Oh Taylor Swift, just when news has died down about your Folklore album, you go and make a red-hot comment seemingly about your famous album Red. Of course, you had to know that would get the fanbase in a tizzy and now many of them are blaming Jake Gyllenhaal for your “only true” break-up album. But how did we get here?
Why Red Is [Probably] Taylor Swift’s ‘Only True Break-Up Album’
Rolling Stone recently decided it was high and time that it went back through all the albums in all the land and chose the 500 greatest. Taylor Swift’s Red, known for such hits as “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” made the list and the singer was interviewed as part of the process. When asked about Red, she said:
I look back on this like this is my only true break-up album. Every other album has flickers of different things. But this was an album I wrote about a pure, absolute, to the core heartbreak.
Note, Jake Gyllenhaal and Red are never specifically mentioned by Taylor Swift herself in the interview snippet. She often plays coy, even when it comes to confirming things like outing the name of one of her best friends’ kids in a song, so it should come as no surprise she was vague here. But Swifties basically took the quote, what they know about the album Red and the new 500 best list, and their previous dislike for Jake Gyllenhaal and rolled with it.
How The Heck Does Jake Gyllenhaal Factor Into The Red Conversation?
Well, among Taylor Swift’s list of exes there are a few notable names (Joe Jonas, John Mayer) and one of those names is Jake Gyllenhaal. The two dated all the way back in 2010, but back in September of 2020 Gyllenhaal had an innocuous post about glasses that was flooded with comments from Swifties, so it’s clear time has not healed those wounds with her fanbase. Swift fans seemingly take great joy in roasting Jake Gyllenhaal.
This time, though, the point is that Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift dated for three months in 2010, after which Swift began work on Red. (The album ultimately came out in 2012.) Now, with the new heartbreak comment and also just the fact that Swifties can’t resist the opportunity to take some digs at Jake Gyllenhaal, people have some takes.
Honestly, Jake Gyllenhaal shouldn’t fret here, as a lot of Taylor Swift fans are thanking the Spider-Man: Far From Home actor for breaking Swift’s younger heart.
Some, though have a bit more of an amusing take on the break-up, asking how a three-month relationship could ever inspire a 15-minute song.
For a long time, fans have insisted songs like “All Too Well” and even big hits like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” were about Jake Gyllenhaal. The latest comments from Taylor Swift actually only serve to help feed into those theories, though again she isn’t being super specific. But what do you think?
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