Taylor-Swift-Eras-Tour
TAMPA, FLORIDA – APRIL 13: Taylor Swift performs onstage during “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Raymond James Stadium on April 13, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Octavio Jones/TAS23/Getty Images for for TAS Rights Management)

When reports that Taylor Swift had ended her six-year relationship with actor and pseudo-ghost-songwriter, Joe Alywn, emerged, we knew that the multi-hyphenated artist’s post-breakup grieving process would be atypical.

See: performing to sold-out stadiums on her ‘Eras’ tour instead of shovelling mountains of fudgy Häagen-Dazs ice cream into her mouth, as we would do after terminating a long-term relationship.

However, during her most recent performance in Tampa, Florida, the Midnights musician just gave fans a much-needed subtle update on how she’s going, and it turns out she’s doing great, but thanks for asking!

During a performance of ‘Delicate’, a song from Swift’s reputation album that is notoriously regarded to be about the burgeoning stages of her relationship with Alywn, the 33-year-old was recorded interacting with a fan that held up a ‘You Ok?’ sign.

Her response? A subtle, albeit poignant, thumbs up.

@imgiggly

SO SO SO SO SO FUCKING SWEET ily taylor #taylor #swift #ts #mayoroftampa #repuation #delicate #swifttok #swifties

♬ original sound – kathryn

As those with a doctorate in Taylor Swift lore would know, this exchange is straight out of the music video of Swift’s 2008 multi-platinum single ‘You Belong With Me’, whereby she holds up a sign reading the same phrase to her love interest.

We wonder how the fandom would be spiralling if she answered her fan’s question with a sign that said ‘tired of drama’ as Lucas Hill did in the song’s music video. 

If we were to apply the same attention to detail and critical thinking skills that Swift’s fans put into breaking down her every move, we could suggest that her putting her thumbs up to signal she’s ok is inadvertently doing the opposite.

As she sings herself in ‘You Belong With Me’: “You say you’re fine, I know you better than that.”

But thankfully, with plenty of evidence of Swift leaning into the chaos of heartbreak, like going out to dinner with Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley near the place she once wrote a song for Alwyn, Cornelia Street.

All that’s left to do is pay close attention to how Swift performs ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’ and we have definitive proof that she’s doing perfectly fine.