Did Joe Alwyn Cheat on Taylor Swift? Theories Explained

Did Joe Alwyn cheat on Taylor Swift ahead of their breakup?

By all accounts, Joe is dreading Taylor’s new album. The Tortured Poets Department is seemingly riddled with references to him, from the title to the tracklist and beyond.

But that’s not all; Taylor may have used The Eras Tour to drop hints about their breakup as well.

Has Taylor already confirmed that Joe cheated on her? And will the new album double down on that? Here’s the easter eggs fans have dug up. Cue the receipts, proof, timelines, screenshots!

Did Taylor Swift Drop Hints Joe Alwyn Cheated While On Tour?

The news that Taylor and Joe ended their longtime romance was announced just as Taylor was kicking things off in the summer of 2023.

By the time she headed overseas, things started to get interesting.

As part of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour run in Australia, Taylor performed in Melbourne on February 17.

Her acoustic set included a mashup of three particular songs from three different albums.

“Getaway Car” is from Reputation, “August” is from Folklore, and “The Other Side of the Door” is 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 from the perspective of the woman who was cheated on,” speculated one Swiftie on social media.

Another pointed out that individual lyrics seem to point to some sort of “mess” involving another woman and “three” people total.

Maybe people are reading too much into it. But, at the same time, Taylor used songs to hint at the Joe Alwyn breakup a year ago.

And then, at her Feb. 24 show in Sydney, Taylor performed another mashup consisting of the songs “Should’ve Said No” and “You’re Not Sorry.” Even if you don’t know the songs, the titles alone at least allude to cheating!

‘The Tortured Poets Department’ should answer a lot of questions

After once again making Grammy Awards history, Taylor Swift announced her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department at the 2024 show.

Obviously, this project was long in the works, yet still secret. Taylor will release her new album on April 19.

And Swifties fully expect that the album will shed light upon her split with Joe Alwyn. After all, the two were in a very serious, very private relationship for six years.

But everything about the album screams Joe Alwyn, without even hearing a single song from it. Start with the title. Many fans believe it’s a riff off the title of a group chat Joe admitted he’s in with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott called “The Tortured Man Club.” 

Then there is a tracklist, which reads like the most blistering breakup album of all time. Some of the song titles? “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “Guilty as Sin?,” “So Long, London”! That last one, c’mon!

Even the album cover has fans convinced this one is going to be about their breakup. In a black-and-white shot of her lying in bed, Swift may be making a direct reference to the cheating allegations without saying a single word.

The Joe Alwyn Cheating Rumors: How Did They Start?

In the spring of 2023, Emma Laird shared a photo on Instagram of herself and Joe Alwyn. The two were costars in Brutalist.

Rumors quickly emerged that he had moved on from Taylor and gotten with her.

Some Swifties speculated that the timeline was not as smooth and sequential as that. Without evidence, fans wondered if Joe had cheated.

Taylor has yet to confirm literally any of this

Many of Taylor Swift’s fans have spoken against these rumors. It’s not that they’re defending Joe Alwyn — it’s that they don’t like hearing unfounded accusations, or hearing fans put words into Taylor’s mouth.

By all accounts, the actual reason for Taylor and Joe’s split had to do with their busy schedules, with Taylor’s massive level of fame (contrasting with Joe’s fondness for privacy), and just growing apart as couples sometimes do.

Until Taylor Swift herself says that Joe Alwyn is a cheat, a lot of people aren’t prepared to believe it.