Entertainment

Tayvin Could Get A Mention On Taylor's Next Album

by Amy Mackelden

Gigi Hadid recently confirmed that Taylor Swift is recording new music, and everyone is understandably excited. Apart from, perhaps, her ex-boyfriends, who are probably wondering whether they will be the subject matter of her new record. The singer has made no secret of the fact that she's inspired by real events when she writes. Much of 1989 appeared to be about Harry Styles, while Red mostly focussed on Swift's relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. Will Swift's next album be about Calvin Harris? It seems quite likely that he'll at least be one of the inspirations.

Swift and Harris dated for over a year, and made several public declarations of love throughout their romance. For instance, the photo of the pair on an inflatable swan is infamous, and they were often seen in public together. Despite announcing their break-up in an amicable fashion, relations between the pair became much more tense when news broke that Swift was dating Tom Hiddleston. Followed by the reveal that the pop star had secretly co-written one of Harris's songs, it started to feel as though the former couple were now at war. Harris even told GQ in September 2016,

It’s very difficult when something I consider so personal plays out very publicly. The aftermath of the relationship was way more heavily publicized than the relationship itself. When we were together, we were very careful for it not to be a media circus. She respected my feelings in that sense. I’m not good at being a celebrity.

Clearly, Harris would've preferred to have kept the details of his break-up from Swift under the radar. Knowing how her ex feels about being famous, would Swift write about their time together, or respect his wishes?

If Harris really values his privacy, and she knows that, I doubt that she'd write about their relationship in an overtly obvious way. Despite some Twitter warfare, the pair seem to genuinely respect one another's work, and it seems doubtful that Swift would want to hurt Harris in any real way. Also, following some highly publicized feuds with celebrities like Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, the singer is probably going to want to court a different sort of attention from now on, involving a lot less drama.

However, if Swift did choose to write about her relationship with the Scottish DJ, it wouldn't be the first time she's used a fellow celebrity as inspiration. In an interview with Rolling Stone in June 2012, John Mayer said of Swift's song "Dear John," from her album Speak Now, "It made me feel terrible. Because I didn't deserve it. I'm pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do." Also, Swift told the Nov. 2013 issue of New York Magazine that the ex that inspired Red reached out to her having listened to the album. She said, "He was like, 'I just listened to the album, and that was a really bittersweet experience for me. It was like going through a photo album.' That was nice. Nicer than, like, the ranting, crazy emails I got from this one dude." It's largely speculated that the inspiration for Red was Gyllenhaal, but whoever sent those "crazy emails" is still a mystery.

Swift is used to getting mixed reactions to her work, particularly from the people the songs are about. It seems highly likely that she'll draw inspiration from her relationship with Harris for next album. But my guess is that the singer won't be leaving quite so many clues in the liner notes, so that her ex can retain some of his privacy.