Joe Alwyn Covers ‘Style’ Magazine as ‘London Boy,’ and Taylor Swift Fans Are Drawing Parallels

Joe Alwyn has said so long, London — but fans are still searching for every connection between the pop star and her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn.

On Friday, June 14, the Sunday Times’ Style magazine released the cover for their upcoming issue, which features Alwyn, 32, front and center. The headline, “London Boy: What Joe Alwyn Did Next,” immediately piqued fans’ interest, as it’s seemingly a reference to Swift’s “London Boy,” from 2019’s Lover, which is presumably about Alwyn

On Friday, June 14, the Sunday Times’ Style magazine released the cover for their upcoming issue, which features Alwyn, 32, front and center. The headline, “London Boy: What Joe Alwyn Did Next,” immediately piqued fans’ interest, as it’s seemingly a reference to Swift’s “London Boy,” from 2019’s Lover, which is presumably about Alwyn

Other’s pointed out the similarities to a different Swift tune, “So Long, London,” off her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. The song — a famous “track 5” on the record — seemingly details the twosome’s breakup and Swift’s reasons for ending the romance. (The pair dated for nearly six years
before calling it quits for good in April 2023.)

The mention of “London Boy” was enough for Swiftie’s to bust out the push pins and red string, with some speculating that “What He Did Next” could be a play on words about his next moves after the pair’s breakup. A second headline that reads “Tangerine Dream” was also noticed, as Swift uses the phrase in the lyrics of 1989 (Taylor’s Version)’s “Slut!” (The pop star also released a

Tangerine Edition vinyl for that record.)

Alwyn’s blue and white striped shirt, meanwhile, drew comparisons to Swift’s Folklore tune “Invisible String,” on which she seemingly croons about the “teal” color of Alwyn’s t-shirt when he used to work at yogurt shop as a teenager. Blue is also the color Swift continually references in most of her songs about Alwyn, often pointing out his bright blue eye

color or using it as a metaphor for his up-and-down emotions.

“It’s new / the shape of your body it’s blue,” she sings in Lover’s “Cruel Summer,” while the lyrics for Folklore’s “Peace” read, “If your cascade ocean wave blues come,” among others.

Fans took it a step further when they recognized the magazine itself, Style, is, technically, another Swift reference. Swift has her song of the same name about ex-boyfriend Harry Styles, whom she dated on-and-off from 2012 through 2014.

“Pls not the ‘style’ and ‘london boy,’” one fan quipped.

Swift and Alwyn split in 2023, but the invisible string still tugs on both of them. Alwyn is currently promoting his upcoming film, Kinds of Kindness, which costars the duo’s longtime mutual friend, Emma Stone, as well as Margaret Qualley, the wife of Swift’s longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. In May, Alwyn arrived at Cannes Film Festival just days after Swift played four nights of sold-out Eras Tour shows in Paris. (Bonus: Swift related a song titled “Paris” on her 2022 album Midnights, largely theorized to be about Alwyn.)Joe Alwyn