It’s been quite a whirlwind few months for fans of Taylor Swift after the singer’s six-year relationship with English actor Joe Alwyn came to a surprising end in April. Surprising only, of course, to all of us on the outside, since the couple was always incredibly private, and little – good or bad – was ever known about their time together.
More unexpected even, were the rumors that surfaced a month after the break-up was made public, that Swift was allegedly hanging out with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy in a non-platonic way. We now know that to be somewhat true, after the two were pictured holding hands in a restaurant in New York earlier this month.
While the rumored romance has left some Swifties feeling uncomfortable due to Healy’s frequent foot-in-mouth type of comments about world issues at large, fans of both the singer and the rock band seem convinced the two have been flirting with the idea of a relationship for a while. More specifically, since 2014, when they met at a 1975 concert in L.A. and exchanged numbers.
Back then, Healy was asked about the prospect of him and the popular singer being the next big celebrity item while on a radio interview for Australia’s Shazam Top 20, simply responding “Let’s see what happens.” He did say, however, that he “wouldn’t say no” to going out with her, calling Swift “a sensation.” Obviously, that’s all it took to ignite endless dating rumors, which Healy discredited while visiting the same radio show months later.
“It’s bloody fake. It’s all fake, it’s all a farce,” he said. By then, Healy had worn a 1989 t-shirt at one of his concerts to which Swift responded by wearing The 1975 merch a few days later, resulting in pictures that have now become iconic relics in the “Maylor” fandom. “That didn’t really happen. As much as it would be amazing for me if it did, unfortunately, it didn’t,” Healy concluded.
Given how popular Swift is, Healy was asked about her repeatedly. In 2016, in an interview with Q Magazine, he talked at length about those months in 2014 when he was constantly associated with her. He described their dynamic as “a flirtation” and spoke about how strange it had been to be referred to as “Taylor Swift’s boyfriend” at a time when he was still trying to make a name for himself. Some of his comments didn’t sit well with fans of the singer, but he later explained what he meant in an apology statement.
“So the one time I did have a flirtation with a girl, it ends up going everywhere…I mean, I got on E! News and people were like, ‘Who’s Matt Healy?’ so that was cool. But I didn’t make a big deal out of it myself. It’s not really anything to talk about, because if she wasn’t Taylor Swift we wouldn’t be talking about her. She wasn’t a big impact on my life. It’s just interesting to me how interested the world is about Taylor Swift. The reason I mention that is because if I had [properly] gone out with Taylor Swift, I would’ve been, ‘F****ing hell, I am not being Taylor Swift’s boyfriend. You know, “F**k. That.”‘ That’s also a man thing, a de-masculinating, emasculating thing.”
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Healy explained that ever since Swift attended his concert in December 2014, a majority of journalists have asked him about her and their interaction. “I have said on countless occasions that I found her to be one of the most gracious, hard-working, creatively gifted, and beautiful women that I have had the pleasure to meet. I personally have a lot of respect and admiration for her,” his statement read. However, he continued, “The media’s incessant and brutal obsession with her has meant that even a guy who DIDN’T DATE HER [sic] has been so battered by their never-ending questions that he’s inevitably said something that can be lifted and molded into something that resembles ‘shade’.”
Healy explained that “at that time, [he] had fears of being ‘somebody’s boyfriend’ … before being recognized for [his] music or presence as a person in [his] own right,” and that being linked to a star as massively famous as Swift is “an all-consuming whirlwind and something that for [him] elicited a lot of self-exploration.”
While he could have definitely been clearer in his Q Magazine interview, his feelings aren’t completely unfounded. Swift’s dating life was then, and is now, one of the hottest topics not only in the press but among her fans, too. Dating the singer will likely result in your life being analyzed and scrutinized, as is, anyway, currently happening to Healy. Albeit quite famous for some time, Healy is not nearly as observed and monitored as Swift has been over the years, and it’s not shocking that he found the sudden flood of attention daunting.
Swift has written about this aspect of her dating life extensively in the past in songs like “Peace,” “I Know Places,” and “Dancing With Our Hands Tied,” where she reflects on fears that fame will alienate the people she loves. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized and, not to sound too dark, but I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person,” she said in an introductory video to her 2022 single “Anti-Hero.”
Things quieted down after that. Journalists seemed to have gotten the hint to stop asking Healy about Swift, and the two, who remained friends, were allowed to hang out without being bombarded with dating rumors. In 2019, while speaking on a podcast about the current state of pop and how some artists aren’t making personal music, Swift’s name came up. Healy then immediately stated that “[He] would never slag Taylor off,” and doubled down on how amazing he thinks the musician is. He then revealed that he had been interested in the idea of possibly producing an acoustic album for the Lover songwriter.
“I can’t think of a record that would sell more than that. Like, Taylor Swift’s intimate return to country,” the 1975 singer said, incidentally predicting the future. What he was describing was essentially the Folklore/Evermore album duo that Swift would go on to release during the pandemic, which became her most critically acclaimed work to date.
At the time, Healy offered up his services, saying he’d be happy to simply be in charge of setting up the microphones. “Just so you know, I’m there,” he said during the podcast, later tweeting a sentiment this writer very much agrees with – “Taylor Swift. With an acoustic guitar. Doing her [Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album] ‘Nebraska’. Doing her [Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album] ‘Blue’. Kill me.”
Healy would later run into Swift at the 2020 NME Awards but he confessed to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that it wasn’t the right time to be pitching his “post-rock Joni Mitchell project” to her. What’s more interesting in this specific interaction is that Healy said the pair hadn’t seen each other “in years,” and then implied Swift was already working on something similar. “She’ll do it. She’s smarter than both of us, mate,” he told Lowe.
Healy also added that Swift’s 2019 single “Lover” was already heading in the artistic direction that he envisioned – “We think she’s going back there. That song’s good.” Fast-forward three years, and he is now singing “Lover” passionately while attending Swift’s Eras Tour as a VIP guest. I guess he really does love that song.
That wasn’t the only time Healy let his Swiftie side show. In October 2022, the singer posted a B-side from Swift’s 2008 album Fearless to his Instagram stories. Don’t worry, the version of “Hey Stephen” he shared was the one from Swift’s re-released version of the album. Keep in mind, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was released well over a year before this, in April 2021. Swift performed “Hey Stephen” as one of the surprise songs at her third Philadelphia Eras Tour show while Healy was in attendance. The singer said “a few really nice fun people” had requested it.
Music is clearly a common denominator between the two. They are fans of each other’s work, and, in fact, Healy’s dream of working with Swift did come true while she was making her 2022 title Midnights. Unfortunately for us all, the song they worked on didn’t make the final cut. At the same time, The 1975 were making their 2022 album Being Funny in a Foreign Language with long-time Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff – who has been credited with reconnecting the two stars. A profile about the band published by Pitchfork says Swift got to listen to the album early and that her reaction was “It’s so funny.”
While talking about his experience working on Midnights, Healy said he had yet to buy tickets for the Eras tour, which, at that point, was at the center of a massive Ticketmaster scandal. As fate would have it, he has now been present at six of Swift’s tour dates, performing alongside opening act Phoebe Bridgers for a portion of them. Similarly, Swift also made a surprise appearance at The 1975’s ongoing tour at their London concert in January, where she sang “Anti-Hero” live for the first time, as well as a cover of the band’s song “The City”.
There’s a long history between Matty Healy and Taylor Swift, apparently based on mutual respect and admiration. Neither has spoken about their rumored relationship yet, although fans are convinced they’ve been sending each other secret messages on stage. Whether or not they’re romantically involved, and whether they’re serious about one another, there’s no denying a future collaboration between the two could result in some of the greatest pop music ever made.
