Is Harry Styles’ New Song About Taylor Swift?

Taylor Swift and Harry Styles

by Katie Rosseinsky |
Published on

It's well known that Taylor Swift has a habit of writing songs about her ex-boyfriends: from 'Dear John' to 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' and beyond, some of her best known tracks (and sharpest lyrics) have been inspired by her high-profile relationships.

For her most recent album, 1989, the singer famously mined her brief relationship with One Direction star Harry Styles. The references are most glaring in her track 'Style' (and its video), but Harry also crops up in 'Out Of The Woods,' with Taylor referring not only to the 'paper aeroplane' necklace that he sported at the time, but also alluding to a snowmobile accident which ended up taking the pair to the emergency room ('Remember when you hit the brakes too soon / 20 stitches in a hospital room?') Throw in the fact that, for the accompanying music video, Taylor chose to wear the blue dress in which she was pictured shortly after their break-up, and the whole thing becomes a little more... pointed, shall we say?

Harry Styles performs his new solo material in New York
Harry Styles performs his new solo material in New York ©Getty Images

But with the imminent arrival of Harry's long-awaited solo album, it seems that the former boy bander has returned the favour. When a teaser clip for his forthcoming 'Behind The Album' video feature debuted online, fans were quick to pore over every last detail: including one shot showing a notepad with handwritten lyrics, under the title 'Two Ghosts.'

'Same lips red, same eyes blue / Same white shirt, couple more tattoos / But it's not you, and it's not me / Tastes so sweet, looks so real / Sounds like something that I used to feel / But I can't touch what I see / We're not who we used to be,' the lyrics appear to read.

Harry Styles with Taylor Swift in 2013
Harry Styles with Taylor Swift in 2013 ©Getty Images

As any Taylor Swift fan will immediately note, the 'red lips' and 'white shirt' are obvious callbacks to 'Style,' and its reference to Taylor's 'red lip, classic, thing that you like' and Harry's 'long hair, slicked back, white T-shirt.' Coincidence? Throw in the fact that Taylor's eyes are blue, and we'll let you reach your own conclusions...

Discussing his relationship with Taylor in a recent profile with Rolling Stone, Harry alluded to the fact that the incident had inspired his solo music, telling the magazine that: 'Certain things don't work out. There's a lot of things that can be right, and it's still wrong. In writing songs about stuff like that, I like tipping a hat to the time together. You're celebrating the fact it was powerful and made you feel something, rather than "this didn't work out, and that's bad."'

READ MORE: Adele Gave Harry Styles The Perfect 21st Birthday Gift

READ MORE: Harry Styles Makes His Acting Debut In New Dunkirk Trailer

Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us