Images courtesy of Taylor Swift and The 1975 from Instagram

By Charlie Sawyer

Published Jun 6, 2023 at 12:27 PM

Reading time: 2 minutes

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The devil may work hard, but I think it’s fair to say that Taylor Swift’s PR team works much harder. After having potentially orchestrated one of the most disliked and random couples of all time—we’re of course talking about the Nashville lyricist and resident loose cannon and overall douchebag Matty Healy—Swift (and indeed her publicists) seem to have officially pulled the plug on the short-lived romance. We might be able to forgive you Taylor, but we’ll never forget.

Swifties everywhere were understandably stunned when they first got word of the ‘Cruel Summer’ singer apparently locking lips with The 1975 frontman. Not only did the two seem like an unlikely pair, it also felt incredibly disappointing to see Swift parading around a man who’s proven himself to be highly offensive and repugnant.

Now, I’ll admit, I was once a Healy stan myself. I lost my voice for two weeks during the summer of 2016, screaming the lyrics to ‘Robbers’ at Reading festival, I made incredibly poor and unimaginative Matty collages on Tumblr, and I gobbled up Healy thirst traps on TikTok not too long ago, I hate to say. That all changed however when I actually realised how vile this man truly is. From the overtly racist jokes about Ice Spice he joined in with to his grotty attitude regarding his own “genius,” this guy’s got a serious god complex.

So, yes, watching Swift openly support, admire, and hold hands with someone who’s also historically been extra misogynistic didn’t feel great. Either way, it seems as though it’s all come to an end. Sky News, who’re clearly way more invested in the relationship than any of us realised, reported on Tuesday 6 June 2023 that the two are “no longer romantically involved.” According to a “close source,” the relationship was always of a casual nature and the pair have simply parted ways, no fuss or fighting.

The problem is, we still don’t know if this relationship was at all real, PR romances are nothing new in the world of celebrity, and neither Swift nor Healy ever confirmed the tryst publicly, so there’s a big chance that this was all some kind of bizarre scheme to catapult the pair into the stratosphere of fame. Although when you think about it, Healy is a publicity disaster—if you’re going to pick a fake boyfriend, why not go with Andrew Garfield or Michael B. Jordan? Both, much better picks.

When even Azealia Banks is telling you you need to rethink your romantic decisions, it’s probably best to listen. 

And even if the Swiftosphere had a seizure and still decided to go with Healy, why not at least milk it slightly more? The two were practically together and then not together within the space of about a month. That’s not a lot of time for strategically posed strolls in the park and coffee dates.

But, let’s refer to the real judges here: Twitter users. For the most part, netizens seem to be overjoyed about the fact that the pair have called it quits.

There’s definitely a conversation to be had about the world’s obsession with Swift’s dating life, it’s a curse that’s followed women in the spotlight for some time now. Nevertheless, when you hitch your wagon to someone as controversial as Healy, people are going to take notice, it’s simply the nature of modern day society—especially where gen Zers are concerned.