Secret's out: Taylor Swift's mysterious 'folklore' co-writer is her BF Joe Alwyn

It’s not quite Penn Badgley-level unbelievable, but we’ve always thought that "William Bowery" sounded like a fake name. Turns out it is. The songwriter credited for two tracks on Taylor Swift’s latest album folklore doesn’t exist — a fact Swift fans pointed out shortly after the album was released, the songs committed to heart, and the credits dissected. "Exile" and "Betty" were attributed to Bowery, however, no trace of the musically talented man could be found online. But, with this week’s release of Swift’s concert film, folklore: the long pond studio sessions, Bowery’s identity was revealed. Just as many suspected, William is Swift’s boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.“There’s been a lot of discussion about William Bowery and his identity, because… it’s not a real person,” says Swift in the film (via Page Six), chatting with two of her other album collaborators, Aaron Dessner of The National and superproducer Jack Antonoff, both of whom she thanked, along with the fake Bowery, in an Instagram post announcing the release of folklore in July.“So,” she reveals in the film, “William Bowery is Joe… as we know.”

 

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In detailing their musical process, Swift said that Alwyn came up with “the entire piano part” for "Exile," singing it “the way that the whole first verse is.” With "Betty," she heard him sing the song’s catchy chorus and instantly wanted his input for the rest. “It was a step that we would have never have taken because why would we have ever written a song together?” she remarks during the film.Swift says that her boyfriend of four years “plays piano beautifully and he’s always just playing and making things up and kind of creating things.” And while the pop star didn’t get into why Alwyn wasn’t credited under his own name, fans have pieced together a theory about his nom de plume: William is the name of Alwyn’s composer great-grandfather while New York City’s Bowery Hotel concert venue is the place where the couple had one of their first dates. You can’t get anything past a dedicated Swiftie.

WILLIAM BOWERY theory

on oct 2016, taylor (w her squad) & alwyn were spotted in BOWERY hotel. (smth special mustve happened here, that's why she used d name "BOWERY" i guess?)WILLIAM alwyn is literally joe alwyns great-grandpa. he was was composer, conductor, and music teacher pic.twitter.com/pDOaBieGgL— a folkWHORE (@taylowkey13) July 23, 2020