We thought this day would never come. Three months since Taylor Swift released the 10-minute version of All Too Well on the re-recording of her 2012 album Red - now Red (Taylor’s Version) - Jake Gyllenhaal has finally responded to the subsequent internet vitriol he received.
ICYMI, Taylor originally released her album Red two years after their three-month relationship in late 2010. Much of it is rumoured to be inspired by their time together, with particular hints on her smash hit We Are Never Getting Back Together, The Moment I Knew and Red.
When the album was first released, All Too Well was the most gut-wrenching track of all, with many an Easter egg littered in the lyrics that pointed to her relationship with Jake. It’s no surprise then that the internet was set alight when Taylor revealed that the original version of the song, which was 10-15 minutes long, would be featured on the re-release.
New lyrics solidified the assumption that she was writing of their fleeting but intense romance with the man nine years her senior at the time (she was 20 when they met, he was 29), most notably the line: ‘And I was never good at telling jokes but the punchline goes, I’ll get older but your lovers stay my age’… a masterpiece.
And while the original Red album was always a searing commentary on their time together - filled with allegations of love-bombing and gaslighting – the nature of 2021’s internet versus 2012’s made for an extremely different reaction towards Jake. Songs once shrugged off in 2012 were now used as ammunition to troll him on social media, his Instagram comments filled with snake and red scarf emojis (a reference to a lyric that implies Jake still has Taylor’s scarf). There were weeks of think-pieces going viral on Twitter, countless TikTok’s and naturally, everyone has been waiting for Jake’s reaction ever since.
So, what does he make of it? Well, he seems to remain unbothered.
‘It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans,’ Jake told Esquire. ‘It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that.’
While he turned his Instagram comments off when the vitriol was growing out of control, he insists the month of chaos that followed Red’s release wasn’t hard on him. Why turn them off then? He gets vague.
‘At some point, I think it’s important when supporters get unruly that we feel a responsibility to have them be civil and not allow for cyberbullying in one’s name,’ Jake said. ‘That begs for a deeper philosophical question. Not about any individual, per se, but a conversation that allows us to examine how we can — or should, even — take responsibility for what we put into the world, our contributions into the world.’
This whole period of time has made me realize that my life is wonderful.
He admits he hasn’t listened to the album and would rather not focus on ‘the noise’.
‘I’m not unaware that there’s interest in my life,’ Jake elaborates. ‘My life is wonderful. I have a relationship that is truly wonderful, and I have a family I love so much. And this whole period of time has made me realize that.’
Perhaps that subtly answers the question repeated at the end of All Too Well (10 Minute Version): ‘Just between us,’ Taylor sings. ‘Do you remember it all too well?’ He seems to be focused on other things, but hey, Taylor is rumoured to be engaged to her long-term actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn right now – so we don’t doubt she’s doing the exact same thing.
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