Taylor Swift Was ‘Miserable’ While Writing Album Believed to Be Inspired By Matty Healy Romance

Taylor Swift didn’t have the best time writing The Tortured Poets Department.

The 35-year-old appeared on Scott Mills‘ Radio 2’s Breakfast Show on Monday, October 6, and opened up about what it was like to pen the music for the 2024 record, which is believed to be inspired, in part, by her short-lived romance with British rocker Matty Healy.

“The cool thing about this record is that I’m in a very similar space in my life as to when I wrote it and now that I’m putting it out, which is nice,” the Grammy winner said, citing her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl. “It’s nice when those things are not incongruous.”

“You know, like with the last record, I was in such a different place in my life when I wrote it,” she explained, adding that writing The Tortured Poets Department was “just miserable.”

“And then when I put it out, I was so happy,” Swift recalled.

“So it was like, ah, I love this art. I love this beautiful art about misery. I, however, am not miserable anymore so it feels weird to talk about the record because it’s like, you can be proud of the work, but you can also just not relate to that person you were,” the crooner added.

The “Look What You Made Me Do” singer dropped The Tortured Poets Department in April 2024. Swift and the 1975 frontman were spotted together in May 2023 shortly after her relationship with actor Joe Alwyn fizzled out.

As Star previously reported, Healy seemingly played into rampant rumors that he inspired the album by referring to himself as ‘a poet’ during the 1975’s set at Glastonbury 2025.

Swift and Travis Kelce have been together since 2023, and became engaged in August 2025.