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00:05It is just developing, it was just put in my hand.
00:10Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey have announced that they are engaged.
00:16Every single outlet on every news station on the world wanted to talk about this story.
00:22You literally had newsrooms being ground to a halt because this news had broke.
00:26Taylor Swift's engaged.
00:27Are you getting married?
00:31It's like panic, but the most positive panic you've ever witnessed.
00:35I'm sweating.
00:36Oh my God, I'm good.
00:39It was all over social media.
00:41It was truly a cultural event.
00:44Taylor Swift is engaged.
00:45Are you joking?
00:46I got like 100 DMs.
00:48It felt like your best friend getting married.
00:50Taylor and Travis just got engaged.
00:52Classes canceled.
00:53Get out of here.
00:54We got to go.
00:55Taylor Swift's Instagram got something like 37 million likes, one of which is from the
01:00Prince and Princess of Wales.
01:06It is literally a wave of people that have invested in this woman's romantic life.
01:12Guys, we're trying to concentrate and do work here and Taylor Swift got engaged and it's just
01:16very exciting.
01:17This is like we're gearing up for the wedding of the century.
01:24This was such an exciting moment for us, but her journey to love started so long ago.
01:30It started when she opened up a notebook, scribbled down her first heartbreak and decided to turn
01:35her life into music.
01:47The late 2000s and the charts are a fever dream of glossy hooks and industrial strength sex appeal.
01:56The music was very high energy, sexy and sexual.
02:01Women singing about sex, about lust, through a really kind of grown-up lens.
02:08But the high-end polish of the charts was a far cry from the world of country singer Taylor Swift.
02:14Y'all want to hear some country music?
02:17At 18, she was a self-assured outlier, trading grown-up gloss for a unique brand of innocent
02:24southern charm.
02:25Here you have this very young, all-American, blonde country girl from Nashville, Tennessee,
02:33and that makes her quite unique among huge female pop artists, particularly at the time
02:39that she first hit the mainstream.
02:42Right now you want to hear some Taylor Swift.
02:45And it wasn't just her southern charm that stood her apart.
02:50When Taylor released Love Story, she redefined the charts by trading adult realism for a storybook
02:57world of high school crushes and fairytale endings.
03:04It shows Taylor Swift in a castle, at a ball, in kind of Renaissance, Regency, Middle Ages,
03:11Rapunzel styling.
03:13You get that feeling of the youthful fantasy and yearning.
03:17The idea of planning her wedding day.
03:20And it's intoxicating.
03:26Love Story is a kind of happy version of Romeo and Juliet, a really fantastical idea of what
03:33love can be and what it can do for a person.
03:37And it's that idea that dreams can come true.
03:39The prince can have the princess.
03:41With that particular track, she really sets her stall out as, I am looking for this kind
03:50of relationship.
03:51This is the kind of relationship I believe in.
03:55But Taylor's fairy tales didn't start in a castle.
03:59They began in the pages of her diary when she was in high school in Nashville.
04:04From the moment she picked up a guitar, her music became a real-time map of every crush,
04:10heartbreak and obsession.
04:12She was writing about her school crushes, her boyfriends, anyone she'd seen that she thought
04:18was cute, you know, that was going in her school notebooks.
04:21And by the time she sat for her first press interviews, those school notebooks had become
04:26her primary source of material.
04:29I really like to write songs about relationships, and I like to write about boys, and I love
04:34to write about every aspect of love.
04:36I think that it's really fascinating to me how many angles there are to a breakup.
04:41She was singing about the kind of things that girls empathize with, and I think it was for
04:46that reason that it really captured the attention of a lot of young girls and younger women.
04:53That really spoke to something that I think all of them kind of grew up feeling.
05:13Following the massive success of Love Story, Taylor's career goes into overdrive.
05:24Taylor was stepping out of her small-town Nashville country girl era.
05:29She was being played on radio stations across the world, UK, America.
05:33She was doing really, really well.
05:35And as Taylor Swift is getting bigger, social media is also becoming a big part of people's
05:40daily lives.
05:41This, my friends, is my gold record.
05:44MySpace was hugely important for Taylor, and she's really kind of showcasing her life
05:49for her audience and fans in a way that feels really intimate and new.
05:53You know, I'm thinking about getting, like, a chain to, you know, attach to it so I can
05:57wear it around my neck when I go out in public, you know?
05:59And that really does deepen the connection that she has with the people that are listening
06:03to her music.
06:07For her fans, the line between Taylor's lyrics and her life was about to blur in the most
06:12spectacular way as she enters her first high-profile romance with teen superstar Joe Jonas.
06:21So in the 2000s, the Disney Channel is massive.
06:25It is this machine pumping out kind of tween and teen heartthrobs, three of whom are the
06:32Jonas Brothers.
06:33And Joe Jonas, he's kind of viewed as the numero uno of the Jonas Brothers.
06:38Joe Jonas was, like, her first big public relationship.
06:43Two teen stars coming together, and the fans couldn't get enough of it.
06:48Previously, her relationships had been high school dalliances.
06:51This was very, very different.
06:53Suddenly, the whole world was interested in who she was seeing, where they were going,
06:57which awards show they were turning up to.
06:59I was very much in the age range who cared.
07:02I loved the Jonas Brothers.
07:03I loved Taylor.
07:04I was delighted.
07:14But this teenage fairy tale doesn't last, and it's Jonas who ends it.
07:20She was still very, very young at this point, so to be publicly dumped in this way by one
07:25of the biggest celebrities in the world, it's utterly heartbreaking, humiliating.
07:29She was absolutely mortified.
07:35Taylor's private world was now public property.
07:39Taylor was dating Joe Jonas.
07:41And I know, I mean, if it's too tough, then just tell me it's too tough.
07:44Yeah.
07:45Bringing a level of scrutiny that forced her to navigate her personal life whilst running
07:50a gauntlet of media interrogations.
07:53And how do you make it through and past something that was so difficult, and clearly, you're still
07:59very, very hurt about it?
08:02Yeah.
08:02I mean, I've written about it, and I like to write about my life.
08:06And as my life changes and things happen, I write about it.
08:10The song that captured her heartbreak was called Forever and Always.
08:20The words are just spilling out as she sees this person pulling away from the relationship.
08:25And there's a line in there where she says, I hold on to the night where you looked me
08:29in the eye and told me you loved me.
08:31Were you just kidding?
08:32I hold on to the night you looked me in the eye and told me you loved me.
08:38Were you just kidding?
08:40And the pain is completely palpable.
08:42When you flashback to you, then he said, forever and always.
08:49It's Taylor realising that that maybe Prince Charming guy or situation that she thought
08:54she was maybe in doesn't actually always really exist, and actually, that person can become
08:58the villain as well.
09:00The song gave her fans the story, but it was her appearance on The Ellen Show that turned
09:05her personal life into a national conversation.
09:09This is when Ellen was the hottest, most sought-after talk show to be on, and Ellen asks her, she's
09:15like, oh my gosh, I hear that you're not with Joe Jonas anymore, and it was a breakup.
09:20Can you be friendly?
09:21Is it okay?
09:22We haven't talked since, actually.
09:24So it's like, yeah.
09:26She's been really quite composed and charming, and really, you know, not very kind of visibly
09:34angry or bitter about the end of the relationship at all, until that moment where you can see
09:39in her, she thinks she's about to do something quite naughty, and then she kind of drops that
09:43bomb.
09:43You know what?
09:44It's like, it's like when I find that person that, that is, is right for me, and is, he'll
09:50be wonderful, and when I look at that person, I'm not even going to be able to remember the
09:55boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18.
10:00Like, there's a real kind of flash of the teeth, but I kind of love Taylor for that.
10:04Everybody goes through that at some point, that sort of betrayal, to know that Taylor Swift
10:09felt the exact same way you did it.
10:10It's almost like, it's like a safety net.
10:13It's like, oh, well, Taylor's gone through it, and she was okay, and this is how she dealt
10:16with it, so, like, I'm going to be okay.
10:18That Ellen interview sets the tone for everything that comes after it.
10:23It creates this precedent that she is going to be that open, and that we're going to be
10:29on that journey with her.
10:34Taylor Swift's songs of love and heartbreak have made her the biggest selling artist in
10:40America.
10:42But her nomination for a prestigious MTV Video Music Award is the young artist's biggest
10:48moment yet, and everything about Taylor's arrival leans in to the innocent storybook
10:54image she's become known for.
10:56It's Taylor Swift.
10:57It was framed as Taylor Swift's sort of debutante ball.
11:01She arrived on the red carpet in a literal pumpkin carriage.
11:05She is wearing a silver Cinderella gown.
11:08It's her first VMA nomination.
11:11But the fairy tale was about to be interrupted by one of the most infamous moments in pop history.
11:18Beyonce and Taylor were both up for a best video, and Taylor wins.
11:25Taylor Swift.
11:29For her to not only be in the same category as Beyonce, but beat Beyonce is huge.
11:35She looks beautiful and graceful and shy and bashful and surprised.
11:40Thank you so much.
11:41And the next minute, suddenly, Kanye West is on the stage.
11:46Kanye kind of materializes behind her, takes the mic and says, I'm going to stop you there.
11:51I'm really happy for you.
11:52I'm going to let you finish.
11:53But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.
11:58And Taylor is just on stage looking completely stunned.
12:02She's kind of shrinking in on herself, and she doesn't know what to do with her hands.
12:06On this worldwide stage, Kanye is shaming this young kid at the moment that it should be her moment, and
12:14it's horrific.
12:18I think mentally for her and psychologically, that must have been a really difficult time to come away from and
12:25think, you know, what is it about me that made someone do this?
12:45Taylor, are you dating Taylor?
12:47You got Taylor's mom-child approval?
12:49After all the furore of the VMAs, Taylor must have been in quite a bad place.
12:53She's really been through the mill.
12:55I can imagine she's feeling stressed, emotionally strung out.
12:58And then she meets this guy who offers her a sanctuary amongst this storm that she's going through.
13:06Taylor signs on for her first acting role as a cheerleader in rom-com Valentine's Day, sparking a new fascination
13:14as the lines between the script and her real life begin to blur.
13:18I'm on the dance team.
13:20Maybe you could show us a little bit.
13:22Five, six, seven, eight.
13:24She is filming this film called Valentine's Day, and she meets Taylor Lautner.
13:29Wow.
13:29I haven't seen moves like that since the 94 Northridge quake.
13:32They're playing high school sweethearts, and there's this real sense on set that they've got this real genuine chemistry.
13:38You guys are.
13:40And there's this scene where they have this really passionate kiss, and it feels really real.
13:45So it's not really a surprise that it spilled over off set as well.
13:49She's beautiful.
13:50She makes me laugh.
13:52And when fans catch a glimpse of them in the real world, it confirms this was more than just a
13:58screen romance.
14:00Oh, my God!
14:02Taylor!
14:03People were really loving the pair together, and it seemed to be the perfect romance.
14:08The fans fall in love with them, and they become Taylor Squared.
14:12You add Taylor to Taylor, you've got Taylor Squared, right?
14:15How about the big Smoochies move?
14:18You look at how cute and charming they are.
14:20Like, oh, my God, what a perfect couple they are.
14:22I did think of all the guys that she dated.
14:24Like, he's one of the ones that treated her the nicest.
14:27It was all very normal and happy and sweet, and I can imagine that was exactly what she needed after
14:35what she'd just been through.
14:42But soon after filming on Valentine's Day wraps, and she returns to Nashville, Taylor decides to call time on the
14:49romance.
14:51She was in Nashville, he was in L.A.
14:53There's quite some distance to keep the relationship going, and I think she felt it couldn't work out.
14:59Taylor finished things, and when she stepped away, upon reflection, I think she thought,
15:03wow, I really let a good guy go there, and I feel really bad about this.
15:06I'm so glad you made time to see me.
15:09And the experience leads to a significant shift in Taylor's songwriting,
15:13moving away from blame to take full responsibility for the breakup.
15:18So this is me swallowing my craft, standing in front of you, saying I'm sorry for that now.
15:26In the video, you see that, you know, she's alone in this house.
15:29She's pained by the thoughts that she's having.
15:33She's wishing that she could have been a better girlfriend, a better partner.
15:37And this guy in the video is just stumbling around in the snow.
15:41You know, he can feel his sense of exile, his loss.
15:44It was the end of her sort of teenage angsty period, in a way.
15:48It was a very sort of mature outlook on that relationship.
15:51When you're a teenager and you're in your breakup and everything goes wrong and the world is awful, then you
15:56just lash out.
15:57But when you are older and you start to analyse your actions in a relationship, that's a sign that you're
16:02developing and that you're growing.
16:05But as Taylor's romantic songwriting evolves, her search for her Prince Charming becomes increasingly fraught.
16:14She dates fellow musician John Mayer, yet it proves to be an ill-fated match that burns out almost as
16:20soon as it begins.
16:22He was seen as being this virtuoso, amazing talent, but he has a very bad boy reputation.
16:30After it ends, the interest in Taylor's private life soon takes a cynical turn.
16:38As the media begins to keep a public tally of her romantic history.
16:43There's a real misogynistic strain running through this.
16:46Like, she's snaring men left, right and centre.
16:49You know, who's she seeing now?
16:51At the start of her career, she was kind of hailed for being so relatable, for writing about things that
16:56every young girl could access emotionally.
16:59She then gets this reputation of being a serial dater.
17:04Taylor was now fair game for every interviewer, with even the most light-hearted chats often hiding a much sharper
17:11edge.
17:12A lot of Taylor's songs were about break-ups.
17:17Yes.
17:17And relationships.
17:18Yes.
17:18And you seem, if you don't mind me saying so, you seem to have had more than your fair share
17:21of break-ups.
17:22Yeah, there have been a few.
17:25In that interview with Jonathan Ross, even though it was quite playful, he was leaning into that narrative that there
17:30was around her music that she was only dating to break up, to be inspired, to write new material.
17:38You're getting these great songs out of break-ups.
17:40Oh, come on.
17:41Do you really want to be in the relationship?
17:43No, no.
17:44Okay, this is like...
17:45I think maybe you don't want to release it for like 15 years.
17:46Get about four or five more albums out of heartbreak, then settle down.
17:50Does that not make sense?
17:52That's a pretty good game plan for you, Taylor.
17:54Mm-hmm.
17:54You can thank me later.
17:55Yeah.
17:56You can see her discomfort at the fact that people never seem to want to take in what she's saying,
18:03that she's not just in relationships to break up.
18:06She wants love.
18:09Then, as Taylor approaches her 21st birthday, someone unexpected enters the frame.
18:23Taylor is single, and she goes to a dinner party at Gwyneth Paltrow's house.
18:28And it is at this particular dinner party, rumor and mythology has it, that Taylor meets Jake Gyllenhaal.
18:37And it is there that those two connect and begin a very intense romantic relationship.
18:42Taylor's relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal took her to the next level, in a sense.
18:48He was Oscar-nominated, and he had this real cool factor around him.
18:53The relationship was finally confirmed over Thanksgiving, as the pair were caught on camera looking every bit the perfectly matched
19:00and committed couple.
19:02They're wearing scarves, they're drinking coffee, and this set of pictures are splashed everywhere, and it makes huge headlines.
19:10And he's seen, like, opening the door for her, and it felt like she's with a gentleman.
19:14You could just see that she had a different glow about her when she was with Jake.
19:19And I think fans were even more excited to see Taylor with Jake's sister Maggie and her child.
19:25Like, if you're meeting the family, this is significant.
19:30Taylor's relationship with Jake would later be immortalised in All Too Well, a ten-minute song and video starring Sadie
19:37Sink,
19:38which she filled with enough coded detail for fans to connect the lyrics back to the photographs.
19:43How and I left my scarf there at your sister's house
19:49And you've still got it in your drawer even now
19:54All of the little details in the lyrics are in the video.
19:59You know, the scarf that becomes a motif for the relationship.
20:02It's basically a literal retelling of the story.
20:05We're dancing round the kitchen in the refrigerator
20:09Through the tiny snippets that we get, you've gone on this journey of a romance.
20:13Taylor's happy, she's in this grown-up relationship.
20:16And I think she truly loved Jake and saw a future with him.
20:22But that future was about to hit a breaking point.
20:25On her 21st birthday, there becomes a defining chapter in her story.
20:33She has this party.
20:35We see this clip of Taylor singing karaoke.
20:37And she's surrounded by friends and family that she loves.
20:40But she's kind of waiting for him the whole night.
20:42And suddenly there's no sign of Jake.
20:45When he doesn't turn up, she's later in the bathroom crying to her friends.
20:49Where is he? Why has he let me down on my special night?
20:54She's in the prime of her life.
20:56And her boyfriend, the person she wants to be there more than anybody else, has ghosted her.
21:02And as Taylor's cinematic retelling of the story comes to a close in All Too Well,
21:08the earlier warmth is replaced by pain and vulnerability.
21:13All Too Well, I think, is the best song Taylor's ever written.
21:16I think it's so detailed.
21:18You can literally picture exactly what she went through when you listen to the song.
21:24After my first breakup, I was like, I'll never be in love again.
21:28Great, that's it.
21:29That's over.
21:30I was so miserable.
21:31And that was a song that really reminded me of a lot of those feelings.
21:36It's way more than a song to me.
21:39I think it's guidance.
21:43Even though it is so sad, it's confirmation that you're not alone in feeling this way.
21:48It's just, she's like me.
21:53Taylor had now experienced teen romance, public heartbreak and the sting of her own regrets.
22:01But the stakes were about to rise with a media storm that would change her love life forever.
22:07Do you like Karen's new tattoo?
22:10By late 2012, a 23-year-old Taylor continues to be a global force.
22:16And she's asserting a new sense of independence that signals her heartbreak with Jake Gyllenhaal is long behind her.
22:24You said you're so happy being single.
22:26Absolutely.
22:27When you're in a phase where you're happy and you're on your own, you're free and you're independent,
22:32you kind of protect that happiness more.
22:37But that independence was about to be tested by a British invasion unlike anything the states had seen in decades.
22:53One Direction emerged from the X Factor and become the biggest band on the planet within a couple of years.
22:59They're all incredibly handsome, Harry Styles in particular.
23:02And so they just dominate pop.
23:05I think the first time Taylor laid eyes on Harry Styles, he was performing with One Direction.
23:14She's in the crowd with her best friend Selena Gomez and they're dancing like their hearts depend on it.
23:20And actually it's a very funny clip because Taylor looks like she's properly fangirling Harry.
23:28So when he gets together with Taylor, it's the gold dust is there.
23:34One Direction are the most massive boy band when they start dating and I love it.
23:39They're called Hailer, which is just so good.
23:42And you could not get a more explosive story for the press and for fans.
23:48I thought they were amazing.
23:49It was exciting.
23:50It was a really, really cool time in pop.
23:53You could see a world in which they would be the kind of prince and princess of pop music,
23:59if not one day the king and queen.
24:04And their prince and princess energy soon found its way into her music,
24:09as Taylor captures the adrenaline of a relationship lived in the spotlight.
24:16Style just feels like a celebration of that honeymoon period where everything is going right in a relationship.
24:22and you're totally in love.
24:24It's a really jubilant encapsulation of that moment.
24:28You got that James Dean, daydream, look in your eye.
24:33She sings about James Dean hair, slicked back, white t-shirt, very much the look that Harry Styles had at
24:39the time.
24:40And although she's never confirmed that the song is definitely about him, it feels kind of obvious.
24:44A lot of her earlier work was about, I'm heartbroken and I made a mistake.
24:49This was happy-go-lucky, sort of fun-loving, carefree.
24:55For her at that age, in her mid-20s, sometimes you got to have fun along the way.
25:00And I felt like that's what that was.
25:02It might not be right, but it feels right in this moment.
25:05Let's see where it goes.
25:10But while the music celebrated the romance, the machinery of fame was becoming far more invasive
25:17as a new breed of celebrity media turned their private life into a 24-hour commodity.
25:23We're in a period here where websites like TMZ and Perez Hilton are really in the ascendancy.
25:29And so there's a real premium on getting photographs and videos and reactions out of Taylor and Harry
25:36any time that they're seen in public.
25:41It's a whole different ballgame.
25:43It's a different level of fame.
25:45It's a different level of public attention.
25:50They're just being screamed at by photographers, reporters.
25:55It must have been absolutely horrendous.
25:56Can you go out for a coffee? Can you go shopping?
25:59Or is everything an event with tons of paparazzi following you?
26:02Anything outside my house or my apartment doesn't ever really feel normal.
26:07Sometimes it feels absolutely stifling and overwhelming, to be honest with you.
26:13What I see is, you know, a couple that was essentially stalked by fame.
26:18A young couple who are just under enormous public scrutiny and attention.
26:22And who have also given numerous paparazzi the biggest paycheck of their lives.
26:32Under the crushing weight of the global goldfish bowl, the relationship finally buckles and breaks.
26:38The pressure of the tabloids and the fame and the fans, it just became too much.
26:43And I think it just made the relationship untenable.
26:48After just a few months together, the couple go their separate ways.
26:59As she moves on from Harry, Taylor goes all in on her transition to pop.
27:04Launching her landmark 1989 album and proving herself to be both a music industry heavyweight
27:11and a hugely successful businesswoman.
27:14Earning an estimated $80 million in a year.
27:201989 is widely regarded as one of the best pop albums of all time and it is a massive hit.
27:28She is this global superstar.
27:30I think she was really at the top of her game at this point.
27:34And I think culturally, she was almost untouchable.
27:37There was no pop culture without Taylor Swift.
27:40But when Taylor's quest for personal happiness resumes, it runs far less smoothly than her professional life.
27:57People love to raise celebrities up and put them on pedestals as perfection and something to aspire to.
28:05But much more joy is taken in the inevitable fall and how we can bring these people down and make
28:12them feel horrible and just as human as we are.
28:15And we see this happen very, very quickly during the summer of 2016 with Taylor Swift.
28:22She had a high profile relationship with the DJ Calvin Harris.
28:27But then after a little bit over a year going out, they break up.
28:31It is public.
28:32It's a little bit messy.
28:33Get Taylor McTrade up.
28:34She's doing her thing.
28:35Yeah?
28:36She's doing her thing.
28:36And then she was in this very whirlwind romance with the actor Tom Hiddleston.
28:42Are you guys getting married?
28:44It moved really fast.
28:45They were suddenly traveling all over the world.
28:47They went to Rome, Australia.
28:50And she gets a load of backlash around this.
28:53They're stunned by the whiplash at how quickly she went from Calvin Harris to Tom.
29:00The world just erupts.
29:02The public reaction is scathing.
29:04And she doesn't deserve that kind of takedown.
29:08With the public backlash already at fever pitch, things go from bad to worse as Kanye West reignites their old
29:16feud, releasing a track that publicly lays claim to Taylor's success.
29:26Kanye puts out this single, Famous, and the lyric that stood out was, I made that bitch famous.
29:34Taylor, shortly after that, delivered this eviscerating speech that was very clearly a reference to this song and Kanye.
29:44Taylor uses the Grammys as a stage on which to push back and reclaim her achievements.
29:49There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for
29:58your accomplishments or your fame.
30:03Someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the
30:09people who love you who put you there.
30:11And then Kim Kardashian puts on Snapchat a clip that shows Kanye on the phone with her.
30:18It's just like, it's a really cool thing to do and a really good show of friendship.
30:25So thank you.
30:26Oh, thank you too.
30:27She's seemingly friendly, giving him permission to put out this song and saying, oh, no one will think it's serious.
30:34And, you know, if people ask me about it, I think it would be great for me to be like,
30:38look, he called me and told me the line before it came out.
30:41Like, jokes about you guys, we're fine.
30:42It was released by Kim Kardashian as proof that Taylor Swift was lying about the fact that she hadn't given
30:48consent for Kanye to mention her in his song.
30:51What we discover later is that that video had been edited and that she didn't know that the song would
31:00use a misogynistic slur against her.
31:04But in the moment, everybody thought that she was complaining after the fact that she'd made the decision to approve
31:13this song and then regretted it.
31:14And it really destroyed her reputation because people thought Kanye was in the right.
31:20Taylor finds herself cancelled.
31:22It's a horrendous, horrendous time for her.
31:25People start saying that she's a snake and she lied and the snake emoji starts trending across social media.
31:33That year had already been enormously difficult with the public backlash she faced after her relationships with Calvin Harris, with
31:41Tom Hiddleston.
31:41And then on top of that, now there's, you know, this video accusing Taylor Swift of lying and the hashtag
31:49Taylor Swift is over party is all over the world on Twitter.
31:54So I don't think it's a surprise that she felt like she almost had to go into hiding for her
31:58own sake.
32:12In the wake of all of this, Taylor disappears, she just vanishes for a year.
32:18She finds refuge in London and during this period, she meets a young actor named Joe Alwyn.
32:26Joe is the opposite of all the different guys that Taylor has been connected with so publicly.
32:32He's low-key, he's been in movies, but he's not a fame chaser whatsoever.
32:39This relationship seemed to be meaningful enough to her that she did want to keep it private and to herself
32:47in some way.
32:48Away from the public eye, Taylor begins documenting a quiet domestic reality far removed from the headlines.
33:00I was falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal, balanced, grounded life.
33:08She's been in this pit of despair, and yet with this clip we're seeing her in her cocoon with Joe
33:13in a very different place.
33:16It was happiness without anyone else's input.
33:21She seems to have taken a step back from everything, and she seems happy through, you know, how she's talking,
33:28through her eyes, through her smile.
33:29It was the start of her love story with Joe.
33:32Someone that is seeing her for her, and not necessarily who she is to the media, to the world.
33:38This ain't for the best.
33:39My reputation's never been worse so.
33:43You must like me for me.
33:46Delica describes her at this reputational low, going to meet a new romance.
33:53And there's a line, my reputation's never been worse so you must love me for me.
33:58And it's saying that maybe when people have one view of you, if someone trusts you and likes you, despite
34:08all of the noise, then they're seeing the real person.
34:15And she's holding this little piece of paper that's glittering, and she keeps looking to it, and this is what
34:22Joe Alwyn represented to her.
34:24Like, the idea that there was something good in this incredibly stressful scrutiny that she was under.
34:30A safe harbor to shelter her from the spotlight when it was so hostile.
34:35It was her starting to let her guard down.
34:39And when you hear songs and lyrics like that, you realize she doesn't want to lose him.
34:46I've definitely felt that way before.
34:48Not just delicate in the sense that something bad's happened and now I'm fragile, but the delicate nature of asking
34:55someone to be together again.
34:58It's very, very, very vulnerable, not just to be in a vulnerable state, but to have the bravery to try
35:04again.
35:04Let's try love. It's so scary.
35:06We've always wanted her to find the one and to be treated well.
35:09And it definitely seemed at this point that we were getting that she was about to, yeah, settle down.
35:15But it wasn't to be.
35:21When the pandemic hits in 2020, Taylor and Joe are still together, their relationship largely out of view.
35:30And as the world shuts down, he goes from muse to collaborator, helping shape the sound of her Grammy-winning
35:37albums Folklore and Evermore.
35:41It's the first time that she's collaborated with one of her partners so closely on a record.
35:47And you can tell that this is a really fruitful, creative partnership as well as a romantic one.
35:54The Joe relationship is probably her longest relationship by a long stretch.
36:00It lasts through lockdown.
36:01So you can only imagine how intense that relationship must have been and important.
36:10But when lockdown restrictions lift, Taylor starts to rebuild her career.
36:17There are new records, re-recordings of old albums, and then the Era's Tour.
36:25Welcome to the Era's Tour.
36:29An epic live show that encompasses her entire career.
36:33We knew that Taylor's return to the stage after five, six years away was going to be big, but we
36:39had no idea how big.
36:41It really proved that she was up there with the greats, because she is doing a three-hour set, 44
36:48songs, almost every night, touring dozens of different countries.
36:52And, you know, it was a massive hit.
36:55The show itself was just a masterpiece.
36:58Seeing all the different eras as well was so emotional, because I feel like growing up, you grew alongside her
37:03during those eras.
37:04You almost grew up with her.
37:05I was crying my eyes out in, like, every single set.
37:09It was spiritual, man.
37:10It was crazy.
37:12It was such a beautiful time.
37:14It was a dream come true.
37:15I wonder what would happen if I went, like, um, if I went, like, this.
37:22The tour spans five continents, playing to fans from Australia and Brazil to Japan and Canada.
37:30So, for her, life is very, very busy again.
37:33For Joe, on the flip side, he's still seeking that quiet life.
37:38So, suddenly, they're on a very, very different playing field.
37:45She wanted to go perform again.
37:48She wanted to get back out there.
37:50And you get the sense that perhaps that different appetite for fame and celebrity was one of the things that
37:59started to break the relationship down.
38:02After six years together, Taylor and Joe quietly split.
38:08They walked away from it, still friends.
38:10They said only kind things about each other.
38:12And it was clear there was a real amount of respect still there.
38:15Things are not going to last forever.
38:17You've got to understand there's something beautiful about what's happened and you kind of move on from it.
38:25The break-up leaves a vacuum.
38:29But with the ear is tall and life on the road in full swing, it doesn't stay empty for long.
38:36Yes, Taylor, right here, Taylor.
38:38Yes, Taylor.
38:43Taylor is once again single.
38:45And she connects with the lead singer of a band called the 1975 called Mattie Healy.
38:51And Mattie is a provocateur.
38:54This crazy, sexy, all over the place, dangerous rock star.
39:00Mattie Healy was the absolute polar opposite of Joe.
39:06For Taylor, it wasn't a rebound, it was a recoil.
39:09He was the bad boy and he was the bad boy and that's what girls want after a break-up
39:13of the love of their life.
39:14The bad boy, unfortunately.
39:17We've all been there.
39:19Amid accusations he'd been leading Taylor on, this bad boy chapter unravels almost as quickly as it starts.
39:27He'd given her the hope and given her all the signals, said he wants to be with her.
39:33They said they were going to move in together and then just nothing.
39:35Then it's over, he just completely ghosts her.
39:38So she writes a fantastic song.
39:52One of my favourite lyrics is where she accuses this person of showing off their relationship in public
39:59and behind closed doors sinking away in stoned oblivion.
40:02It's that real idea that this was all for display, that she was a trophy to be won.
40:21It tears the subject down to size and that size is the smallest man who ever lived.
40:27This is what Taylor Swift is capable of when she is really wronged.
40:33It is absolutely eviscerating.
40:35That was crazy. I mean, that was just, that made me feel extremely powerful.
40:45It was a brutal end to a relationship built on broken promises.
40:50But as Taylor moves on from the smallest man, a very different kind of suitor was about to use his
40:56platform to make a very public introduction.
41:03Travis Kelsey is the epitome of the all-American dream boy.
41:09He is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs football team.
41:15And there's a very adorable video clip of him on his podcast talking about going to the Era's tour and
41:22wanting to give Taylor Swift a bracelet.
41:24Yeah. If you're up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets.
41:29It's not salacious at all. It seems so genuine and so authentic.
41:34I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.
41:37It's someone who's saying, I see what you do and I'm not threatened by it. In fact, I want to
41:43get to know you.
41:44For the first time, this is a story about someone who actively chased her. And then all of a sudden,
41:49she shows up to one of his games.
41:51After weeks of speculation sparked by a simple friendship bracelet, the rumors are confirmed as Taylor appears at a Kansas
42:00City Chiefs game to support her new man.
42:03She's there in the box. She's jumping up and down, just rooting for him.
42:09It was like, you know, the new king and queen immediately had been crowned. It was game changing and everyone
42:18lost their mind.
42:22And so while the beginning of the Era's tour had this backstory of breakups, suddenly there's joy and she's flying
42:34out from the Era's tour to watch him play games.
42:39When they win the Super Bowl, she runs down to the pitch. She's in floods of tears.
42:44It was unbelievable. Unbelievable.
42:48And she's just there for him.
42:50And there's a real ease about him in public and a way of handling fame that probably is quite different
42:58to the slightly more paranoid actors and singers that she dated in the past.
43:04I got you. I got you. I got you.
43:07Here are two almost archetypes of America kind of coming together and forming a power couple.
43:13Taylor Swift as Miss Americana, the all-American blonde kind of pop star teaming up with this all-American NFL
43:21player who is also enormously professionally successful.
43:24And I think something that's great about him is he's extroverted and confident, but he's not threatened by her. They
43:32are equals in their own arenas.
43:35And when Taylor captures their connection in song, she retraces her musical story and celebrates Travis as its perfect ending.
43:48The fate of Ophelia is iconic. In the music video, you know, she's going through her different kind of showgirl
43:54stages. And it's her saying in this song that she's found a happily ever after.
43:59All that time I sat alone in my tower You were just haunting your powers Now I can see it
44:06all
44:06The song and the video for Fate of Ophelia are kind of like the fairytale ending to this journey we've
44:13been on with Taylor Swift for 20 years.
44:15Late one night You took me out of my grave And saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia
44:21The song revisits the idea of love story. She's reinterpreting Shakespeare again and rewriting the ending again.
44:30Ophelia was a character who drowned in melancholy after being rejected. And when the video ends, she's in the bath
44:37and she hasn't drowned.
44:39And she's still wearing her showgirl outfit and everything is going to be okay.
44:42You saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia
44:53People have invested in this story and followed her trials and tribulations in her love life. And this feels like
45:00the fairytale ending.
45:01It's such a comforting feeling to know that she has found her person and I think she truly deserves it.
45:08Taylor Swift is part of a tradition of some of the most classic and beloved songwriters using love and romantic
45:18woes as fodder, whether it's Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan, Adele, Lily Allen.
45:25And Taylor Swift has absolutely tapped into that zeitgeist and based her career on it in a way that I
45:32think has not been seen for such a prolonged and prolific period.
45:39She's up there with the Pantheon, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, ever since she was
45:45a young girl.
45:46She's written about what she's experiencing, her emotions, her relationships.
45:49I think that's the genius of Taylor's songwriting, that she was really able to crystallize those emotions and put them
45:56down into song.