Most of Taylor Swift’s albums have been dominated by celeb feuds ( Kim Kardashian , Kanye West ) or kissing and telling on her exes (Harry Styles).
But the star of her new album Lover is neither man nor woman... it’s London town.
And yes, the reason she loves our capital so much is, indeed, because of her boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn, 28.
Taylor, 29, sings on her new single about how she fell in love with a London Boy before going on to list her nine favourite London haunts.
That includes walking round Camden Market, Shoreditch and Soho in the afternoons, then on to Hampstead Heath, Bond Street, nights in Brixton, as well as my neck of the woods, Hackney.
And North London’s Highgate is where she met Joe’s mates.
But most of all she delights in “high tea, stories from uni, and the West End... you can find me in the pub, we are watching rugby with his school friends.”
Maybe taking it a step too far she adds: “Show me a grey sky, a rainy cab ride,” then gushes: “God, I love the English.”
Idris Elba introduces the album, with a line from an interview with James Corden where he speaks of driving around town on a scooter.
In Paper Rings she reflects on meeting Joe and how she “tried to stalk you on the internet”. Then she says: “I’d like shiny things but I’d marry you with paper rings”. He also features in “dirty dreams”. Saucy!
And in feminist song The Man, she takes down society’s double standards. “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man.” If she was a man, she says, “I’d be just like Leo in St Tropez”, a dig at Leonardo DiCaprio. Brilliant.
Taylor adds: “I want to be defined by the things I love – not the things I hate.”
I hear ya, sista.
