With the release of a new Taylor Swift track comes the inevitable speculation: just who is 'Ready For It?' about? What does it mean? Who are the lyrics about?
If some corners of the Internet are to be believed, the subject is one Joe Alwyn, the British actor. The evidence? Most theories hinge around the lyric 'Younger than my exes but he act[s] like a man so...' - at the age of 26, Joe is markedly younger than Taylor's previous boyfriends, Calvin Harris (33) and Tom Hiddleston (36).
Back in May news broke that the singer and the rising star, who most recently appeared in The Sense Of An Ending alongside Jim Broadbent and Downton's Michelle Dockery, had been dating for the past couple of months and had - post-Hiddleswift - chosen to keep their relationship out of the spotlight. Taylor has apparently even been renting a flat in North London in order to spend time with her new love interest (we hope she's managed to avoid her ex and fellow North Londoner Harry Styles...)
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'This isn’t a new couple alert or a secret relationship,' a source told The Sun at the time. 'The only people this has been a secret to is the media because all of us, Taylor and Joe’s closest friends and their families, were aware they have been together for several months and have known each other for a long time.'
'After her 1989 tour and all the attention Taylor received, she learned she had to be more protective of her personal life and she and Joe decided early on to keep their private life private,' the 'friend' added. Reading between the lines, then, it’s safe to assume that we’re unlikely to see the pair staging an impromptu, totally authentic photoshoot on the beach outside Taylor’s Long Island pad any time soon. We can't decide if we're disappointed, or utterly relieved.
Who is Joe Alywn?
Dating (or even being rumoured to be dating) Taylor Swift has a habit of immediately making you a household name. Here's your need-to-know on the rising star...
Joe Alywn is from North London
Joe was born in Crouch End on February 21st, 1991, and grew up in nearby Tufnell Park (which is as leafy as its comes). Until recently, he still lived with his parents in his family home.
He studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama
After a degree in English and drama at the University of Bristol, Joe headed to one of the capital's most acclaimed drama schools.
Joe Alywn's dad is a documentary film maker
‘When I was growing up my dad was away a lot,’ he told ES last year. ‘He did a lot of work in crisis zones, places like Uganda or Rwanda. When your dad comes back from a faraway land with bows and arrows and spears wrapped up in a carpet... that’s cool.’ His mother, meanwhile, is a psychotherapist.
His first role out of drama school was with acclaimed director Ang Lee
While in his final term at the Central School of Speech and Drama, he received the career-making call from Lee (the man behind the camera on Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi), who cast him as the returning Iraq war hero in his latest project, Billy Lynn's Half Time Walk.
Joe Alywn has already worked with some major Hollywood names
Billy Lynn saw Joe act opposite Kristen Stewart (who played his sister), Steven Martin and even Vin Diesel, while his second film The Sense of an Ending, an adaptation of Julian Barnes' Booker-winning novel, also starred Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling.
He'll play Emma Stone's on-screen husband in forthcoming period drama, The Favourite
A story of scheming and social climbing, The Favourite (directed by The Lobster's Yorgos Lanthimos) tells of political machinations in the court of Queen Anne. Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult and Olivia Colman will also star.
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