift,’ he said, later adding: ‘if I had gone out with Taylor Swift I would’ve been, ‘F**king hell! I am NOT being Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.’ You know, ‘F**K. THAT’.

The singer later reportedly, per Yahoo, clarified his comments on X, writing: ‘Now I may admit to being an idiot on occasion, but I am not a misogynist. This suggestion makes me really sad.

‘I was for a very short time immersed in a celebrity world that I found confusing and scary.

‘At that time, I had fears of being “somebody’s boyfriend” (remember this is all speculation as we never dated!) before even being recognised for my music or presence as a person in my own right.

‘Now I don’t pride myself on being more intelligent, or worldly, or wise, or progressive, or even regressive than the next man but I DO pride myself on being honest.

‘I was being HONEST about all the thoughts, feelings, and situations that come along when people ASSUME you are dating the most famous woman on the planet.’

He also described her as ‘one of the most gracious, hard working, creatively gifted, and beautiful women’ that he has met, and that he has ‘a lot of respect and admiration for her’.

‘I didn’t even date Taylor, but the media’s incessant and brutal obsession with her has meant that even a guy who DIDN’T DATE HER has been so battered by their never-ending questions that he’s inevitably said something that can be lifted and moulded into something that resembles “shade”. It’s really sad.’

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