Which Taylor Swift Songs Are About Jake Gyllenhaal On Her 'Red' Album?

17 February 2022, 11:31

Taylor Swift casually burns her exes on Seth Meyers on day of RED album re-release

By Capital FM

@CapitalOfficial

Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ album is thought to have been inspired by her heartbreak over her split from ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal.

Taylor Swift penned her album ‘Red’ in 2012 after a three-month relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal which came to an end at the start of 2011, when she was just 21 and he was 30.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Taylor called 'Red' a 'pure heartbreak' album, saying: "I look back on this as my only true break up album. Every other album has flickers of different things – this was an album that I wrote specifically about a pure, absolute, to the core heartbreak."

Taylor Swift ‘All Too Well’ 10-Minute Version Lyrics & What They Really Mean

Jake has since responded to being the inspiration behind 'All Too Well', saying he understands music is how Taylor expresses herself.

Taylor is known for documenting her love life through music, with her 2017 EP ‘Reputation’ being filled with references to the start of her relationship with Joe Alwyn.

But which songs did Taylor write about ex-boyfriend Jake, and when did they split? Let’s take a look…

Which Taylor Swift songs are about Jake Gyllenhaal?

Taylor’s album ‘Red’ came over a year after her split from Jake and fans are pretty certain she channelled her heartache over their break up into ‘Red’.

Songs on ‘Red’ include ‘All Too Well’, ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’, ‘Treachorous’ and ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’.

One of the lyrics on ‘All Too Well’ which is a pretty big hint at her relationship with Jake is: Left my scarf there at your sister’s house / And you still got it in you drawer even now.

During their relationship Taylor was pictured wearing a striped scarf as they walked along arm in arm, laughing together.

'I Bet You Think About Me', a song 'from the vault' which Taylor added to the re-released version of 'Red', is heavily thought to be about Jake too.

Taylor wrote the track with Lori McKenna, saying she wanted it "be like a comedic, tongue-in-cheek, funny, not caring what anyone thinks about you sort of breakup song."

The final lyrics sum up what we're all thinking about when imagining Jake listening to the song:

I bet you think about me when you say
'Oh my god, she's insane, she wrote a song about me'
I bet you think about me

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And in ‘State of Grace’ she sings about “twin fire signs and four blue eyes”, which clearly indicates Jake, as they both have mid-December birthdays.

Taylor has previously called 'All Too Well' the ‘hardest to write’, telling Good Morning America many years ago it was originally 10 minutes long – and fans finally got to hear the full version on 'Red – Taylor's Version'.

She also penned 'The Moment I Knew' after spending her 21st birthday in tears when Jake failed to show up.

The lyrics include: And it was like slow motion / Standing there in my party dress / In red lipstick / With no one to impress / And they're all laughing / As I'm looking around the room / But there was one thing missing / And that was the moment I knew.

When did Taylor Swift date Jake Gyllenhaal?

Taylor and Jake began dating in October 2010 but split before the New Year.

In that time, they were pictured out and about on numerous occasions and Jake even flew Taylor out to the UK while he promoted his film Love and Other Drugs.

And at Thanksgiving Taylor joined the Gyllenhaals at Jake's sister Maggie's house, who later described spending the holidays with the pop star as "great".

Why did Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal split?

According to reports at the time, Jake was the one who called off the romance with Taylor after just a few months, as he ‘wasn’t feeling it’ and struggled with having a relationship which came with so much publicity.

They were together for just a few months, splitting at the end of the year.

In Taylor's lyrics for the 10-minute version of 'All Too Well', she seems to give more of an insight into the reason they split and their nine-year age gap may have had something to do with it.

She sings in the new version of the song: 'You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine / And that made me want to die'

Taylor turned 21 around the same time she and Jake, then 30, split.

The fact he never turned up to her 21st birthday is referenced in more than one of her songs on 'Red'.

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