Taylor Swift slams 'smallest man' Matty Healy as he admits he 'loves the attention'

Taylor Swift seemingly savaged ex Matty Healy on her new album The Tortured Poets Department as she crowned him ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’, but he seemingly "loves the attention" it has brought him.

The 34-year-old released TTPD in April, with The Anthology version unveiled mere hours later, meaning there were 31 new tracks in total. Sleuthing Swifties pored over each track to confirm if the lyrics to songs such as So Long, London, would be about her heartbreaking split from Joe Alwyn, and they were overjoyed to discover they were right when Taylor had seemingly addressed the breakdown of their relationship.

However, they were surprised to find out that the title track of the new album was about her brief romance with longtime pal Matty Healy, who she dated in May and June last year following her break-up with Joe. Lyrics on the song seem to be a direct reference to the 1975 frontman, as Taylor sings: “Sometimes I wonder if you're gonna screw this up with me/ But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave,” with fans speculating she was referring to musician Lucy Dacus, who is friends with Matty.

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READ MORE: All the details on Taylor Swift and Matty Healy's 'casual' whirlwind romance

“And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen/ Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be,” she croons, referring to her collaborator and close friend Jack Antonoff, who also produced the song. “Everyone that we know understands why it’s meant to be. Cause we’re crazy.” She also sings about “running” to another lover who's been waiting for her after her split from Joe, and references a band - called The Starting Line - who are firm favourites of The 1975. “Now we're at the starting line/ I did my time,” she fires. She also recalls a lover who was her “tattooed golden retriever” - ex Joe does not have any body art, while Matty is covered in ink.

But it seems that Matty "loves the attention" that the tracks he inspired on TTPD has brought him. Speaking to Us Weekly on Thursday, June 6, ahead of Taylor's UK shows of The Eras Tour, a close source to Matty said: "He loves the attention it's brought to him, [but] he also thinks it's hilarious because at no time [were they] ever serious."

The singer is said to have been "blindsided" by the content of Taylor's album, particularly her lyrics, some of which include alleged references to their romance: "You s**t-talked me under the table, talking rings and talking cradles", she notably sings in track "loml."

Taylor continued: "You and I go from one kiss to getting married/Still alive, killing time at the cemetery/Never quite buried/In your suit and tie, in the nick of time", and for Matty's anonymous pal, her claims are unfounded.

"For her to be saying things about baby carriages …and living together - he says it had never even come up. He's taking it in his stride", the insider added.

Lyrics on Guilty As Sin also allude to Taylor’s relationship with Matty, as she sings about a lover who has left her “drowning in the blue nile”, with Scottish band The Blue Nile being one of the rocker’s favourites. However, her demeanour on the brief romance changes suddenly on The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, as she makes another possible reference to the London-born singer. “You tried to buy some pills from a friend of friends of mine/ But they just ghosted you/ Now you know what it feels like,” she sings.

“And I don't even want you back/ I just want to know/ If rusting my sparkling summer was the goal," she continues, with fans immediately spotting the nod to her and Matty’s romance in the summer of last year. Taylor also hinted at the comments Matty once made about being linked to the singer, calling it “emasculating”, as she fired off another seething lyric: “In public showed me off/ Then sank in stoned oblivion because once your queen had come/ You treat her like an ulcer/ You didn’t measure up in any measure of a man/ You said normal girls were boring but you were gone by morning.”

She also alluded to the romance being over once it became public knowledge. “Because it wasn’t sexy once it wasn’t forbidden,” she sings, before adding: “You kicked out the stage lights but you're still performing/ And in plain sight you hid/ But you are what you did/ And I'll forget you but I'll never forgive/ The smallest man who ever lived.”

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) is seemingly another reference to the romance, as Taylor sings about dating a bad boy who’s hard to tame. “The smoke cloud billows out his mouth like a freight train / The jokes he told across the bar were revolting and far too loud,” she croons. While in But Daddy I Love Him, she shares her fury over being judged for dating someone who is a “wild child”. She sings: “God save the most judgmental creeps / Who say they want what’s best for me / Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see/ Thinking they can change the beat of my heart when he touches me and counteract the chemistry?”

A version of this story was first published on April 19, 2024.

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