The Taylor Swift Pop-Up Contains So Many Heartbreaking References to Her Split From Joe Alwyn

Not entirely sure our emotions are ready for this album. As it's more or less confirmed that the upcoming 11th Taylor Swift album, The Tortured Poets Department, is about the end of her years-long relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn, fans can't help but notice references to their relationship everywhere in the album…even though it hasn't come out yet.

The length of “So Long, London” may be tied to their anniversary, the album title could be a spin on one of Alwyn's group chats, and now the Spotify pop-up “library” in Los Angeles filled with Alwyn-y allusions.

Here's everything fans have pieced together:

The clock, the globe, the cage, and the calendar

Chief among the “artifacts” at the pop-up are symbols all Swifties will immediately recognize. The installation includes a globe, which attendees confirmed had a pin marking Florida, where Swift played her first concert after her breakup hit the press.

A clock was set to 2 o'clock, which many are interpreting as a hint that there is a double album on the way, or that fans should pay special attention to the second song. But there's also the fact that Taylor just really likes mentioning 2 a.m. in songs.

The birdcage has been a recurring motif in Swiftworld. She sat on a swing inside a cage in the video for “Look What You Made Me Do,” and has decorative birdcages in multiple residences. But the most obvious recent reference was the then seemingly random inclusion of a birdcage filled with books (!!!) in her post about giving a commencement speech at NYU. Note that this video was taken a year before she and Joe broke up, and about two years before the album release.

As Swift once said, “Can I hint at something three years in advance? Can I even plan things out that far? I think I'm going to try to do it.”

Notably, at the pop-up, the bird is seen happily perching on a different shelf, not caged at all.

Finally, the calendar on the desk reads, “Friday, December 13,” which is Swift's birthday this year (she was born on a Wednesday).

A 72-drawer card catalog

This is the number of months in six years, the length of time she and Alwyn were together, and there are six drawers open, which may correspond to the specific months that inspired some of her songs.

Lyrics

Lyric fragments were revealed each day at the pop-up. “One less temptress, one less dagger to sharpen” definitely gives off “Someone tried to steal my man” vibes, while “Even statues crumble, if they're made to wait” hints at long periods of trying to get to the next level in a relationship. The dried flowers around the book, too, could represent a once beautiful moment now dead but preserved.

“I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all”—self-explanatory.

As for “Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?” that's just typical Taylor Swift right there.

Puzzle pieces and a Greek goddess

Among the less obvious visuals are a jar full of puzzle pieces (she couldn't put them back together?) and a statuette of Diana of Ephesus. Ah, cruel time!

Peace-sign hand statue

On the bookshelf, situated at The Grove (the mall where Swift held the world premiere of the Eras movie), is a plaster hand making the two-fingered “peace” sign she flashed while accepting a Grammy and announcing TTPD. No consensus on what this one means, but it means something.

Can't wait to cry so hard tomorrow.