Verse 1
You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from the tortured poets department
I think some things I’ll never say
Like, “Who uses typewriters anyway?”
But you’re in self sabotage mode
Throwing spikes down on the road
But I’ve seen this episode
And still loved the show
Who else decodes you?
- While some fans believe that “the tortured poets department” lyric is a reference to Alwyn’s WhatsApp group chat titled “The Tortured Man Club,” others believe there are clear references to Healy in “The Tortured Poets Department.” In an interview with GQ in 2019, Healy revealed that he still uses typewriters and loves them. “I really like typewriters as well. I don’t have one with me because that is impractical, but the thing with typewriters and writing with pen to paper, there’s an element of commitment that goes with the ceremony with it. It therefore forces you to concentrate a bit better,” he said. He went on to talk about the importance of his notebook. “It’s important to have a book. It’s mainly stories that I write about my dreams of being in love with other popstars,” he said.
- Unlike Alwyn, who’s an actor, Swift and Healy are both songwriters and essentially poets in their own right. While poetry is also a theme in Swift’s relationship with Alwyn — namely, in her Folklore song, “The Lakes,” in which she sings “take me to the lakes, where all the poets went to die” — this lyric more accurately represents Healy as it describes writer who self-sabotages their own work.
