Matty Healy’s family has given a withering assessment that his ex Taylor Swift appears to savage him on her new album.
Swift, who briefly dated Healy last spring, is widely believed to take aim at her ex in the song The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, prompting renewed scrutiny from fans over the period when she was dating the frontman. 1975.
The 34-year-old’s album The Tortured Poets Department was released today as speculation that the diss song about Healy hit a fever pitch around the world.
The lyrics refer to a man in a ‘Jehovah’s Witness outfit’ and ‘rusting my (Swift’s) bright summer’. Healy is known for wearing distinctive black suits during live performances and the couple are believed to have split in June 2023.
But today her aunt seemed dismissive of Swift’s openness about her exes, including Matt, when she spoke to MailOnline. She is now believed to be dating model Gabbriette Bechtel.
Taylor Swift and Matt Healy circa 1975 leave a studio in Manhattan in May 2023 while briefly dating
Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released on Friday, initially as a 16-track volume with a surprise bonus 15 tracks released two hours later.
Matt Healy’s aunt, Debbie Dedes (left, with Matt’s famous mother, Denise Welch), said Healy probably won’t be surprised by the fact that he appears to be referenced on the new album.
Swift has described the new work as having captured a “fleeting, fatalistic moment in time”, with fans furiously analyzing the lyrics to discover who they might be referring to in her personal life.
The smallest man who ever lived refers to a lover in a “Jehovah’s Witness outfit.” Healy is known for wearing black suits and ties with white shirts during The 1975’s live performances (above)
Taylor Swift performing during the Eras tour in Kansas City, Missouri, US, in July 2023, a month after reportedly splitting from Healy.
Healy is now believed to be dating model Gabbriette Bechtel after being dumped by Taylor Swift last summer.
Debbie Dedes said of how Matt would react: “Nothing surprises him anymore.
‘You won’t be surprised by the song. He and she know what happened.
And Debbie, who as the sister of Matt’s famous mother Denise Welch, has known Matt since he was born, continued: ‘She writes about all her relationships, right?
“I don’t think this surprises you at all.
“He’s very happy in his new relationship, so I’m sure he’ll focus on that.”
And hinting that Matt has his own version of the relationship that he has been too respectful to share publicly, Debbie added: “As my nephew, we know a little more about what happened than what has appeared in the press.”
Other lyrics in the song suggest that the unnamed subject of the title “tried to buy some pills” and “was no match for any man.”
Healy has spoken openly about his drug problems in the past and has said in interviews that he is tired of speculation about his height, stating that he is 5ft 10in, but is dwarfed by other members of The 1975.
He said The dimmer in 2018: ‘Everyone in [the 1975] I’m 6ft 4in and I’m 5ft 10in, so everyone thinks I’m 5ft 5in.
Swift found herself in a whirlwind romance with Healy, although neither of them directly confirmed it, which began in April 2023 after they were seen kissing in New York.
But the affair ended as quickly as it began after Healy’s “bad boy” image and “racist” comments caused Swift to face backlash.
Swift is now happily in love with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, but it’s clear she still has some issues to choose from with the ‘worst men’ in her life.
Swifties have been speculating furiously about the potential targets of the singer’s songs on the new album, which was initially released as a 16-song volume before a surprise 15-song bonus release arrived two hours later.
The singer, who has reinvented herself over the years as a pop icon and, more recently, as an indie and folk voice of introspection, describes the album as a capture of a “fleeting, fatalistic moment in time.” one that was both sensational and sad in equal measure.
He added in a post on Instagram: “This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter is closed and walled up.”
‘There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once the wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted.
‘This writer firmly believes that our tears become sacred in the form of ink on a page. Once we have told our saddest story, we can free ourselves from it.
“And then the only thing left is tortured poetry.”
Many of the songs, and the album title itself, are believed to refer to actor Joe Alwyn, who dated Swift for six years, but fans have speculated that several songs are also about Healy.
Alwyn revealed in an interview with Variety that he and fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott have a WhatsApp group called ‘The Tortured Man Club’. The interview was resurfaced by Swift fans after the album’s title was announced in February.
The title track, The Tortured Poets Department, however, features the lyrics “Who uses typewriters anyway?” -Some fans noted that Healy revealed in a 2019 interview that he “really likes” using old machines.
And some fans have also speculated that But Daddy I Love Him, a song about disapproval expressed by a new romantic partner, is also about Healy and those who disapproved of the relationship, which ultimately led to its implosion.
Lead single Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, also seems to take aim at Healy and how his toxic affair was “ruining my life.”
Swift and Healy became romantically involved in May last year after she split from Alwyn, and the 1975 frontman became a regular backstage sight on her Eras tour.
But a series of controversial Healy episodes, including comments he made about his porn use and allegedly racist comments on separate podcasts, sparked the fury of Swifties, who called for the singer to drop him.
Swift reportedly dumped Healy days after he kissed a security guard during a concert in Denmark.
Reviews for The Tortured Poets Department have been largely positive, with critics hailing it as an “extraordinary” breakup album and a “smart, seductive and lyrically sharp set of smooth synth pop songs about matters of the heart.”
And fans have taken to social media to call it their “best album.”