Taylor Swift has revealed the meaning behind her “The Tortured Poets Department” track “My Boy Breaks All His Favorite Toys” as fans speculate about whom it was written.
The global superstar, 34, said in a breakdown of the song for Amazon Music that it’s a metaphor for a rusted relationship someone is yearning to bring back to its days of being shiny and new.
The song takes place from the “perspective of a child’s toy, being somebody’s favorite toy until they break you and then don’t want to play with you anymore,” she explained.
“perspective of a child’s toy, being somebody’s favorite toy until they break you and then don’t want to play with you anymore.” Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
“Which is how a lot of us are in relationships where we are so valued by a person in the beginning, and then all of the sudden, they break us or they devalue us in their mind,” Swift noted.
“We’re still clinging on to ‘No no, no. You should’ve seen them the first time they saw me. They’ll come back to that. They’ll get back to that.’”
She concluded, “So it’s kind of like a song about denial really so that you could live in this world where there’s still hope for a toxic, broken relationship.”
In the song’s chorus, the “Midnights” singer croons, “My boy only breaks his favorite toys /
I’m queen of sand castles he destroys / Cause it fit too right / Puzzle pieces in the dead of night / Should’ve known it was a matter of time.”
Unlike some of her other “TTPD” poetry, the track doesn’t necessarily point to a specific relationship, so fans can’t quite tell if it’s about her most recent exes Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, or someone else.
Healy, whom Swift dated between May and June 2023 and was rumored to have had a fling with a decade prior, claimed on Wednesday that he hasn’t heard the record-breaking album.
“I haven’t really listened to that much of it but I’m sure it’s good,” the 1975 frontman told cameras as he walked through Los Angeles.
One of the “TTPD” tracks fans are convinced is about Healy, 35, is “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” In it, Swift sings about a person robed in a “Jehovah’s Witness suit” who she accuses of “rusting” her “sparkling summer.”
Healy often takes the stage in black suits, which links him to the “Jehovah’s Witness suit” line.
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Plus, their relationship was heavily criticized because of Healy’s controversial past, which may have been a downer for Swift as her Eras Tour swept through cities across America from spring to summer and into the fall.
“Down Bad,” “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” “But Daddy I Love Him,” and the album’s lead single, “Fortnight,” are also rumored to be about him.
Swift has moved on with Travis Kelce, whom she’s been dating since last July.
She referenced an old interview of his in the track “So High School” and seemingly detailed his Super Bowl win and their resulting celebrations in “The Alchemy.”
Following the album’s release, an insider claimed the NFL star, 34, is “in awe” of Swift.
