A Tennessee mum believes Taylor Swift’s new heartbreak track “Ruin the Friendship” was written about her late son — and honestly, the story will break your heart just as much as the song itself.
According to The Tennessean, Susan Lang from Hendersonville, Tennessee, says her son Jeffrey Lang and Taylor were close friends back in high school — the kind of genuine, easy friendship that feels rare now.
“They were really good friends. They hung out at her house a lot. They were always joking around with each other,” Susan told the outlet.
Jeffrey died suddenly at just 21 years old on November 2, 2010 — only days after Taylor released Speak Now, her third studio album. His obituary states he was a junior at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, studying biology.
In her new album The Life of a Showgirl, Swift — now 35 — reflects on a high school friendship that never quite became something more. In “Ruin the Friendship”, she looks back on a boy she loved but never told, only to find out years later that he had passed away.
One particular line that’s grabbed fans’ attention references her real-life ride-or-die: “Abigail called me with the bad news,” a clear nod to her longtime best friend Abigail Anderson Berard, who was name-dropped in “Fifteen”.
Susan told The Tennessean she recognised the story instantly. “After all this time, she hasn’t forgotten about him,” she said. “I’m thankful she’s keeping his name alive.”
It’s not the first time Taylor has spoken about Jeffrey. At the 2010 BMI Awards — just one week after his death — a then-20-year-old Swift tearfully mentioned him in her acceptance speech for Country Songwriter of the Year. “It’s been a really emotional week for me,” she said.
“Yesterday, I sang at the funeral of one of my best friends. And he was 21 and I used to play my songs for him first. So I would like to thank Jeff Lang.”
When The Life of a Showgirl first dropped, fans (including me, guilty as charged) wondered if “Ruin the Friendship” might have been about Taylor’s more famous friendships or exes — like her longtime (recently rocky) bond with Blake Lively or an ex from her past like Joe Jonas.
But as Swift later said during her Official Release Party of a Showgirl film, the song was inspired by her youth. “It would’ve been fine to take chances I didn’t take [on love],” she said. “I was so disciplined in high school. It’s very wistful and very nostalgic.”
Now, it seems those wistful lyrics may trace back to something more deeply personal — one of the friendships that shaped her most.
Lead image: Taylor Swift / The Tennessean
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