Even though we’re now well aware that Taylor Swift’s mysterious co-writer, William Bowery, is none other than her actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn, it’s still no less impressive. While most normal people picked up pandemic hobbies like baking bread or knitting ugly beanies (just me?), Alwyn’s new pastime casually ended up on a Grammy-nominated album. Very normal and fine.
With Swift’s ninth album and folklore sister-record, evermore, it’s confirmed that the man is a machine. In addition to the two songs he helped pen for folklore, “exile” and fan-favorite “Betty,” Alwyn — sorry, Bowery — received a co-writing credit on evermore tracks "champagne problems," "coney island" (featuring The National), and title track "evermore," featuring Bon Iver.
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The fact that Alwyn was a part of "champagne problems" caught fans' attention, as it's about a proposal gone wrong. Recently, the rumors that the couple are engaged have only escalated. However, it seems Swift is again adamant that evermore is mostly fiction, or "17 tales," as she put it in her evermore album note. In the note, Swift even called out "champagne problems" specifically as "the one where longtime college sweethearts had very different plans for the same night, one to end it and one who brought a ring." So rest easy, Swifties, you can still hold out hope for a Swift and Alwyn union.
I have no idea what will come next. I have no idea about a lot of things these days and so I’ve clung to the one thing that keeps me connected to you all. That thing always has and always will be music. And may it continue, evermore. evermore is out now: https://t.co/QYMUTL0IAj pic.twitter.com/tlSmahDkBi
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) December 11, 2020
During Swift's November 25 Disney+ special, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, the singer explained that she had heard her boyfriend of four years randomly humming the chorus of "betty" and then later basically created the "entire piano part" of "exile." Though Alwyn is musically-inclined, it had never occurred to her that they should collaborate until the opportunity presented itself during the pandemic. "This was the first time we had a conversation where I came in and I was like, ‘Hey, this could be really weird and we could hate this, so could we just, because we’re in quarantine and there’s nothing else going on, could we just try to see what it’s like if we write this song together?’"
The couple have always kept their outings rare and everything else pretty private, but for the record, we're manifesting a live duet stage.