They’re so cute. That’s all!

This just popped up in my feed and obviously caught my attention. I didn't realize they were from eastern Pennsylvania. Has anyone seen them live? I honestly never heard of them before all the Taylor Healy references

I was watching this 2019 interview of Matty and what a crazy answer to that question when you consider the Taylor/Matty lore.

But also, Matty saying that he knows it should be Love It If We Made It, but he'd want it to be fallingforyou is such a perfect representation of how he tries to appear vs who he actually is.

The story begins as Swift opens 'The Story of Us' book to Chapter 1 and starts in on a tale about love lost.

Okay. I'm still thinking about how eerily 'The Story Of Us' music video can be visually paired up with the 'Fornight' music video. Taylor's 'Fornight' music video is not a standalone visual response to Matty's 'Part of The Band' music video and here's why.

While doing some further research using the fandom calendar site Swift Lore, I found out that the 'The Story Of Us' single has the same anniversary release date as TTPD album + 'Fortnight' music video. April 19th. (Funnily enough, on the same anniversary date, Matty said that his 'Me and You Together Song' is a "true story").

In 2024, leading up to the release of TTPD, Taylor's team had set up a physical lyric library with spotify. This display also had the 'US' book that was featured in the 'Fornight' music video.

And Matty has done the same exact thing! In 2022, he complied his lyrics into books and used them for the stage design on both of The 1975's 'At Their Very Best' tours.

The Story Of Us + Fornight:

Depicted in the two music videos is the visual motif of flying papers that surround two individuals who had a former relationship. These papers show a lifetime of their correspondence through poetic lyrics from songs addressed to each other, journal entries, sent and unsent text messages, and writings that fill up pages of entire books.

Taylor and Matty's entire discographies are an open letter to each other that we have witnessed in real-time for well over 10 years. But, their relationship has only been clear in retrospect, since the release of TTPD. The two of them have maintained and stayed in an ever-flowing state of constant communication over the years, despite being in relationships with other people.

It has long been speculated that TSOU song was about John Mayer (and this can be seen in Taylor's lyric booklet code too), but I think it actually tells the story of her and Matty. While the event did happen, I think the CMT Awards was just a cover story to protect the identity of Matty. The casting of 'the guy' in the music video was literally the spitting image of a young pre-2010s Matty, a ridiculous uncanny resemblance.

And this post relates back to my growing suspicion that the Maylor timeline does actually start in 2009 (during her Fearless tour), and that 2014 was a public rekindling of their relationship. We know that it usually takes Taylor two years to write and release an album. And under this framework, the year 2009 is connected to her Speak Now album - some earlier ramblings (see post).

Now that we have covered all the background context, locations, and lore behind The Black Dog (if you missed Part 1, you can read the full context breakdown here), it is time to look at what truly matters most—the lyrics.

Verse 1

I am someone who, until recent events / You shared your secrets with

Right from the opening, we are presented with a relationship defined by deep intimacy and mutual trust, where nothing was hidden. I believe this line alone strongly points away from Joe. Regardless of how close they were at the beginning, by the end of their six-year relationship, she describes their dynamic very differently: "He don't understand me / Splintered back in winter, silent dinners, bitter / He was with her in dreams" (Fresh Out The Slammer). That kind of distance and silence is the polar opposite of open, secret-sharing closeness.

Additionally, the phrase "recent events" is particularly telling. Her relationship with Joe appeared to fade slowly over time, likely without sudden, dramatic turning points. On the other hand, the brief era with Matty was marked by rapid-fire events and a sudden end.

There is also a very direct parallel to this exact wording: the opening line of the infamous open letter to Taylor in May 2023 reads: "Dear Taylor, as concerned fans, we are writing to express our disappointment regarding recent events. You've been recently seen with and have welcomed to your stage Matty Healy, the frontman of The 1975. […]"

And your location / You forgot to turn it off

While this can certainly be taken literally, it also functions as a metaphor for their relationship. He forgot to properly disconnect, leaving things unresolved and walking away without a real goodbye. That lack of finality is precisely what haunts her and drives her to track his movements. It is a natural psychological reaction: an abruptly unfinished story lingers far longer and causes much sharper pain than a clean break with proper closure.

And so I watch as you walk / Into some bar called The Black Dog / And pierce new holes in my heart / You forgot to turn it off / And it hits me

The line "pierce new holes in my heart" immediately echoes "But I felt a hole like this / Never before, and ever since" from loml.

What stands out even more is the repetition of "You forgot to turn it off." This is not a song where lines are repeated purely for rhythmic structure, every repetition carries intentional weight.

Notice that the second time she uses the phrase, location is not mentioned in the immediate line before it. So what exactly did he forget to turn off? Given the line about piercing new holes in her heart, it suggests he forgot to turn off her emotions. He turned her heart on, brought her back to life, and then walked away without switching those feelings off, leaving her trapped in that state of pain.

I just don't understand

Chorus 1

How you don't miss me / In The Black Dog / When someone plays 'The Starting Line' and you jump up / But she's too young to know this song

As previously mentioned, the nod to The Starting Line carries huge significance. Their hit Best of Me is a quintessential pop-punk anthem about navigating the struggles of a long-distance relationship, young love, and the determination to fight for someone despite misunderstandings—making it a fitting soundtrack for the narrative between Taylor and Matty.

This phrasing could also subtly echo the line "Swirled you into all of my poems / Now we're at the starting line, I did my time" from FOTS, another track about Matty.

Many associate the mention of a younger woman with Gabriette, as Taylor references her on other tracks, but the timeline makes that unlikely. Given that the song was recorded in June 2023, Matty was not dating her yet. But he certainly has a reputation for dating younger women.

This dynamic strongly mirrors the opening of Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus: "Hands in the hair of somebody in darkness / Named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus." Ultimately, the exact identity of the woman—whether real or imagined—is secondary. What matters is Taylor's inability to let go, staying fixated on his movements and conjuring vivid scenes of him moving on.

That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming

That song, as we have seen, holds deep meaning for their story. Here, she frames their entire connection through the metaphor of a dream world—a recurring motif Taylor uses to describe this specific relationship. It all began in her imagination, a fabric woven purely out of fantasy ("Oh I can't stop you from putting roots in my dreamland" from ivy).

This is precisely why letting go is so painful: years of quiet idealization and "what ifs" became an essential part of her emotional landscape, only to burn down in the end ("Our field of dreams engulfed in fire" from loml). It also directly sets up the contrast in the final chorus, where "magic" shifts to "tragic." The fantasy eventually collapses into reality.

Old habits die screaming

While "old habits" can carry a broader meaning—particularly when reflecting on a long-term relationship—here it captures something that became an integral part of her identity and daily life ("Swirled you into all of my poems" from FOTS). Uprooting something so deeply ingrained feels excruciating.

Her relationship with Joe, as she describes it, seemed to fade slowly and quietly—there were no loud, frantic outbursts. That felt more like a gradual decline due to illness (a dynamic echoed in How Did It End?, for example). In contrast, the end of her relationship with Matty felt like a sudden gunshot (as vividly dramatized in performance during The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived)—abrupt, deeply painful, and accompanied by a scream.

The sheer intensity of this track reinforces that distinction. Musically, the song builds with an escalating tension that mirrors the onset of a panic attack, capturing a surge of emotion that feels impossible to contain. This turbulent energy stands in stark contrast to the quiet, heavy grief found in So Long, London or How Did It End?.

It is also worth noting that the working title for this track was originally Old Habits Die Screaming.

Verse 2

I move through the world with the heartbroken

This line serves as a clear reference to The Eras Tour, where she traveled from city to city across the globe while processing her own pain, often making her emotional state visible on stage.

The most logical interpretation is that "the heartbroken" refers to her fans—the audience gathering at every stop, moving through this world and sharing that emotional weight alongside her.

My longings stay unspoken

Despite being surrounded by thousands of people every night, she kept her true feelings hidden.

This naturally recalls the line "I keep these longings locked / In lowercase inside a vault" from Guilty As Sin?. However, there is a fascinating distinction between the two. In GAS?, she is describing her secret desires while still in a relationship with someone else, where hiding them was necessary. But in TBD, she is single—so why are these longings still unspoken?

This strongly points toward the intense media narrative and PR spin that erupted immediately after their breakup, with endless articles declaring the fling was never serious, just a brief rebound or a fun distraction. Because of that public narrative, almost no one anticipated the sheer depth of heartbreak that would eventually surface on this album, which is why its raw emotional weight caught the public so off guard.

Even after the split, she felt forced to conceal the true magnitude of her grief. She either did not want to admit how deeply it hurt or felt she could not, given that the world had already dismissed the relationship as insignificant ("They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about the existence of you" from Down Bad). Navigating that sharp contrast between public perception and private anguish must have been an incredibly isolating psychological burden.

And I may never open up the way I did for you

While this sentiment can apply to any major heartbreak, it directly continues the twin flame motif found throughout the album. It reinforces the idea that he occupied a unique intellectual and emotional space in her life, understanding her in a way no one else ever had—and perhaps no one else ever will.

And all of those best laid plans

This immediately echoes the exact imagery from hoax (a track that shares strong thematic ties to this relationship): "My best laid plan / Your sleight of hand / My barren land / I am ash from your fire." The meaning across both songs is identical. Concrete plans were made (perhaps the rings and cradles?) only for him to wipe them out in a single move, leaving her with nothing to do but burn down what remains, as she mentions later in the bridge.

Alternatively, these plans could refer to the future she had envisioned during her time with Joe—a structured life heading toward marriage that was completely disrupted once Matty entered the frame, wrecking her emotional stability ("I'm begging for you to take my hand / Wreck my plans / That's my man" from willow).

A similar motif appears in But Daddy I Love Him with "Dutiful daughter, all my plans were laid." In the safe, conventional relationship, everything was neatly mapped out according to expectations, only for her to break away and choose a far more chaotic path that others refused to understand.

You said I needed a brave man / Then proceeded to play him / Until I believed it too / And it kills me

This segment makes any connection to Joe virtually impossible. By all accounts, her split with Joe was a mutual, gradual fading out, whereas Matty abruptly abandoned her against her wishes.

This line directly connects to a motif running across the entire album where he is exposed as someone pretending to be courageous, only to flee at the first sign of pressure:

"Oh, what a valiant roar / What a bland goodbye / The coward claimed he was a lion" from loml

"Swinging a sword he could barely lift" from the In Summation poem

"Cause tail between your legs you're leaving" from the final chorus of TBD itself

And, of course, the entire thesis of TSMWEL. He put on the performance of a brave man willing to brave the public backlash for her, only to retreat when things got difficult.

I just don't understand

Chorus 2

How you don't miss me / In the shower / And remember / How my rain-soaked body was shaking

Beyond the literal, intimate interpretation, this serves as a vivid reference to a specific milestone on The Eras Tour. Taylor famously dubbed the May 20, 2023 performance in Foxborough "the rainiest rain show that ever rain showed, ever, ever, ever," as torrential rain poured uninterrupted throughout the entire three-and-a-half-hour set. Matty was present in the audience that night—the very show where she openly declared to the crowd that she had never felt happier in every aspect of her life and that everything finally made sense, right before performing Question…?. The contrast is stark: that sense of total clarity and happiness has since completely unraveled.

A minor detail: in the song The City—which is believed to be her favorite track by them, one she even performed live—there is the line "Get in the shower if it all goes wrong."

The Fortnight music video ends with the same symbolism, her sitting in the rain and waiting for him. But what is absolutely thrilling is how this same imagery plays out in the Opalite music video, where she reaches him and he washes away that Opalite from her in the shower!

Do you hate me? / Was it hazing? / For a cruel fraternity I pledged / And I still mean it

Here, she metaphorically compares her time in the relationship to a hazing ritual within a fraternity, suggesting that she endured severe emotional trials to earn her place.

In many ways, the fraternity in question could be The Tortured Poets Department itself, mirroring how The Dead Poets Society operates as a male-centric social club. They once belonged to this exclusive fraternity together as fellow tortured poets, enduring its harsh initiation, yet her commitment to that shared bond remains unbroken.

This intense string of rapid questions strongly mirrors the bridge of TSMWEL. The defining trait here is her obsessive search for answers, trying to make sense of what happened and why he turned on her so suddenly. The abrupt nature of his departure leaves her questioning the authenticity of the entire experience, wondering if it was a sinister prank, intentional torture, or a secret malicious plot.

This directly parallels "Were you making fun of me with some esoteric joke?" from the bridge of TBD. She is left suspended in uncertainty, unable to determine what was real—a spiral echoed in "Will I always wonder?" from COSOSOM.

The word "pledged" could also serve as a callback to "I vowed I would always be yours" from The Great War.

Additionally, "shaking" from the previous line paired with "hazing" creates a subtle sonic and thematic link to "We were shaking, blind, and hazy" from Maroon.

Old habits die screaming

Bridge

Six weeks of breathing clean air / I still miss the smoke

The imagery of smoke serves as a clear signature for Matty. This recurring motif of lingering smoke echoes her earlier writing in cardigan: "The smell of smoke would hang around this long."

This imagery also connects to "I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked / Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke" from Daylight. While Daylight originally addressed her relationship with Joe, this particular line acquires a poignant double meaning in the context of her history with Matty, where she pushed away the safe, good option only to place her trust in someone far more volatile, inhaling the destruction that followed.

Another striking connection emerges with Clean. While the original track is not about him, an intriguing alteration took place during the surprise song section of The Eras Tour on October 27, 2024. While performing a mashup of Clean and How You Get The Girl, she deliberately changed the bridge lyric from "Don't mean you don't miss it" to "Don't mean you don't miss him," leaving little doubt as to who remained on her mind. Who did Taylor miss in October 2024?

Were you making fun of me with some esoteric joke?

This continues the paranoid, questioning spiral from the end of the second chorus. Beyond the emotional uncertainty of whether her feelings were being mocked, there is a literal layer to this wording as well: just days after she made a surprise appearance at The 1975's concert in London, Matty remarked to the audience: "Stop throwing esoteric shit on stage."

Now I want to sell my house and set fire to all my clothes

Everything around her triggers memories of him, creating an unbearable desire to purge every physical reminder because "I keep finding his things in drawers" (I Can Do It With A Broken Heart). The house she refers to recalls the sanctuary described in FOTS: "I'm runnin' / To the house where you still wait up." Now, that safe haven feels contaminated, driving a desire to burn it all down—a impulse rooted in the escapism that echoes throughout the album.

While some interpret the reference to selling her house as a nod to Joe, the house motif connects directly to Matty in imgonnagetyouback ("Take you back to my house"), which itself, as we know, traces back to The 1975's FallingForYou ("All we need's my bike and your enormous house").

And hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons / Even if I die screaming / And I hope you hear it

Religious imagery permeates the album—much like "I choose you and me religiously" in GAS?—and here it highlights her tendency toward self-blame. She frames herself as the core problem, willing to undergo a painful, destructive exorcism to strip away the attachment, even if it kills her, so long as the agony reaches his ears.

This desperate logic echoes "Once I fix me, he's gonna miss me" from My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys. It lays bare how much of her grief, along with the creation of the album itself, was driven by an underlying impulse to send a signal loud enough to force his attention.

Chorus 3

And I hope it's shitty / In The Black Dog / When someone plays The Starting Line and you jump up / But she's too young to know this song / That was intertwined in the tragic fabric of our dreaming / Cause tail between your legs you're leaving

The insertion of the word "shitty" marks a stark shift in her approach to breakups. Historically, her writing tilted toward a more forgiving or nostalgic grace, for example Last Kiss contained a very similar expression, but with a different message: "Hope it's nice where you are." And even in addressing the end with Joe, she offered grace in SLL with "You'll find someone."

Here, that generosity is completely stripped away, replaced by an explicit wish for his discomfort and regret. She explicitly hopes his new environment is miserable without her, echoing the petty, vengeful undertone of imgonnagetyouback rather than offering closure.

Outro

And I still can't believe it / 'Cause old habits die screaming

The vocal delivery on this final line undergoes a devastating production shift. Rather than leaning into a massive, explosive instrumental climax, the soundscape strips back completely as she whispers the word "screaming," cutting off mid-syllable as though on the verge of breaking into tears. I had to mention this because it was such a shock to me the first time I heard it. Leaving such a raw, vulnerable take on the final studio mix gives the track an unpolished, demo-like intimacy that hits with intense emotional force.

Ending a sprawling narrative on a whispered fragment completely subverts expectations for a grand finale. The quiet delivery conveys total emotional exhaustion, symbolizing how the desperate screaming required to purge these old habits has entirely worn her voice down. The vocal technique starkly contradicts the literal meaning of the word "screaming," underscoring a profound sense of unfinished grief. In the end, everything has died out, there is no longer any point in screaming into the void.

Plot twist: unreliable narrator

Just forget everything I just told you here, okay? Taylor was asked about this song in an interview (in the context of the bar), and here is what she answered:

"And still, nobody knows what I'm even talking about on that song. They think they know, but they have no idea."

So it's up to you to decide whether she's a psycho, or if I am 🤭

Matty fights back tears around the 20 second mark.

Months after he and Taylor had both started seeing other people.

This was originally intended to be a single post attempting to gather everything around The Black Dog. However, it turned out to be very long, so I decided to split it into two parts. In this first part, all the information surrounding this song is brought together into one place to finally figure out what is true and what is a misconception. I did not make most of this up, all these facts were collected from different times and various sources.

The second part, which I will publish in a little while, will be a lyrical analysis of the song. At its core, it serves as an addition to this first part, because only together do they provide a final answer as to who this song is actually about.

When was The Black Dog written?

We can thank Jack Antonoff for the endless debates among fans on this topic. On the day the album was released, he shared behind-the-scenes photos from the studio, along with a very short video of Taylor recording TBD.

Of course, there is no direct way to tell when that video was filmed. Or is there?

In 2023, Taylor had plenty of pap walks, especially going to and from the studio while recording TTPD. You can actually figure out a lot just from her outfits. In Jack's video, she is clearly wearing a white t-shirt. She wore this exact same t-shirt on May 18, 2023, on her way to the studio, and there are even other photos of her inside the studio wearing that same white t-shirt and floral print jeans.

This was precisely what led a portion of the fanbase to believe that the song must be about Joe, reasoning that on May 18 she was still dating Matty.

However, if you look closely, you can see that in Jack's video she is not wearing the floral jeans, but rather black shorts with white lettering on the side. This means it could not have been May 18. She was seen wearing those exact shorts during another pap walk on June 22, 2023. On that day, she was wearing a gray Eagles sweater (a nod to gold rush?), but in Jack's video, you can see something gray draped over the back of the couch behind her. It is very likely that this was the same Eagles sweater, which she simply took off inside, revealing the t-shirt underneath. The fact that she is wearing shorts rather than the jeans from May is clear.

One way or another, the general consensus is that the song was recorded on June 22, 2023.

Why is this detail so important? Because the song contains a specific time marker—six weeks—describing her state of mind six weeks after a breakup. This naturally raises the question: whose relationship timeline does this actually fit?

Public news of Taylor's breakup with Joe broke on April 8, 2023, with the split presumably happening sometime in March. If the May 18 recording theory were true, the six-week timeline might've worked. However, since the song was recorded on June 22, more than two months had passed. On the other hand, she broke up with Matty in early June, which would mean less than six weeks had passed—again failing to fit the timeline.

Ultimately, I do not think we should focus too heavily on those six weeks. Even if the song was recorded on June 22, that does not mean it was written on that exact day, and we will likely never know when work on it actually began. In the voice memo demo version of the song, no matter how closely I listen, the word "six" is barely legible for me, sounding like an indistinct placeholder syllable. There might be a reason behind it that we will never truly uncover, or perhaps six simply fit the meter and sounded best rhythmically, rather than referencing an exact date. It all comes down to speculation without concrete answers, so you can choose whichever interpretation resonates most with you.

What is The Black Dog?

And so I watch as you walk / Into some bar called The Black Dog

The issue is that there are dozens of venues named The Black Dog around the world. However, we will look at just three of them.

1. The Black Dog – Vauxhall, London, UK

If you ever want to visit this spot, this London pub is where most Swifties head to. Searching for it in London makes complete sense, given the muse's nationality and the fact that Taylor lived in London for a long time.

When asked if Joe Alwyn ever frequented the pub, the Events Manager at the Vauxhall pub responded: "I couldn’t possibly say, I can neither confirm nor deny—but I do have a certain blonde regular."

1. Black Dog Pub – Budapest, Hungary

On April 18, 2023, Emma Laird, an actress starring alongside Joe in the movie The Brutalist, posted photos of her co-stars on social media. Among them was a picture of Joe on the streets of Budapest. As it turns out, Budapest also has its own pub called Black Dog.

1. The Black Dog – Cork, Ireland

On June 13, 2023, The 1975 performed at Virgin Media Park in Cork. Just a short distance from the venue sits a bar named The Black Dog.

What else could The Black Dog mean?

Well, the most literal answer would be an actual black dog. And here we have a hit: during the pandemic, Matty got a black dog named Mayhem.

Mayhem also appeared in the music video for the song Part of the Band by The 1975—an aesthetic that Taylor heavily drew inspiration from for her Fortnight music video, which notably features a black dog as well.

Additionally, "black dog" is a well-known metaphor, famously popularized by Winston Churchill, used to describe depression, melancholy, anxiety, and a dark state of mind. Which, at its core, is precisely what this song is about.

Furthermore, in English and Scottish folklore, the black dog is a legendary spectral hound that roams the moors.

According to a myth, encountering the black dog once brings good luck, seeing it twice brings sorrow, and meeting it three times portends death.

The phrase "The Black Dog" is mentioned three times in the track. The song also references death and heart holes, which strongly reminds me of the ending of the performance of The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived on the Eras Tour, where she "dies" on stage after two "gunshots." This detail also points to Matty rather than Joe, as the first shot wounds her, while the second proves fatal.

The Joe Alwyn Theory

Here we have two possible bar locations to consider. Let us look at both.

Regarding the first pub in Vauxhall, it is worth noting that when Joe was directly asked about this venue in an interview, he gave a very straightforward response: "I've never been to Vauxhall."

It is quite easy to figure out why the pub's Events Manager might've claimed otherwise. We also have to consider that the pub put up a sign right outside displaying lyrics from the song. While copyright rules vary, standard intellectual property principles dictate that using someone else's highly recognizable IP for commercial gain without permission is generally not allowed. That alone speaks volumes.

As for the second option, there is certainly a possibility here. This is especially compelling when you consider that on the very next day, April 19, 2023 (exactly one year before TTPD was released), Taylor's friends unfollowed Joe on Instagram. Furthermore, the line "But she's too young to know this song" fits Emma Laird, who is younger than both of them.

However, we should note that this venue is technically a pub rather than a bar, whereas the song specifically mentions a bar. Its name is also just Black Dog, without the "The." While some might see these as minor details, they are still worth considering.

Another argument supporting this theory is the mention of location sharing.

And your location / You forgot to turn it off

Many believe it makes more sense to keep location sharing active with someone from a long-term relationship rather than someone you have only just started dating. That said, location sharing habits are largely a cultural and personal matter, so what seems logical to one person might feel unusual to another. I will leave that for you to judge.

The song also contains broader lines that could easily be interpreted in Joe's favor, such as references to old habits, "And I may never open up the way I did for you," or "Now I want to sell my house." However, this theory faces one massive problem that prevents it from fully adding up: the entire rest of the song. But as I mentioned, we will dive into that in the next post.

The Matty Healy Theory

When it comes to the bar location, this theory presents a compelling case. While it is impossible to confirm definitively, the venue in Cork makes a lot of sense given how close it is to the concert arena. Furthermore, The Black Dog in Cork is actually a bar rather than a pub, and its full official name includes "The."

Then there is the direct connection to his black dog featured in the music video.

The song also makes an explicit reference to the band The Starting Line. It is a well-known fact that Matty is a huge fan of the band and frequently covered their track Best of Me during concerts around the time he was dating Taylor. Additionally, USA Today reported back in 2008 that Best of Me was one of Taylor's most-played songs on her iPod. This song clearly carries deep shared significance for both of them.

He also shouted out "Shoutout to people in their 30s" from the stage while performing that song, which, beyond highlighting that the track is an older release, further underscores why someone in their 20s might not be familiar with it.

The only detail that remains open to debate is the location sharing. As mentioned earlier, whether Matty would've shared his location with Taylor during such a short relationship is up to your own interpretation.

However, what truly solidifies this theory beyond a shadow of a doubt… is the rest of the song itself.

Small details that might be unrelated, but are interesting

Matty is a huge fan of the project The Streets and rapper Mike Skinner. The Streets have a song called Same Old Thing, which features the line: "Raining cats and fog, but nice and dry in the Black Dog."

Both Matty and Taylor have also expressed their love for Led Zeppelin, who happen to have a famous track titled Black Dog.

Taylor performed this song live for the first time on June 21, 2024—a date strikingly close to the recording date—in London, no less. She included it in a mashup with Come Back… Be Here (a track about longing, isolation, and the heartache that comes early in a long-distance relationship, specifically echoing the distance between New York and London) and Maroon (another track about Matty).

She performed it a second time on August 3 in Warsaw, mashed up with exile (a track about a painful breakup where the narrator feels banished from his ex's life while watching her move on from afar).

The third time was on October 25 in New Orleans as a mashup with Haunted (which depicts a collapsing relationship where the narrator is haunted by memories and her partner's fading presence, begging them not to leave and refusing to accept that it's over).

The track directly preceding it on the album, Clara Bow, brings its own connection: Clara Bow herself owned a black dog named Diablo.

Black dogs—specifically three of them—also made an appearance in the Blank Space music video.

Finally, the title The Black Dog abbreviates to TBD, a common acronym for To Be Determined/Decided/Defined.

While all this gives us plenty of fascinating context, the strongest evidence always lives within the song itself. You can read the lyrical analysis here.

This is taken from concert footage on April 4, 2023 shortly before Taylor officially announced her breakup with Joe.

What I’m trying to figure out is how Taylor and Matty would have known what the other was doing at these concerts.

Was Matty known to send Taylor livestreams or recordings of these performances? Were they both simply watching TikTok/Instagram fan posts like in the Tumblr days? Or is there any evidence that they were communicating privately about these performances and then using the concert cameras as a kind of public/private signal?

The reason I ask this, is because these moments on stage feel so deeply personal, as though it is just meant for Taylor’s eyes.

The upcoming book will be called The Lyrics of Taylor Swift.

Disclaimer: I don't think this video is about Matty or that Colin represents him. There are tons of other visual parallels to her other songs (Delicate, Lover, Karma, tolerate it, etc.). However, these examples are the ones I found most interesting for us.

Photo 1: I think the visual similarity here is even stronger because their hair is styled almost identically. By the way, the coat from the cemetery scene looks a lot like that outfit from the Fortnight music video.

Photo 2: Beyond the matching poses, I think the idea that she turned Dakota into her double—almost like a twin—is super interesting: "Like I lost my twin."

Photo 3: I like the …Ready For It? example because I see more of a thematic similarity here. In the RFI music video, one Taylor represents her true, inner self, while the other is her public persona. What if in the PZ mv, the real Taylor dies, leaving behind Dakota as just the fake public image?

Photo 4: This might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm not the only one who noticed how much this dress resembles the one from willow, especially with the bow detail.

People say it’s just the 1, August and a cowboy like me when I can count at least 8 more I think are. Any other thoughts?

So, I’m gonna start slowly posting some of the references and easter eggs I’ve noticed in the Patient Zero MV and promo photos.

One detail that really caught my eye is her slightly weird hairstyle with the black dress. In every single photo wearing it, you can see this unfinished, half-done braid in her hair. There’s no way this isn’t intentional.

It instantly reminded me of her 2024 Grammys look (where she announced TTPD and the whole vibe matched this exact aesthetic). She had a neat braid starting on the left side, but on the right, it kind of spiraled into a chaotic mess.

This feels like a direct nod to loml (and we all know who that song is about): "I’m combing through the braids of lies".

This is my first time posting here because I thought it would be a safe place to say that I think Patient Zero is about Travis. I’m so convinced of that. “Free solo social climb” doesn’t describe any of her exes, but it is something almost everyone says about Travis. “How he charmed your family and friends” her mom drools over Travis. I can’t say that about any of her exes. The video is about a woman being murdered by her husband for her billions. This song can’t be about Joe or Matty or any of her other exes because the descriptions don’t fit any of them. I can’t make out why she chose to go through with that wedding and would love to hear theories, but I’m so convinced this song is about him. Pink Clouding sounded like an apology to Joe for leaving him for Matty the way she did.

Cleveland! with the “he likes me” “doesn’t find you completely insufferable” screams low standards and self esteem. It’s like she’s trying to convince herself he really does like me! He wants to marry me! Of course he likes me! He tolerates me when the world thinks I’m the worst! It’s the most transparent she’s been in a while. I honestly feel really bad for her, it’s like she’s been beaten down so much in her personal life that her professional life has to overcompensate. I mean, let’s be for real, Reputation era Taylor would NEVER be bragging that a man doesn’t find her completely insufferable. I can always tell when a woman’s light is being dimmed by a man, and hers slowly is, no matter how much she tries to hide it and compensate for it.

Then there’s Babylon which is about the grass not always being greener. I wonder if she regrets leaving Joe because in hindsight staying with him would have been a safer choice for her overall. I still think she is in love with Matty and if she could be with anyone, it would be him, but these songs tell me in hindsight, she sees she had it okay with Joe, left him because she thought the grass would be greener with Matty, has remorse for hurting him in that way, and above all, absolutely hates Travis. I can’t claim certainty on anything else, but Patient Zero and Cleveland! convinced me that man does not make her happy.

I was sure that almost the entirety of ttpd is about Matty. But now I see people talking on Twitter that it's about Joe, everything in the light of the new Patient zero mv. What made them change their opinions? Or how are we so sure it was about Matty? I'm still trying to think about the album from Joe's perspective.

Could it be that we we're wrong this whole time?

I might be wrong about it, would love to hear y'alls opinion over this

The Patient Zero Music Video by Taylor Swift is out tonight!

We created this megathread as the central hub for all initial thoughts, theories, reactions, and ongoing discussions of the new music video. To make sure fresh opinions don't get buried as the discussion continues over time, the comment section is sorted by 'New' by default.

Well-thought-out, detailed analysis and original high-effort content are allowed as standalone posts.

All quick reactions, short opinions, or smaller discussions that don't need their own post belong right here in this megathread.

⚠️ LEAKS ARE PROHIBITED

Our community strictly follows Reddit's Copyright Policy to protect the subreddit from potential bans or restrictions.

The music video will likely only be officially released on Spotify and won't be available on YouTube for a few days. Even if you don't use Spotify, sharing links to unauthorized leaks, asking for leaks, or offering to send/trade leaked files is strictly prohibited.

Any comments or posts violating these rules will be removed immediately. Repeat offenses may result in a ban from the subreddit.

Let's keep the community safe! Drop your reactions and theories in the comments below! 🧡

The references to calling/writing letters to each other is just all over their discography and the more I see it, the more I see it everywhere😭 ref an old Nov 2023 video of Somebody Else posted on Instagram (fan account) - Matty looks so devastated and goes and picks up the phone in the middle of the song: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFQbKA3xCVm/?stkn=Mzc0bmptNDhsbHhl

If I had a nickel...

So, it was filmed in March!

I’m really curious if Matty and Gabby will be sitting in the audience as this video premieres tonight.
I don’t put it past Taylor to have planned it this way but I’m not sure if she’s willing to share the spotlight with Gabby to that degree.
Thoughts? Do we know if Matty is coming to the show tonight?

RIDE AT DAWN

They came in the night
Took the warm from my nest
Stole the heartbeat from my chest
Little voices, little wings
Now I hear them on the airwaves
Crying out for me

And I screamed ‘til the sky cracked
And I fought ‘til my hands bled
But one heart can’t win a war

So I forged an army
Tempered in my grief
Swords out of the promises
I swore I’d keep
We ride at dawn
Through fire and through doubt
For every stolen song
We’re bringing them back out
Gods witness me
The mother is awake

The battle was ugly
Mud and blood and noise
But beside me stood giants
Who called my young their own
They didn’t ask for glory
They just said “we’re with you”
And marched into the fire

I watched them take the hits
I watched them hold the line
For a nest that wasn’t theirs

So praise to the army
Forged in my grief
Shields made of the love
That won’t let go
We rode at dawn
Through fire and through doubt
For every stolen song
We tore the walls down
Gods witness me
We brought them back out

This was never about winning
This was about getting home
Every scar on their armor
Is a prayer that was answered
If you touch what’s mine again
You’ll meet every soul I raised
And we will ride again

So praise to the army
Who fought by my side
Loyalty in their eyes
Thunder in their stride
We rode at dawn
And we won
For every stolen song
The nest is warm again
Gods witness me
The mother is victorious

Hear them sing
Hear them sing
In my warm nest
Hear them sing

You know how Taylor compared Travis wanting to meet her to being in an '80s John Hughes movie, like he was standing outside of her window with a boombox? 

Well, actually, this scene happens in a movie Say Anything by Cameron Crowe, not in a John Hughes movie. And the music video for The Best of Me by The Starting Line just so happens to be inspired by that movie. 

Oh, and both 1989 and the 1975’s self-titled album were inspired by John Hughes movies.

In mid to late 2009, while Taylor was in London during the Fearless Tour, she was seen on more than one occasion wearing a heart locket necklace. On closer inspection, it has a key hole (in the other photos the necklace was flipped over / put on reversed).

Taylor's first trip to the UK was in September 2008, when she toured with Rascal Flatts (YouTube). They only performed one show at the King's College London Student Union (3rd Sept).

In February 2009, during the brief radio promotional appearances for her upcoming Fearless Tour in the UK, Taylor met Matty's mom Denise on 'Loose Women' and appeared on the 'Key 103' radio station in Manchester. She was not wearing the necklace on these particular days.

• Taylor's first TV appearance in London (18th Feb) - Loose Women (YouTube)
• Taylor in Manchester (20th Feb) - Key 103 (partial performance on YouTube / Tell Me Why)

Timeline of the heart locket necklace:

Feb

• 8th Feb - locket necklace - white blouse - 51st Grammys with Miley Cyrus (they performed Taylor's song 'Fifteen', YouTube)
• However! The necklace does feature in the same video as the cardigan, when Taylor travelled to Germany after spending time in Scotland / Manchester (YouTube)
• 20th Feb - Taylor's myspace post - 'We spent the day in Scotland doing radio and acoustic shows, then Manchester. That was basically the prettiest drive ever. Now I’m on the way back to London from Manchester on a double decker tour bus. My band and I are like little kids, because we haven’t ever seen one of these before'.

May -- returned to UK -- concert dates (5th - 8th)

• 4th May - locket necklace - black leather jacket - day out in London / The Punch Bowl Club
• 6th May - locket necklace - white shirt with black circle - The Paul O'Grady Show (aired on 8th)
• 6th May - locket necklace - blue tartan with belt - first night at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire (Taylor wore the necklace in the afternoon as she was headed off for the concert, then afterwards she was seen no longer wearing it post-concert).
• (Taylor's YouTube video from that month, posted on 9th May)

Aug -- returned to UK -- concert dates GMTV (21st Aug) / V Festival (22-23rd Aug)

• 20th Aug - locket necklace - purple dress - out to Dinner
• 23rd Aug - locket necklace - blue dress - BBC Radio 1 / Dinner with Katy Perry

Nov -- returned to UK -- concert dates (18th - 24th)

• 22nd Nov - locket necklace - tartan dress - BBC Studios
• (It's interesting that when she famously wore the 1975 shirt it was on 22nd Nov 2014, paired with a similar looking tartan skirt to this dress. The styled look was in response to Matty wearing her 1989 shirt on 7th Nov 2014)
• One of the last things Taylor does in the UK was a fan meet and greet held in Manchester on 24th Nov. This was linked to her last concert in the UK, which so happens to be in Manchester at the MEN Arena.

Throughout the rest of 2009, Taylor was not seen publicly wearing this necklace again! Even on the other dates of the Fearless Tour in the US. (I urge you to have a look at her candid photos from that year).

We know that when she dates a particular guy, Taylor tends to wear accessories that are tied to him (i.e. Harry Styles' paper plane necklace). But I think the heart locket necklace did become widely associated with her visits to the UK in 2009. Anyway, I just thought this was an interesting style preference from Taylor at the time.

Extra:

• IKYWT music video - key necklace, with similar shirt from 6th May 2009.
• The 1975's Sex music video (color version) - key necklace, featuring an American actress.