Goodbye William Bowery. Taylor SwiftShe enlisted her boyfriend. Joe AlwynShe asked him to help her with some tracks on her 2020 album, but the collaboration was apparently a one time thing.
“It’s not a plan of mine, no,” the FavoriteStar, 31. ElleOn Tuesday, April 19, he was asked if he would be interested in writing more songs for the magazine.
The British actor and his girlfriend, 32, worked together on the songs “Exile” and “Betty” from Folklore as well as “Champagne Problems,” “Coney Island” and the title track from EvermoreThe, which arrived December 2020. Alwyn used the penname William Bowery on all tracks.
Fans immediately began speculating that “William” was really Swift’s beau when Folklore debuted in July 2020, but the Grammy winner didn’t confirm the news until she released the documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio SessionsNovember was the year.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about William Bowery and his identity, because … it’s not a real person,” the “Lover” songstress said during the Disney+ film. “So, William Bowery is Joe.”
The Pennsylvania native went on to note that Alwyn is actually a talented musician, and his improvisation inspired “Exile,” which became a duet. “Joe plays piano beautifully and he’s always just playing and making things up and kind of creating things,” Swift explained. “And ‘Exile’ was crazy because Joe had written that entire piano part.”
While the couple was playing around at home with the track, the Mary Queen of Scots actor sang the part that eventually was performed by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernonon the final album version. “He was just singing it the way that the whole first verse is,” the Valentine’s DayActress recalled. “I was entrenched and asked if we could keep writing that one.”
Despite the fact that Alwyn’s songwriting was a hit with Swift and her fans, the HarrietStar is committed to acting right now. Interview with Elle UK, Alwyn hinted that he’s still not totally comfortable with all the attention that comes with dating a mega-famous pop star.
“We live in a culture that is so increasingly intrusive,” Alwyn told the outlet earlier this month. “The more you give — and frankly, even if you don’t give it — something will be taken.”
The couple have been together since 2016 and have kept their love private for many years. Swift stated in November 2020 that she prefers to keep their relationship private because it gives her a sense comfort.
“I, oftentimes, in my anxieties, can control how I am as a person and how normal I act and rationalize things, but I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives,” she told Rolling Stone at the time. “I can’t control if there’s going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow.”
Alwyn, she explained, helps her find “bits of normalcy” in her otherwise stressful life. “That’s what that song ‘Peace’ is talking about,” she added of one of the tracks on Folklore. “Like, would it be enough if I could never fully achieve the normalcy that we both crave?”
