Master of the Secret Message Taylor Swift may have given the world a pretty huge hint about her split from Joe Alwyn a full week before the breakup was reported.
On March 31, Taylor switched up her Eras Tour set list during the first of the tour’s three nights in Arlington, Texas, and the change is significant—especially if the rumors that she and Joe have ended their six-year romance turn out to be true.
As People reports, Taylor added “The 1,” a bittersweet breakup song about wistfully thinking back on a past love and what it would have been like if things had worked out, to the Folklore portion of the show. As if that wouldn’t be enough of a hint on its own that her love life was in flux, the song Taylor cut to make time for “The 1” was “Invisible String,” a song that most fans believe is about Joe and that is basically about realizing that every step in life and every past heartbreak was just part of the universe’s plan to get you (the royal you…but, you know, specifically Taylor) to the person you’re (she’s) fated to be with (which, at the time she wrote the song, was presumed to be Joe).
Just to drive home the gut punch of this swap for anyone invested in the Taylor-Joe love story, here are some sample lyrics from “The 1”:
But we were something, don’t you think so?
Roaring 20s, tossing pennies in the pool
And if my wishes came true
It would’ve been you
In my defense, I have none
For never leaving well enough alone
But it would’ve been fun
If you would’ve been the one
And now for some sample lyrics from “Invisible String”:
Time, mystical time
Cuttin’ me open, then healin’ me fine
Were there clues I didn’t see?
And isn’t it just so pretty to think
All along, there was some
Invisible string
Tying you to me?
And just in case you’re not sold on the “‘Invisible String’ is about Joe” theory, please review these additional “Invisible String” lyrics, complete with a nod to the same dive bar referenced in the also-famously-about-Joe Reputation track “Delicate”:
A string that pulled me
Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar
Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire
Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons
One single thread of gold tied me to you
RIP, love/romance/fate, apparently.
