Watch The 1975’s Matty Healy respond to Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

25 April, 2024

The 1975 frontman Matty Healy has responded to Taylor Swift‘s newest album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ – see what he had to say below.

While unconfirmed, it is strongly believed that Healy is the subject of several songs on ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, namely its title track and ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ among others.

When approached by paparazzi in Los Angeles on Wednesday (April 24), The 1975 was asked how he felt about his “Taylor diss track”. While it’s unclear which exact song the paparazzo was referring to, Healy replied: “My diss track? Oh! I haven’t really listened to that much of it, but I’m sure it’s good.”

Watch Healy’s response below.

Since the album’s release, fans have taken to social media to dissect Swift’s lyrics, and have theorised that a hefty portion of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ focuses on Matty Healy, with whom Taylor had a brief romance in 2023, rather than Joe Alwyn, who she dated for six years.

‘The Tortured Poets Department’ scored a three-star review from NME upon its release, with Laura Molloy writing: “The pitfalls that mire her 11th studio album are all the more disappointing — she’s proven time and time again she can do better. To a Melbourne audience of her Eras Tour, Swift said that ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ came from a “need” to write. It’s just that maybe we didn’t need to hear it.”

Numerous artists are name-checked throughout ‘The Tortured Poets Department’. The title track refers to a “Lucy”, which fans seem convinced is a reference to Lucy Dacus, one third of the Grammy-winning group boygenius. Charlie Puth gets a shout out on the same song, while fans are also speculating about whether ‘thanK you aIMee’ is aimed at Kim Kardashian.

Swift also mentioned the cult Scottish indie band The Blue Nile on ‘Guilty As Sin?’, which appears to be another nod to Healy. American 00’s pop-punk band The Starting Line also responded to Swift after she referenced them on ‘The Black Dog’.

Following the LP’s release, Swift will resume her career-spanning ‘Eras Tour’ in Europe next month before heading to the UK and Ireland in June. Swift is due to play eight shows at Wembley Stadium in London this summer as part of the run, with support coming from Paramore.

The post Watch The 1975’s Matty Healy respond to Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ appeared first on NME.