Well, well, well — the mystery of “The Black Dog” lives on. Taylor Swift just poured a tall, cold pint of ambiguity all over one of the most widely believed fan theories floating around about her 2024 album “The Tortured Poets Department”. You know the one: that the song “The Black Dog” is a direct lyrical nod to a little pub in Vauxhall tied to her ex, Joe Alwyn.
But during her Radio 2 sit-down with Scott Mills, Taylor didn’t just dodge the rumor — she practically turned it into a game. When Scott jokingly asked if she gave The Black Dog a heads-up before releasing the track, Taylor shot back with a knowing smirk: “I did not, and still nobody knows what I’m even talking about on that song. They “think” they know, but they have no idea.”
Now, the line in question — “You forgot to turn it off / And so I watch as you walk into some bar called The Black Dog” — sparked immediate theories. Fans pinned the reference to Joe Alwyn, who had been dating Taylor for six years before their split in 2023. The idea? That Joe forgot to disable location sharing, leading Taylor to catch him heading into a pub called The Black Dog post-breakup. It’s cinematic. It’s invasive. It’s very Swiftian.
Others thought the lyrics pointed instead to Matty Healy, the 1975 frontman and another English ex of the songstress. That connection? The Starting Line lyric in the track — a band Healy’s group has been known to cover. That, paired with the emotional tone of the song and its pub setting, seemed to line up with their brief 2023 fling.
But now, with Taylor refusing to pin the song to anyone or anything specific, we’re left with a classic Swiftian maneuver: total lyrical ambiguity. It’s not the first time she’s dropped Easter eggs that go nowhere — or everywhere, depending on who you ask.
And Joe? He already tried to clear the air. In a previous interview, when asked if The Black Dog was his kind of pub, he replied, “I’ve never been to Vauxhall,” before flashing a smile that reportedly suggested he “maybe” knew more than he let on.
So who’s it really about? Could be Joe. Could be Matty. Could be nobody. Taylor isn’t telling — and she’s having way too much fun watching the world guess.
Meanwhile, the actual Black Dog pub in Vauxhall — a totally normal London free house — has been scrambling to find some record of either Joe or Taylor ever stepping through its doors. Staff even checked CCTV footage from years back to no avail. They’re caught in the middle of a pop culture firestorm without even knowing how they got there.
But for all the speculation, one thing is clear: Taylor’s circle is tighter than ever. She says her friends “don’t rat” and had heard the album long before it dropped, yet not a single detail leaked. Not one. Meanwhile, the label? They didn’t even know the record existed until it was already done, dusted, and packaged.
The real takeaway? Whether it’s a pub, a person, or just another poetic metaphor, Taylor Swift remains firmly in control of her narrative — and she’s more than happy to let the rest of us fight over the footnotes.
