Back in 2019, we had a notable debate on this blog about Selena Gomez’s then-new album, which she said was mostly about Justin Bieber. Justin and Selena were on-and-off for years, until they were finally done for good and Justin went and married Hailey Baldwin. Hailey and Justin had been married for a year by the time Selena put out that album, and in interviews at the time, Selena spoke about how she hoped that Justin would listen to the album. I found the whole thing unhealthy and uncomfortable, especially given that Selena was still trying to get her married ex to pay attention to her.
Well, I was reminded of that situation because Selena’s friend Taylor Swift has also devoted an album to an ex. An ex who has moved on and is currently dating someone else. Taylor is dating someone else as well, which is looking more and more like an ill-fated rebound after Matt Healy rocked her world. While Taylor has not said that she hopes Healy listens to The Tortured Poets Department, she did devote a whole-ass album about the racist guy she banged for several months before he ghosted her. All of which to say, Healy hasn’t listened to it.
Matty Healy, the lead singer of The 1975, has shared his initial thoughts after the release of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. After being approached by paparazzi in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 24 and asked how he’d “rate” his “Taylor diss track” as compared to others, Healy, 35, asked, “My diss track? Oh!” then laughed and replied, “I haven’t really listened to that much of it, but I’m sure it’s good.”
Healy is a presumed frequent topic on Swift’s new double album, though he’s not explicitly mentioned by name.
Over the weekend, Healy’s aunt Debbie Dedes had said she didn’t think the musician would be bothered by the songs. “She writes about all her relationships, doesn’t she? I don’t think it will come as a shock to him at all,” Dedes told The Daily Mail of her nephew. “He’s very happy in his new relationship so I’m sure he will be focusing on that.”
(Healy has been dating model and Instagram chef Gabbriette Bechtel since September 2023.)
Healy is also presumably the subject of the album’s titular track “The Tortured Poets Department,” when Swift sings about her lover bringing his typewriter to her apartment to evoke the vibes of legendary poets like Dylan Thomas.
“You left your typewriter at my apartment / Straight from the Tortured Poets Department / I think some things I never say / Like, ‘Who uses typewriters anyway?’” she sings.
Matt Healy really said: I ain’t reading all that, I’m happy for u tho or sorry that happened. What’s even funnier, to me, is that before TTPD was released, the Swifties were convinced that the album was mostly about Joe Alwyn and they were fully prepared to make Joe’s life hell. Now that they can see that the album is mostly about Healy, it’s taken the wind out of their sails because they already had such a low opinion of him. Like, I’m not even sure the Swifties care enough to yell at him for breaking Taylor’s heart.
Matty Healy admits he hasn’t listened to all of Taylor Swift’s new album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ but is “sure it’s good.” pic.twitter.com/pKNaSwaYRA
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) April 24, 2024
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.