Joe Alwyn Reacts to Taylor Swift Not Re-Recording Reputation Amid Claims He’s ‘Not Worth’ Her Singing Their Love Songs Again
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Fans are thinking that Joe Alwyn might have known Taylor Swift was going to buy back her masters all along. Swifties found a supposed clue on his Instagram feed that relates back to the company that sold the recordings.
On TikTok, a Swiftie posted a screenshot of the Boy Erased actor’s Instagram post of a four leaf clover. “Joe Alwyn knew she bought her masters back,” the fan posted, noting that the picture looked like a shamrock — which they believed was hinting towards the logo of Shamrock Capital, the company that bought and sold Swift’s masters back to her. However, Alwyn posted the photo on the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day back in March 2025, and other fans pointed out that a shamrock and a four-leaf clover are two different plants.
“Except Joe didn’t post a shamrock? A shamrock has 3 leaves, not 4,” one fan clarified. Other fans still held on to hope, as one wrote, “He got so good the art of secret, coded message, because he learned it from her.”
Taylor Swift announced that she bought back her masters on May 30, 2025. “To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” she wrote in a letter on her website. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.”
Taylor expressed her gratitude towards Shamrock Capital in her letter and even joked that she was going to get a tattoo of their logo on their forehead. “The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful,” Swift wrote. “This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams.”
With the news, Taylor was also transparent about how she didn’t re-record every song on Reputation — an album which songs are heavily inspired by her relationship with Alwyn. After re-recording and releasing 4 of her previous albums, Reputation and Taylor Swift were the only albums that weren’t released before the deal was closed.
Many fans took to X to react to the sudden announcement. “Genuinely can’t tell what’s funnier: that Taylor Swift successful pioneered a new legal framework for IP to get her masters back. Or that she did it to avoid having to sing about Joe Alwyn on the Reputation re-recorded,” one fan wrote. “nah cus i would also choose paying 350 MILLION dollars to own back all my music over re-recording reputation love songs if joe alwyn was my ex,” a stan posted.
Other people shared the same sentiments, “when she said that she can’t rerecord reputation, i was like, it’s understandable considering what she experienced back then not this joe alwyn bs.” A fan defended the decision, “Joe Alwyn is not worth how highly Taylor sung about him in these songs on reputation like wow she thought soooo highly of him.”
Swift and Alwyn dated from 2016 to 2023. After more than six years together, Entertainment Tonight reported in April 2023 that Swift and Alwyn had broken up. “It was not dramatic,” a source told the site at the time. “The relationship had just run its course.” The “Lover” singer is currently in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
