Taylor Swift and Harry Styles engaged in a brief but intense relationship back in 2012, and while I don’t think either of them has been hurting in the dating department over the past decade-plus, some Swifties think the One Direction singer just took drastic action in response to one of the Eras Tour artist’s newly released songs. Styles recently was seen sporting a fresh hairstyle, or rather a shaved head that drew comparisons to Eleven from Stranger Things. Is it possible that his new look was prompted by a vault release off of 1989 (Taylor’s Version)? Let’s dig into the theory.
Swifties have long theorized that some of the songs off of Taylor Swift’s fifth studio album 1989 were about Harry Styles, including “Style” and “Out of the Woods.” So when the artist released 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in October with five previously unreleased songs, fans likely already had the boy-bander in mind when dissecting the lyrics. Is it just a coincidence that Styles debuted his new ‘do just weeks after Swift sang in “Now That We Don’t Talk” about a mystery subject’s long hair? This Swiftie doesn’t think so:
Taylor Swift wrote “you grew your hair long, i miss the old days, you didn’t had to change” and Harry Styles booked a hair appointment pic.twitter.com/GCVFsbAiERNovember 7, 2023
The verse in question from “Now That We Don’t Talk” reads, “You grew your hair long / You got new icons / And from the outside / It looks like you're tryin' lives on / I miss the old ways / You didn't have to change / But I guess I don't have a say / Now that we don't talk." So when Harry Styles was photographed with Taylor Russell at a U2 concert in Las Vegas recently with a buzz cut, the conspiracy theories started flying. One fan wrote:
Harry heard ‘you grew your hair long’ and took it as a threat.
Another adapted the lyrics of “Style” to fit the “As It Was” singer’s new look, posting a photo of him at the U2 concert with the lines:
You got that no hair buzz cut white t-shirt.
Is Taylor Swift’s influence really strong enough to inspire an ex-boyfriend to change his hairstyle 11 years later? I mean, never underestimate the power of the 12-time Grammy Award winner, and the timing of the shaved head is kind of suspect. Also, we have to consider that another vault track off of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has even more obvious ties to Harry Styles.
On “Is It Over Now?” Taylor Swift sings, “When you lost control / Red blood, white snow / Blue dress on a boat,” which appears to make reference to the snowmobile accident she and Harry Styles were in (previously sung about in 1989’s “Out of the Woods”) and their breakup, in which Swift was infamously photographed in a blue dress, leaving their romantic getaway by herself on a boat. Maybe Styles didn’t want his long hair drawing any attention? That seems to be this Swiftie’s theory anyway:
Taylor Swift: “you grew your hair long….”Harry Styles: pic.twitter.com/1DZiTn8ryzNovember 10, 2023
Fans seemed pretty torn up that Harry Styles got rid of his wavy locks, so it makes sense that Swifties would go searching for any reason to justify his actions. Whether or not the haircut really was in response to his ex-girlfriend’s song is likely something we’ll never know, but hopefully he’ll grow it back should he ever decide to follow in Taylor Swift’s footsteps with a concert film.
In the meantime, Taylor Swift always has plenty going on for Swifties to look forward to, including the continuation of the Eras Tour and reading into the clues about the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version).
