Try not to read too much into this, Taylor Swift fans. Oh, it’s too late? Cool, cool, cool.
On February 24, Swift performed two surprise mashups for the Eras Tour crowd in Sydney, Australia. At one point during every concert, the 34-year-old pop star rotates through her extensive catalogue for songs that didn’t make the set list—and her recent choices were bound to cause a stir amongst fans. Before performing a mix of “New Year’s Day” and “Peace” from Reputation and Folklore at the piano, Swift took to guitar for a mashup of two breakup bangers: “You’re Not Sorry” from Fearless and “Should’ve Said No” from her 2006 debut album.
Considering “Should’ve Said No” is a song about breaking up with a cheater, many fans were quick to tie the second performance to recent fan theories that Swift’s ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn was unfaithful during their six year relationship. “At this point if I you are Joe Alwyn, with the rumors that are going around about you, I would go into hiding,” one TikTok user said in a video about the Sydney performance.
“I think she’s preparing us for the tea that’s about to spill with TTPD release,” another fan commented on the TikTok, to which the video creator replied, “Absolutely.”
Joe Alwyn has been the main target of Swift-related fan theories since the pop star announced her upcoming album The Tortured Poets Department, which drops in April. There are many reasons fans suspect the album will detail the demise of their love story—most of which, you can read about here and here.
Swift spoke with fans before performing “You’re Losing Me” for the first time ever.
This latest fan-fueled theory actually started gaining traction after Swift performed a different mashup during one of her surprise sets in Melbourne, Australia. Earlier this month, she combined “Getaway Car” from Reputation, “August” from Folklore, and “The Other Side of the Door” from Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
“So ‘Getaway Car’ is from the perspective of the cheater, ‘August’ is from the perspective of the other woman, and ‘The Other Side of the Door’ is from the perspective of the woman who was cheated on,” one fan noted, while others quickly recalled previous fan accusations that Alwyn was acting shady with a co-star amid his split from Swift.
I’ve gotta be honest, I think my fellow Swifties are reaching with this one. Isn’t the whole point of a mashup to combine songs with similar themes? Although it feels safe to assume that Swift’s split from Alwyn was less amicable than sources originally told the press in April 2023, none of these tracks have ever been tied to the actor.
Of course, the timing of “Should’ve Said No” x “You’re Not Sorry” was bound to add fuel to the fire, but there is another reasonable explanation: Swift simply couldn’t resist a bit. “You know we love your accents but I have a very specific word that is my favorite,” Swift told the Australian crowd ahead of the performance, per fan-recorded videos. “And that word is the word ‘no’ It is the most glorious sound.”
And yes, she sang the lyric exactly the way you think. “You can sing it the American way if you want,” she told fans. “Or you can just be yourselves. And you can say, ‘You Should’ve Said Naur
