Music
Taylor Swift Fans Decode Lucy & Jack In “The Tortured Poets Department”
The singer name-drops several people in her new album’s title track.
It’s rare for Taylor Swift to namedrop in song, but on the title track of her new album The Tortured Poets Department, she somewhat breaks the rules. Trigger warning: This piece contains a brief mention of suicidal thoughts.
In the song’s bridge, she sings, “Sometimes, I wonder if you're gonna screw this up with me, but you told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave, and I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen.”
Naturally, it only took a few minutes for the investigative Swifties to figure out who she was likely referring to: her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, who produced the track, and Boygenius member Lucy Dacus. And Swift shares a common thread with both of them through her rumored ex-boyfriend Matty Healy, the lead singer of The 1975.
The Connections, Explained
It didn’t take much for fans to connect Swift’s mention of Jack back to Antonoff. The Grammy-winning producer also worked with Healy on The 1975’s album Being Funny in a Foreign Language, so it makes sense that Swift would get deep about her relationship with a mutual friend of the former couple.
Singer-songwriter Dacus knows Swift through her Boygenius bandmate Phoebe Bridgers, who worked on the Red (Taylor’s Version) collab “Nothing New” and opened for the Eras Tour in May 2023. Dacus and fellow member Julien Baker appeared during Bridgers’ set at her first Eras show on May 5.
The next night, Healy, who Bridgers has worked with several times, joined her on stage. He went on to attend several shows in Nashville and Philadelphia, affirming fans’ suspicions that he was dating Swift, before they reportedly split in June. Clearly, the musicians had a large mutual friend group, contextualizing Swift’s mentions of Dacus and Antonoff.
However, the name-drops are even more interesting after Healy and Dacus’ friendship soured months after his split from Swift. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he told Dacus about a band name inspired by Boygenius that used an ableist slur. “I don’t really hear from her often,” he concluded. In response, Dacus wrote, “You don’t hear from me at all,” leading Healy to deactivate his account entirely.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. You can also reach out to the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386, or to your local suicide crisis center.
