Fans of the singer-songwriter love deciphering Taylor Swift’s lyrics to find allusions to her romantic past and mental health.
However, it didn’t take a close listen to Swift’s most recent album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” for her admirers in the United Kingdom to realize that the pop sensation had grown weary of the nation’s capital after making it her frequent hangout and eventually her second home. The track “So Long, London” is the fifth on the LP.
Some Swifties are therefore curious as to whether they are witnessing the start of a protracted farewell when Swift brings her highly successful Eras Tour to London’s Wembley Stadium.
Swift is only making two stops in London during the tour. While some believe the arrangement simply marks a new chapter in Swift’s relationship with the Big Smoke, others are concerned that it would serve as a sort of swan song. Regardless of whether “So Long, London” serves as the song’s epilogue or a coda to her love letter to the city, “London Boy,” Eras’s arrival marks a significant emotional turning point.
Her current relationship seems to be predicated on the idea that she won’t be in London. “It’s not like there is an American football player living here,” remarked 22-year-old Maggie Fekete, a doctoral student from Canada, who attributes her orientation in the city three years ago to Swift’s musical allusions to London.
In case you missed it, Swift had a string of romantic relationships with well-known Brits, beginning in 2012 with Harry Styles and concluding last year when she began dating tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. The rumors concerning “So Long, London” and a melancholic companion song that makes reference to a bar in London called “The Black Dog” are related to Swift’s 2023 breakup from English actor Joe Alwyn, with whom she had a romantic relationship for more than six years.
One of her songs from her 2019 album “Lover,” “London Boy,” is said to have been inspired by Alwyn. What looked to be a journal entry from January 2017 by Swift discussed being “essentially based in London” but trying to keep a low profile, as featured on a special-edition “Lover” CD.