Taylor Swift’s ‘Guilty as Sin?’ Is Full of Matty Healy References

Taylor Swift’s romance with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy might have been brief, but it’s referenced all over her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. In the title track, she likens him to a “tattooed golden retriever,” while in “But Daddy, I Love Him,” she defends their unexpected relationship from judgmental fans. And in “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” well, we’ll let the title speak for itself.

Then there’s “Guilty as Sin?” which seems to have Healy’s name written all over it, too. The song even begins with a reference to the singer: “Drownin’ in the Blue Nile / He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’ / I hadn’t heard it in a while.” Swift sings about the ’80s Scottish band The Blue Nile and their song “Downtown Lights.” Healy is a known fan. “The Blue Nile are my favorite band of all time. They’re fucking amazing. Musically, they’ve inspired me so much,” Healy told Vulture in 2016. You can hear the influences in The 1975’s music, especially in their earlier albums.

Swift also seems to reference how she went from her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn into her summer fling with Healy. “My boredom’s bone deep / This cage was once just fine / Am I allowed to cry? / I dream of crackin’ locks.” She compares coming out of that relationship to getting released from prison in the song, “Fresh Out the Slammer.” In her 2023 Time interview, she also shared what it was like stepping back into the public eye, after being so private with Alwyn. “Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years—I’ll never get that time back. I’m more trusting now than I was six years ago,” she said.

That said, Swift is still aware of how the public would perceive her relationship with Healy, who had a problematic reputation. She sings lines like, “Throwin’ my life to the wolves or the ocean rocks,” and “Am I bad or mad or wise?” and “They’re gonna crucify me anyway.” And yet, with all of that considered, she doubles down on her feelings for him. “They don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly / I choose you and me religiously,” she says in the bridge.

She also reminds us of her and Healy’s on-off history with the lyric “I’m slippin’, fallin’ back into the hedge maze.” They were romantically linked as early as 2014. It was reportedly their mutual friend, producer Jack Antonoff, who “reconnected them.”

Listen to “Guilty as Sin?” and read the full lyrics below, courtesy of Genius.

Taylor Swift’s ‘But Daddy, I Love Him’ Lyrics Are a Scathing Response to Fans Against Her Dating Matty Healy

Swift addresses the backlash to her and Healy’s relationship for the first time.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Fresh Out the Slammer’ Lyrics Explain Why She Dated Matty Healy After Joe Alwyn

“Now pretty baby, I’m running back home to you. / Fresh out the slammer I know who my first call will be to,” she sings.

Is Taylor Swift’s ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ About Matty Healy?

“Gazing at me, starry-eyed / In your Jehovah’s Witness suit,” seems like quite the hint.

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