- Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department," was released on Friday.
- The album follows Swift's breakup with the British actor Joe Alwyn, her longtime muse and collaborator.
Taylor Swift's 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," was released on Friday.
It's the first set of new music since Swift's breakup with the British actor Joe Alwyn was confirmed in April 2023.
Naturally, fans have speculated that some of the tracks are about the end of their six-year relationship.
But if some of the songs expose details about their relationship, you shouldn't feel too bad for Alwyn. He has probably earned millions from Swift's songs already, according to multiple reports.
The success of Alwyn and Swift's songs has outlasted their relationship
Alwyn was a longtime muse of Swift's, and her 2019 album, "Lover," was seemingly inspired by their relationship.
But he was also Swift's musical collaborator.
Alwyn, using the pseudonym William Bowery, cowrote six songs with Swift on her previous albums: "Exile" and "Betty" from the "Folklore" album in 2020; "Champagne Problems," "Coney Island," and "Evermore" from the "Evermore" album in 2020; and "Sweet Nothing" from the "Midnights" album in 2022.
He was also credited as a coproducer of "Folklore," which surpassed 1.3 million global sales in its first week. It went on to win album of the year at the 2021 Grammys.
It's unclear how much Alwyn is set to make from his songwriting and producing credits, though multiple reports have estimated it to be in the millions.
One analysis published by Life and Style in March suggested that Alwyn had made $2.3 million so far from Spotify streams alone.
That figure doesn't include potential royalties from additional streaming services and physical records.
Swift's financial success has reached new heights since her Eras Tour began in March 2023. Bloomberg estimated that the singer earned $1.1 billion last year.
Alwyn could also be earning royalties from songs performed during the tour and the subsequent $261.6 million concert film, which Variety reported was the highest-grossest concert film in history.
Swift confirmed William Bowery's identity in "Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions," which premiered on Disney in November 2020.
"William Bowery is Joe, as we know," Swift said. "And Joe plays piano beautifully, and he's always just playing and making things up and kind of creating things."
Swift said she started writing songs with Alwyn during the pandemic. She credited the concept of the song "Exile" to him, saying she was "entranced" when she heard him play the piano melody and the opening lines, which Bon Iver sang on the final record.
Alwyn, who rarely spoke about his relationship with Swift, briefly opened up about their collaboration during an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in 2022.
"We chose to do it, first and foremost, so people would listen to the music first before dissecting the fact that we did it together," he said.
He said he chose to use the first name William after his great-grandfather, a composer, and the last name Bowery after an area in New York where he said he spent a lot of time.
Representatives for Alwyn didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Correction: April 22, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled Joe Alwyn's name in the headline. It also misstated the year Taylor Swift's "Midnights" album was released. It was 2022, not 2021. And it misspelled the name of the band featured on the song "Exile." It's Bon Iver, not Bon Ivor.